As far as using Facebook in an educational setting, I think it would be acceptable for use when students are assigned research projects where they need to work in a group. They could access each other's ideas and progress when working at home. This could help parents out if they can avoid having to chauffer their children to various meeting places to work on projects.
In terms of using Facebook in during the regular school day, I don't think it is a good idea simply based on the fact that I cannot see how it would be integrated in a meaningful way. If group work time is allotted in class, then classmates can simply discuss their project face to face. Another reason I don't think Facebook works in the classroom is the fact that the teacher would have to spend a lot of time figuring out if students are on task or not, and that may be difficult within the Facebook application. It may also be a breach of privacy since one of the tools we use at school to make sure students are on task is a computer program whereby the teacher can individually monitor every student's computer and see what they are doing. The last thing I want to do at school is to have to figure out if the students on Facebook are working or not, and having the possibility of seeing something of a very personal nature. It just is not going to happen.
Now that I've determined Facebook could be useful to students working on group projects, would I actually incorporate their use of Facebook as part of an assessment tool? The answer is no. If I assign a group project, I will leave it up to the students to figure out what tools they would like to use from home. No reason for me to monitor or even look at any of their work within Facebook.
Regarding the issue of whether teachers should allow students access to a teacher's Facebook page, I know many teachers who are okay with having students as connections on Facebook. That's fine with me if the teacher wants to utilize Facebook in that fashion. For me, though, my Facebook page is more personal and is for my friends and family, so I like to limit the people I connect with to reflect more of my social and family life and less of my work life. However, I use Linked In for my professional life. So if a student wanted to friend me on Facebook, I would likely say no but offer the more uncool alternative of Linked In as a way for the student to connect with me on a social media site that I consider to be more professional than Facebook.
I too would not use Facebook for in-class work and projects. I find that it can be too distracting, and there's enough of that going on in class as it is. The idea may seem sound on one point, but I don't see it. I like that you gave it a try to figure out how it could be useful. I myself struggled hard to see how this could be for the benefit of my teaching, and the students' learning. It seems ridiculous to incorparate this in the class medium, but I understand the thinking. As we move forward, so does technology, and it is not a bad idea to want to know what new technology is out there, and how it can be used for our purposes.
ReplyDeleteJust not Facebook.