Comments on: Social Media Renegades

By: Jose

Jose — Thu, 10 May 2012 22:49:15 +0000

Everyone,

Thanks for your responses. I’ve been musing on these guidelines some more, and wonder the implications of such a CYA policy in a time when schools of thought NEED to be at the forefront of teaching students how to think about the world around them, even if it’s coming at them faster than we ever could.

By: Dee

Dee — Fri, 04 May 2012 06:40:45 +0000

Loved the blog! I encourage you to continue to push the bounds of learning!

By: Anne De Manser

Anne De Manser — Fri, 04 May 2012 02:47:46 +0000

Hi Jose
While I like to regard myself as a responsible social media citizen & role model for my students and my community, in the sense that doing so often puts me at odds with general departmental and community opinion, I have been a renegade since I first discovered the communicative power of the WWW over a decade ago. I will continue to voice my opinion online. I will continue to ‘friend’ my students and their parents. I will continue to provide the same responsible role modeling and duty of care online as I do offline.
I’m pretty sure Will Richardson was on the right track when he likened the internet to a run away bus. There are no ground rules in social media and while adults continue to be prevented from joining kids in those spaces then the kids will continue to make up the rules as they go.
Keep up the good work :-)

By: Shelley Owen

Shelley Owen — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:31:31 +0000

I am right there with you Jose. I have “override the filter” rights (as well as courage, deft & savvy) and use them routinely to allow access to social media for my students. I open blogs, YouTube, FaceBook, Twitter, etc…I am a renegade.

I am “friends” with my students on FB who request it; they understand that by being friends with me, they will be subject to the digital citizenship and respect ethics I have taught them in class, and will call out all violations. I consider it my job to be a role model for online behavior (and that doesn’t mean I censor myself!). I have 200 student friends on FB. In over 3 years I have yet to see any genuinely mean, poor or dangerous behavior. Guess what they’re doing there? Helping each other. How is this a bad thing?

By: stephb

stephb — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:14:43 +0000

LOVE THIS POST! I’m applying to fellowship programs as we speak. I work as a tutor and I try to use as many tools as possible to help kids get things. Technology really works, but so does the old school candy or Pizza party bribe. Its really interesting to navigate.
I also have like a million social networking sites. and I have not yet censored myself… i hope i never have to.