Foundations Newsletter

We’ve all attended the PD and downloaded the apps, and now we want to exploit social media in our classrooms. We want our lessons to be engaging and authentic, but at the same time we need to bear in mind a few issues when using social media in the classroom.

Personal Accounts

Students must NOT use their personal, private accounts. They should set up a separate academic account for use in the classroom. You should also have an academic, work account. While you might be happy to share your holiday pictures with your friends on Instagram, would you want students to see them? No, of course not.

Inappropriate Information

We need to ensure that students only post appropriate information on social media. As a rule:

• Do not post identifying / private information
• Do not post or share pictures of females
• Do not use your academic account for personal things, e.g family photos
• Treat others with respect

Netiquette

While students might be expert users of social media, they may not understand some of the basic rules they should be following. Language could be inappropriate, content might be taken from others and passed off as their own, and interactions may be inappropriate. 

Before you use social media or any open communication tool in class, make sure you directly teach your students netiquette rules: for example, citing sources, avoiding ALL CAPS, using proper language, and avoiding inappropriate emoticons. There a lot of resources online covering this topic; for example:link1 , link 2, link 3.   

Student Refusal

Some students might cite a variety of reasons for not participating or using a social media tool. If you are using it correctly as part of their course, students cannot refuse to take part. If your activity is appropriate, then students will not have a valid argument for not taking part.

However, rather than challenging these students in class please send them to your program chair or counselor.

Finally, make sure you are aware of the college policy. You can view it by visiting this link: HCT policy portal

And…

This might also be a good time to remind you to check your own online presence. Are, for example, your Facebook security settings up to date? Is your profile picture inappropriate? Are you following anyone on twitter you might not want your students to know about?

Your students will search for you online, as will employers when you apply for new positions. Make sure that you are happy with your online public profile.