Facecrack

Basically since Facebook opened up to Canadian university students, I have been an addicted member. As I said in my autobiography at the beginning of the course, when Facebook came out, it was revolutionary. As a student it was the perfect way to keep in contact with people you knew, acquaintances you made and to essentially creep on people you wish you knew. When I signed up as a member in 2006, you were able to see everything that any other student posted who went to your school (if you wanted to). How naive were we to not foresee the ramifications of such an open forum?

Taking pictures became more of a necessity because everyone wanted to show the world how exciting their life was and how interesting the things they were doing were. I can't even count the times I have heard someone say "that's my new profile pic" after a photo has been taken.

Over time Facebook has changed, and thank God. The privacy settings that are available now are integral, specifically for us teachers. Though my Facebook has, what I think are pretty high privacy settings, I still use a pseudonym to avoid my students being able to find me. Though I don't think I live an overly scandalous life, I do know that I write moderately inappropriate things to my friends on occasion and in the wrong hands, these comments would be terrible. That being said, overtime, I have learned to filter myself on Facebook and rarely post pictures anymore due to the fact that the site owns anything that is posted. I fear for the presidential candidates of the future; dirty laundry is going to become more and more difficult to hide.

So, if I am an addicted Facebook user, it is clear to me that so are my students. Unfortunately, while they have the know how to use Facebook's tools, teenagers do not know how to monitor themselves effectively in public forums, nor do most of them truly understand the ramifications of their digital foot print. How many more Amanda Todds will there have to be before they get it?

image c/o careerrocketeer.com

The big question then becomes, how can we use Facebook in the classroom? I say we don't. When I was a teenager, instant messaging was a huge deal and I used it most every day. It was a part of my life, but that doesn't mean that it needed to be a part of my school life. 

I know teachers who used to create faux profiles for characters of novels, or historical people on Facebook, and it was student's jobs to ask them questions or to post pictures on their walls etc., but since that time, Facebook has cracked down on fake profiles, so I don't think this is a viable option any longer.

c/o http://img.docstoccdn.com

The only use for Facebook I see now is as a teacher centred blog like entity. It would be a place where homework is posted and questions can be asked and that's about it. That being said, I think that Facebook activities can be done in the classroom without Facebook itself. A teacher could create a poster "wall" for a character and students could post conversations between Facebook characters, but on paper instead of on the actual site. Maybe this takes away the fun, it for sure takes away the technological aspect, but at least it lets students know that teachers are in the know.

c/o http://shop.atozteacherstuff.com

Similarly, Instagram could be used as a teacher centered space, where students can follow what he or she is posting, but I cannot see how I would use it in my classroom constructively. I could see showing images from instagram to students, but not using the site together, however I am looking forward to reading other people's posts so that they can prove me wrong.

Other than those two social networking sites, I don't know much about any of the others. I googled Ning and watched a short propagandist video on it, but I can't understand how it is different from a blog. I suppose you could have a class Ning, but again...the concept confuses me. Do these kind of thoughts mean I am getting old?