This question comes out of a discussion we had with danah boyd, of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, and Marc Fisher, of the Washington Post. We spoke to them about the snow day story which appears on this week’s show. Long story short: It has to do with a student calling a school administrator at home, and a angry voicemail that ended up on the internet. For more details, check out our previous post.
It’s the at home part we’re interested in here. If teens are “reachable” 24/7 by way of social media, such as Facebook, IM, text message, Myspace, etc, should the adults in their lives also be accessible?
Here’s what Marc said in our interview about what teachers told him:
“You know this is a real divide and it does not seem to break down by age. I’ve spoken to a great number of teachers some of whom…believe that it is part of reaching this generation of students to be available 24/7, to give out their home phone number, their email, their Facebook, their cell phone and to engage where this generation is. And yet, an equal or even larger number of teachers who say hey hold on, I’m in this job, I’m devoted and committed..but it’s simply not in my job description to be a surrogate parent for these students.”
So, the question we’re posing is:
Are teachers who use social media to communicate with students more effective teachers?
Post your comment below. We’d love to work your thoughts into the show.
You can find a shorter version of the interview on Episode 27 of Spark. If you want to listen to danah and Marc’s conversation, check out the full length interview below, or download it. (Marc and danah’s comments about teachers come at about 10:40)
Bit of a logical fallacy here – you’re presupposing that effective teaching can be quantified.
And that being ‘available’ is equivalent to being ‘effective’.
Many teachers/college instructors are finding that being available to the generation which is ‘always on’ is a practical way to monitor and assist students. Others are concerned that the expectation that they will be available 24/7 is becoming a huge burden.
I am a lecturer at a university in BC. I allow my students reasonable access: I do use email (obsessively) and virtual classroom technology, and promise my students that I will respond “in a timely manner” (my time, not theirs). I encourage Facebook, Moodle, and Google study groups and chat/IM – so that students who often live more than an hour away from each other in our area can use technology to help make their lives a little easier.
Does this make me more effective than the instructor who oversees f2f study groups, who offers specific office hours, who volunteers time in the Writing Centre and makes sure her students come for extra help?
Of course it doesn’t. The one thing research in pedagogy has shown time and time again is that any technique works for most students as long as the teacher is committed to it.
I happen to be a technophile, but someone who isn’t will not be more effective if forced to use techniques and technology s/he is not comfortable with.
I think it’s helpful for students, especially older (high school and college) students, to deal with teachers with different blends of communications accessibility. After all, one of the so-called “soft” goals of education, and one of the most useful, is to learn to get along with, and work with different kinds of people. By learning from teachers which are technologically comfortable, always available, and responsive in off hours, AND teachers who demand respectful silence in their offhours, students learn about human nature, what work places are going to be like, and how to communicate in different fora and in different approaches. After all, the variability only speaks the range of humans that become teachers. There is no “one right way” to teach… our society sometimes loses sight of the importance of variability in our searching for and narrowing towards “best practices”.
REGARDING THE TEACHER ON FACEBOOK OR E-MAIL DEBATE YOU ARE AIRING I MUST COMMENT. I AM A LONG TIME HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER IN KINGSTON ONTARIO AND HAVE SEEN THIS PHENOMENON GROW
OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS. I FIND THE NOTION THAT TEACHERS SHOULD, AS PART OF THEIR DUTIES,,
BE EXPECTED TO CONVERSE WITH STUDENTS THROUGH THESE ELECTRONIC MEDIA, VERY PROBLEMATIC. ONE ONLY NEED TO GO TO THE COLLEGE OF TEACHERS WEBSITE TO FIND NUMEROUS EXAMPLES OF TEACHERS PUTTING THEMSELVES IN DIRE DIFFICULTY AS A RESULT OF “PERSONAL’ CONVERSATIONS OVER THE INTERNET WITH STUDENTS. I CONSISTENTLY ADVISE YOUNG TEACHERS NOT TO COMMUNICATE WITH STUDENTS THROUGH E-MAIL, A STAND STRONGLY ADVISED BY OUR TEACHERS FEDERATIONS. OF COURSE PERSONAL PHONE CONTACT WITH STUDENTS IS SIMILARLY DISCOURAGED. I HAVE HAD PARENTS SEND ME E-MAILS REGARDING STUDENTS OR PLAYERS ON TEAMS THAT I COACH THAT I REFUSE TO ANSWER. I WILL CERTAINLY RESPOND TO ANY STUDENT OR PARENT IN PERSON BUR STRONGLY FEEL THAT THE INTERNET IS NOT THE FORUM IN WHICH TO DISCUSS CONFIDENTIAL AND SENSITIVE INFORMATION. STUDENTS NEED TO BE IN SCHOOL FACE TO FACE WITH TEACHERS TO LEARN AND THE IMPERSONAL INTERNET DOES NOT ALLOW THIS. THANKS YOU FOR CONSIDERING MY OPINIONS ON THIS MATTER.
I am a teacher for an online school, so the very nature of my job is about online accessibility. My students can Skype, email or Elluminate with me – but may not phone me at home. That is because there is such a thing as too much access. Similarly, students who email daily with questions or concerns are told to try solve more problems by themselves. Being overly communicative with me tells me that my students may not be using their own problem-solving skills efficiently. Some seem to solve their course problems by ‘thinking outside their heads’, that is, by sharing problems with others. A different thinking process is necessary to internally identify a problem (say a science problem), think about a solution, and excecute that solution by oneself. A certain sense of personal power or ability is needed; I am concerned for a generation which may be losing this personal problem-solving aptitude.
This is a subject I’ve been debating over a lot internally over the last few months, and what follows is a ramble of thoughts that the above post and comments have generated.
Before we get started though, for the record, I’m a 26 year old male, who does have a his B.Ed and also a degree in Software Engineering.
The first point we should address is the social networking question. One thing that most (young and old) realize that anything you post online is public. If a student has photos on their social network showing them engaging in illegal activities, its the equivalent of them publicly admiting that they partake in such activities. This raise the question then, is it the responsibility of the teacher to act on what they see on a facebook page? Is this something that Parental Locas covers? Does this give enough evidence for a locker search at school? Can a teacher be honestly expected to not let such images/comments influence their opinion and desicions concerning the child?
Similarly, if a teacher has pictures of them doing things that goes against their professional image, they too will face similar problems, both professional and personal. Do teachers want students to know they are in a relationship that is ‘complicated’ or ‘open’?
Teachers shouldn’t expect to be on call 24/7. If we expect this, we are in many ways taking a throw back to the old school house teacher who had to sign a moral contract.
(And now to digress… )
The more important question you’re (somewhat) getting at though is the idea of technology in the classroom. Some teachers I’ve dealt with are strongly for it, and feel that its archaic to be teaching long division when we can use calculators. Others claim that teaching has to become more like a video game and television, fast information bites. And finally the re are the traditionalist(s) which I fear is shrinking in number. There is something said for knowing the fundamentals and how things work. I personally flip and flop on this issue, but usually find myself more in the traditionalist point of view. I was always disappointed that we never learned how to find a square root of something, only how to type it in a calculator.
What I often feel, is that people (educators, and non) are obsessed with using technology as the silver bullet for teaching and learning. There is NO silver bullet for teaching.
So what will make teachers more effective? Will it be adoption of technology? Differential learning? A better curriculum? Caring about the person over their output? Caring about their output over the person? It will most likely come in some part from all these areas and more. The most important area though, is finding a way to ignite a passion for learning. Once you have that in a student, most other points become moot.
I’m an instructor at a post secondary institute, and yes, I use facebook.
(read that out loud and it sounds more like a confession than a statement.)
I encourage students who have questions to e-mail me. I’m dealing with an age group that is very comfortable with that medium. I feel if I can use it to improve communication between us and help in the learning process, why not?
I will respond to e-mails in a timely fashion. (And as someone else already said, my idea of timely) That doesn’t mean sending the answer to their question. Maybe it’s sending a link to a place they can find the answer, or providing some other clue.
The institute I work at tries to instill in us not to be the Sage on the Stage, rather to be the Guide on the side. They didn’t say exactly where the side is.
Okay all you teachers and instructors out there: Think back to when you were a student and when did you do all your studying? Can you not think of at least one late night study session that you wouldn’t have killed to ask the instructor a question? My home phone and such is private, but if you want to send me a message while it’s fresh in your brain, why not? Most of the time, I’ll have a response to them before they are in their first class. If that can help to keep the motivation and the momentum up, then I support it.
Does this make me a more effective instructor? Maybe. I believe the bigger issue would be to not use these media and to basically block your self out from a generation of students who don’t know life with out email, cell phones, and the internet. This is how these students communicate, shouldn’t I use the same language?
I could potentially see some benefits to students from having 24/7 access to their teachers, however I could see some serious problems for the teachers from the same thing.
I’m married to a teacher who puts in tremendous hours of marking, prep time, contacting parents, developing materials, doing report cards, extracurricular activities, etc. There is no time provided for these activities during the “work day”, so it gets done during what should be family and personal time. This has the effect of creating stress for both the teacher and his/her family. If you add constant student access to the mix, this would worsen considerably.
I admit some people (including teachers, apparently) thrive on being constantly connected, however I wonder if for even those people it will eventually lead to health problems and an erosion of personal (actual face to face) relationships. And, many people do not thrive on such connectedness.
Personal boundries must be in place and respected, or there will be a rash of job-stress related health issues, and probably divorces that will result. Some access may be reasonable, but let’s make sure boundries are in place! For example, e-mail may be reasonable, but telephone? That removes the control over the teacher’s private life, unless it’s restricted to certain hours (one benefit to cell phones that many people don’t seem to know about is that they have an off button!)
Regarding my comments about health issues – the CBC program Ideas has a documentary available via podcast called “Sick people or sick societies” that details current research into serious stress related health problems that may result from people not having a high degree of control over their circumstances. Allowing 24/7 access to a teacher would certainly qualify as removing control.
And as for the School Superintendent’s wife whos ill advised telephone message started the discussion – teachers in our area have been warned that kids are now, in some cases, actually baiting or provoking teachers into such reactions, simply to provide the student body with some cheap entertainment on-line. Such entertainment certainly isn’t cheap for the teacher – it could cost him or her a job! As one person on the program mentioned, it would be nice to hear the original message this lady was responding to.
Reasonable boundries NEED to be in place – just because something is technically possible doesn’t mean it’s advisable!!
I certainly do not think that you need to be available to your students 24/7 to be an effective teacher, and in fact, I think that you are using very poor judgement to open your personal life to your students. Your students need to be made aware of the fact that there are boundaries in life, and that you can not have unlimited access to people. Does your family doctor allow you to call her at home? How about your dentist, or your lawyer, or any other professional you deal with?
I am a teacher, and there are times when I do have to use my personal time to do school-related work (marking, report cards, preparation time, etc), but each minute I spend doing those tasks is a minute away from my family. I would never allow my time to be further reduced by opening myself up to calls from students or parents, or interaction over the internet with students. Teaching is a full-time job, but not a 24 hour job! If students need someone to talk to at all hours, they shculd try talking to their parents first.
I think that there is a conception that to be an excellent teacher, you have to spend a whole lot of time outside of school instructional hours volunteering your time to your students. Parents and people who give awards to “excellent teachers” use out-of-school time use as a yardstick for an excellent teacher. This type of excellent teacher, though, must have a poor home life, if all time is given to school-related activities. People have to realized that teachers need to have a good balance between their work and home life, and when the scales tip toward school all the time, something has to suffer. I can be a better teacher if I am happy and healthy, and that means enjoying my life outside of school. I do not have any respect for the martyr teachers who proudly say they spent the whole weekend doing school work. Those are the teachers who will be completely burnt out in a few years.
I am a high school teacher. I consider myself to be technology-literate. I use facebook, MSN, blogging, post photos, and the like. However, I am careful about what and where I post. Recently, I disactivated any accounts I had online that could be viewed publicly without my authorization. So, my blog, and multiple photo albums posted to different websites came down. I don’t believe my students should have access to my personal photos, even if they are not inappropriate ones. In that respect, I use facebook instead of myspace. Unlike myspace where anyone can search for & thus access your profile, on facebook I can set privacy settings and the public must ask my permission to view my profile; a request I am able & very willing to reject should I either not know the person, or it is one of my students. I am, however, available online at off-school hours in an academic role via my course webpage (which lists topics covered, links for further information, & homework assignments) and email which I then answer according to my chosen schedule. I do have colleagues who use facebook to communicate with their students, or give out their personal phone numbers. I feel it is their choice to make themselves available to that extent, and hope that they realize their vulnerability to accusations and internet postings of photos or videos they did not authorize.
I also wanted to comment on something you spoke about in the podcast: “will this behaviour bite the students back?”. My feeling is yes, in various ways. The students are not only the perpetrators of the cyber-bullying that began this discussion, they are also the victims. Many students have experienced first hand how material on the internet gets shared & viewed by people other than the originally intended audience. For example, employers can view photos and videos that have been posted, in some cases many years ago, of potential employees during the hiring process. Another example is the recent news stories telling of students that have been expelled or suspended from schools for having posted or emailed comments, photos, or videos intended to victimize other students or teachers.
When students head off to university, college, or the workplace, responsible use of technology will be expected of them. What is important, is not whether or not teachers choose to make themselves available online. The important issue is to continue to teach our students that the same rules, ethics, and consequences that we apply to face-to-face interaction, will also apply to online interaction. The key is responsible and respectful use of technology in any context, be it as small as school or as large as life.
I think you need a combination of communication options these days. Face to face is very important for many learners. Hand outs, videos, email contact, they all have their place in education.
I teach in post secondary schools in the areas of web design, digital imaging and photojournalism. A certain amount of technological savvy will be expected of them when they get into the working world, but along with those skills are also the interpersonal and communication skills of the working world. I encourage my students to contact me by email if they have questions about projects, as I am only on campus part time. However, I set guidelines for this communication. I expect email to be sent in a professional, mature manner. Use relevant subject lines, identification of the student, detailed messages, etc. I try to respond within 24 hours in most situations. If I’m online at the time, they may get an email 10 minutes after they contact me.
Like previous comments here, I don’t necessarily give them the answer right off the top. I’m training these people to effective, skilled and resourceful professionals. I refer them to search options, existing material I have already prepared which is available 24/7 via BlackBoard, and require specifics from them if I am to help trouble shoot the problem they are having.
If I find an interesting link or blog online, I’ll send out an email blast to make my groups aware of it. I also try to show them the variety of ways in which they can get additional information or learn new skills, through podcasts, online resources or even help files.
I’m happy to “hang in” after class if students are having difficulties and try to help them through it. We work with a variety of software and it can sometimes be intimidating or just plain frustrating when things don’t work the way you want. So I will stay and help them work through the problem. If I can’t be there to help, sometimes I’ll record a video to demonstrate the process and upload it for them to watch at their own pace.
I avoid FaceBook on personal principle alone, because generally, what I see done with it in the class is counter-productive to the learning process. Bluntly, it’s used as a time waster and is a distraction to the lecture or demonstration going on in the class.
I think the concept of social networking is great. But I think it’s also got a time and place.
@Ann, I think that’s a really interesting distinction: the idea that you can offer them the communication tools that they use, but still have the ability to hold off on responding to messages, and not giving your home phone is a way of protecting a bit of space.
I think the ‘always on’ idea really is changing. When I was a T.A. for a couple of years, I freely gave out my home phone number and I don’t think I got more than one or two calls over the whole time. Somehow, I don’t think that would be the case now.
Ahh yes, the technology ‘advantage’… Plato, and socrates, (et al) were sooo disadvantaged!! Give me a break. Good teachers teach ‘people’ not ‘subjects’.
Beginning High schoolers often ask each other ‘who’ they have for teachers (vs. what ‘subjects’ are you taking.
Kids know a good (effective) teacher when they see one. Its never been about the technique/ or gimmicks. Its the gift of the teacher. Technology may assist, but it is NO substitute for skill, personality, and ability.
Even teacher intelligence is no guarantee of effectiveness! In fact, it can sometimes be a liability. Effective teachers don’t need fancy technology, all hours access, blogs, website, etc. Most people, especially youth, know an effective teacher when they find one. With or without the impact of facebook/myspace/my blog/ ,,,,
I blog for a living and spend most waking moments on the computer. I also am teaching this year at Ryerson University in Toronto. I have told my daughter who had some rude language on her facebook page that one should not say anything that you do not want permanently recorded to anyone but your wife or lover in bed, and maybe not even there.
I am also teaching for the first time and have given out email, skype and every other address. I have found that it has been really valuable and an effective way of adapting quickly to changes, giving information and communicating with 57 students I barely know for a one-term course. I would not be doing as good a job without it.
As a high school teacher who has ignored many requests from students to be added to my Facebook friends, I don’t think that using online messaging is a good idea for teachers. Even if this level of after-hours availability was not an unreasonable time demand on teachers, and I think it is, there are still many reasons why I don’t think messaging is appropriate.
Firstly, communicating with students in this way may be seen as unprofessional, in the sense that it is too personal. Teachers could get into trouble I believe, and students could too. For instance, it is so much easier to be misinterpreted or to say something you regret online. I also think that teachers should not blur the line between a professional student-teacher relationship, and a friendship, since generally speaking people talk to their friends and peer group through Facebook and messenger. I wouldn’t ask my boss, my employee, or the mayor to be on my Facebook friends list because it just doesn’t seem appropriate.
Besides the potential social impropriety, there is also the question of whether students will use this after-hours access to teachers as an academic crutch. There is a possibility that they may not be as attentive in class, or use the time available at school to ask questions and get extra help because they know they can get caught up later on messenger. I think it is important for students to learn how to work within various work environments, such as a school institution, and to use their class time wisely and organize time to meet with the teacher for extra help. There’s something to be said for learning to communicate face-to-face.
Finally, teachers must assume a “teacher character” at school. This is a person who acts as a caring and responsible adult at all times, who is a good manager, mentor, etc. This is not who the teacher always has to be at home, and the transition from teacher-self to personal-self is a much needed part of a teacher’s life. I think that having to be constantly engaged in my teacher role, even at home when I’m trying to relax would really prevent me from spending time as my personal-self and would cause me to burn out… even faster than usual.
Thanks for the interesting question!
Laura
I teach at a community college in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.
I do think I am a more effective teacher because I allow my students to ask questions via e-mail.
Part of my job is to be available during what is called office hours. I tell my students that I will be available during those times. Students who come to see me in person, get priority, but I will answer questions via the telephone, or via e-mail.
My student’s lives are much busier than when I went to school. More of them are working as well as going to school, something that has been necessitated due to much higher costs of living, tuition and lower student grants. I lived in residence for my first year of university and was able to be a full time student for the other years. That is not true of my students.
As my students juggle their busy lives they do not have the time to come visit me during my office hours. As well, we are a multi-campus institution and so half the time, I am on the “other” campus.
I give my student my e-mail at the start of the year. It is also available on the college web site. The official method of communication from the college to the students is via e-mail.
I get a few e-mails from my students every day.
I am clear with them that I will answer e-mails “as soon as possible.” I do not guarantee to answer them after normal working hours. I am also clear that there is a limit to what I will answer via e-mail, as is the case for face-to-face interactions. Just as I need to monitor the time I spend on my job, balancing my life with my work, I think it is essential that I model to my students an appropriate work-life balance. For example, I tell them that I will answer e-mails received before 4:00 pm on the day before a major test or final exam.
If I did not answer e-mails, I know that some students would not ask me any questions at all.
In my almost 20 years of teaching, I have only had a student call me at home on one occasion.
E-mail does not have to be 24/7.
My computer has an off button.
As does my cell phone.
Hello Nora:
Thank you first off for providing such a fascinating and relevant topic for us to discuss and perhaps evendebate. This question of privacy and the disconnect is something that I think about a lot.
I am a teacher in a middle school and have spent nearly all of my 14 year career with 12 – 14 year olds (7 and 8 graders). They are by far my favourite age group to teach. In my experience they relate to caring adults far better than any other age group that I know. They can be spontaneous yet thoughtful, brash yet respecful. I love them. But I would be a fool to admit that the average 13 year old and myself are the same animal. We are not. And it is not just about the 37 years that separates us. Information and access to information abounds in their life; electronic games and entertainment is how they spend their time. They are truly wired. I am not. I have email and a land line at home. I have no cell phone and no plan to get one. Students frequently call me at home, and so do their parents, but my first choice of contact is face to face. Being accessible is important but being at their beck and call is not appropriate. I think rather than be totally and readily available the most effective teachers are those who actually keep a clearly defined boundary between themselves and their students. For me, it is important that I am different than the kids. I take pride in my old fashionedness and the etiquette that comes with it. In 1971 I was one of those trash taking sometimes impudent early teens. I think part of why I respected so many of my teachers was because they were so different from me. Schools and teachers are for many kids part of that last bastion of respectfulness and civility where Mr. and Ms. are still used and pleases and thank yous are expected. There are schedules and clear expectations for behaviour. And for so many of us in my age group anyway, respect of each other’s privacy is also very much part of the package. Many of my students’ lives are open books. They post, they text, they chat, they blog, they talk, talk, talk. It is it their life and I believe that old fashioned civility and manners are suffering because of it.
One of the best examples that I can think of that describes the chasm between most adults (40+) and today’s teens comes in the form of story. One day during this last winter I was walking from the main school building to our classroom which is in a portable. I saw a group of 7 or 8 girls, a couple from our class, all in a huddle and one girl obviously holding court while the others hung on every word. She saw me coming so I quietly stepped into their circle and cupped a hand over my ear to let signal that I was going to listen. The girl, whom I have a great relationship with, said: “Mr. Jamieson. You can listen. I am telling a secret.” When I was 13 a secret never left your lips. Today, for many kids, a secret is safe with 7 of your friends.
The answer is no. I believe that the roles of a teacher are: 1. To set a path for the students to tread that avoids pitfalls while providing challenges that engender growth; 2. To help students avoid pitfalls and to allow them to struggle for growth; 3. To evaluate their performance along the path and to measure their growth.
Social media can be used to communicate the path and assist with avoiding pitfalls, but I fear it is often used to avoid the growth challenges. Evaluation and measurement require an objective judgement not social communication to be effective. Some teachers can use techology effectively while others cannot. Using technology ineffectively can turn a good teacher into one that is ineffective. A communications technology is just a way to communicate nothing more. It can be used to provide a different learning environment that may be effective for some students.
Effective teaching does not imply effective learning. Teachers place a sequence of “knowledge coins” along the path. The students that do not pick them up cannot spend them, regardless of how great the teacher is or how social the communications channel is.
I’m the grandmother of three biological, one foster, two honourary, and one soon-to-be-adopted children, and work in the technology industry.
Teachers need to adapt to the realities of their work circumstances. Social networking sites are the new playgrounds, so to speak, and so affect the educational landscape just like they affect the landscapes of other professions.
All of our professions have changed as a result of technology, and we’ve all had to ask ourselves what the impact of that technology is on our professional environments. Without sounding jargon-y, we do an environmental impact assessment ever more frequently. We may have the same big-picture goals, but how we reach them will change dramatically as the technology changes.
Nature abhors a vacuum, and when left without role modeling and signposting in the vast worlds of social networks, youth will create their own rules, which may be a kinder-and-gentler world or a Lord of the Flies world – the point is, they will set the moral compasses for themselves when no one steps in to their new playground to supervise. And technology is the newest, most natural divide, as adult technology fatigue leaves them dark-screened at home while the youth count on unsupervised time. And many times, it works. The critical change will happen when the average teacher is also of the generation equally plugged into the same technologies, and doesn’t see the technologies as an “added job burden” but simply as an effective way of doing business.
Glad this story is sparking such a discussion, and we’re pleased to be a platform for this dialogue. I am curious to know if school boards have policies around this, or if time worked answering emails or IMs is becoming an issue in collective agreements.
I have been an elementary teacher for 27 years. Slowly, technology has been entering into my personal teaching practise with great benefits. One though, is not the erosion of my personal time at home. One of the responsibilities of education is to teach students to be independent, resourceful and responsible. If students have 24 hour access to their teachers, what would motivate them to pay attention in class, write down assignments or even show up? If you can call your teacher at anytime to get any information you need, why not pay attention when it’s convenient? I think 24 hour telephone access to teachers might encourage, dependence and irresponsibility. A teacher is a professional whose personal life should be respected. Just as anyone would respect the private life of their doctor, physiotherapist, lawyer, car mechanic or member of parliament. Teachers have a right to a private life outside of their job for their own and ultimately their students’ benefit.
You have successfully made me feel old with the “Virginia Snow Day” story.
While I have grown up as a participant in the participatory culture, I have to say that I consider the students mentioned in this story to be extremely rude. This is not speaking back to power, but aggressively violating civility.
I don’t live with my life entirely segregated. I am currently in my home office sending this non-work-related message, and at other times I will be on my ultra portable (In my case an XO http://laptop.org ) on off hours connected via wireless doing work.
I get quite upset when someone sends me SPAM via email, but I am infuriated when someone does this on the phone or in person. The asynchronous aspect of my email is what makes less targeted messaging a little more tolerable. Send me an unsolicited message via an asynchronous method and I may just delete the message unread, but interrupt me on the phone (especially my cell phone) and my first instinct is to want to bill or sue you.
I would have given those kids a “snow day” — sure, it would officially be called a suspension, and would last for a minimum of a few weeks. Let the “power” that they can deal with be their parents who will be angry at having to deal with a situation caused by the rudeness of their children.
As to the question: Social media that is asynchronous, where the educator can participate during reasonable “work hours” is an entirely different thing than suggesting that anyone should be “always available”. Teachers already spend far more than just classroom contact time working to make education better, and much of this is done outside of official school hours. They need downtime and the ability to get out of their teacher-mode and relax.
On the other hand, none of those students are “always available” to work towards their own education. Far too many don’t even bother to pay attention during classroom contact time.
Any parent that would suggest teachers be forced to take this on should give their cell phone numbers to the schools. That way teachers and administrators can call these parents at any hour (including in the middle of their “important” meetings) to participate in the many parental activities parents are outsourcing to the schools.
Disclosure: I’m turning 40 at the end of this month, and I’m married to a high-school teacher. Maybe my age and home situation helps color my views on this.
@ Russell,
Yes, what I liked about Danah Boyd’s and Marc Fisher’s comments is that they shifted the discussion from being a purely technological or “online” one to being one of what is generally socially appropriate behaviour.
Agreed that asynchronous communication like email and social media is potentially v. effective, precisely because it can be used when the teacher is in ‘teacher mode’, but home numbers and cell phones seems over the top to me.
I spent a year teaching media arts at a high school here in Ontario. During that time both the school board and the teacher’s union folks told us to avoid any one on one contact with individual students through email, phone, or other means. This is why… Although these situations are rare, it leaves the teacher open to false accusations by a student. A false accusation made against a teacher can be damaging to a teacher’s career and personal life. The best protection a teaching can have is keeping all contact with students in the classroom and away from Facebook.
The internet should be used as a means of providing course information, agendas, homework assignments and other information to parents and students. It could also be used as an open forum for group work that students can use. I don’t think it should be used as two way communication between students and teachers.
There is not a direct relationship between effective teaching and electronic communication technologies. But when one of my students has a question, helping them as quickly as possible can help the learning process. To that end, I try to keep open as possible and use multiple communication technologies, but teaching is still a one-on-one activity and technological communication through the keyboard is only can be effective after personal communication, whether face-to-face, telephone, or vid.
I am a high school science teacher in a small community in Northern Saskatchewan. I am always available 24/7. The students know where I live, when I am at home or at the school, what my phone number is, they even know what time I shut out my bedroom light at night. I couldn’t hid if I wanted to. Does that make me a better teacher? Of course not. It is not being available 24/7 that makes these teachers more effective. It is the desire to reach the students, to allow the students to reach each other and a wider world that makes these teachers so effective.
To the average teacher the web is just a resource no different then text books and videos. But to a teacher who is already effective, Web 2.0 becomes a whole new way of teaching, communicating and allowing students to communicate.
I think that fundamentally the question implies that to use these tools makes you more effective, and that is simply wrong. Like any other tool it is the skill of the person using it and his or her goals that determine the results. Give me a hammer and a saw an I can tear down a house, give my brother a hammer and saw and he can build you a house.
The short answer to the question is no, but teachers who want to be the most effective should be using these tools and helping their students learn how to use them also. Or perhaps learning how to use them from their students.