Teachers’ Desk Educators, Parents, and Kids Online: A Principal’s Advice for Responsible Behavior
By Conn McCartan
How Educators Can Help Students Manage Online/Wireless Activity
A framework that I believe will serve educators, parents and students well is to apply whatever standards they use for “offline” interactions to their “online” interactions. Using that line of thinking, I would suggest these tips.
1) Don’t assume the role of “online” police as an educator. You do not police students’ social interactions outside of school when they are hanging out at the mall; why do you want to do it in the online environment? The ease with which we can peer into the electronic world of our young people can be intriguing, but we really should not take on that responsibility.
2) Do offer an adult perspective on online behavior. We offer advice for how students should act in public. We hope they follow this advice. The same can be said for online interactions. Help young people see how their online interactions form a permanent record that can be shared with thousands of people in a short amount of time. Ask students to examine the kinds of statements, pictures and videos they are putting out into the world. Remind them that the electronic environment is far from private. Let them know about the obligations you have as an educator if you are given documentation of activity that is against school rules or codes of conduct they must follow as members of school groups. Students may say or do things in private that they wouldn’t want their parents to know about. If they do these things electronically, someone can show their parents exactly what they said or did! A helpful resource for educators: http://www.netsmartz.org/education/training.html
How Educators Can Manage Their Own Online/Wireless Activity
We have spoken to our staff about using the same guidelines for social networking interactions with students that they would use for face-to-face interactions with students. While we do not want to infringe upon speech rights, we have told them that professional guidelines would direct them to limit their electronic interactions with students to academic sites rather than social sites. Facebook and My Space are social networking sites, and students see them that way. There are several options available to teachers to create class pages for the sole purpose of academic exchange. Teachers in our school use “Moodle” (http://www.moodle.org) to create forums for students to connect with the teachers for academic exchange. As a school system, we can control the content and security of these sites. You don’t have that with social networking sites.
How Parents Can Help Kids Understand the Consequences of Their Online/Wireless Behavior
- Talk to your children about the fact that social networking sites are not private. Young people must understand that whatever they say or show online is more like saying it over the PA at school than like whispering it to a friend at lunch.
- Talk to your children about the permanence of items on social networking sites. You can take words you regret back in a conversation. With online interactions, anyone can go back and grab the exact words/images. They are “on the record” once you type them up and hit “send.”
- Keep the computers in your home out of your child’s bedroom. Put them in a place where you can monitor what your children are doing, saying and posting online.
- Establish time limits for social computer use just as you would for TV viewing. Online social interaction can suck up a lot of a young person’s time!
- Insist on having the passwords and access to your child’s online pages. This isn’t his/her diary! It’s not private! You should be able to see what your child is putting out for the rest of the world to see. Establish a consequence if you discover that your child has created an “underground” online presence you didn’t know about!
- Learn about social networking sites. There are so many positive qualities about them that can be a real benefit to you as an adult and as a parent. It is even OK if you end up having your own social networking site!
Conn McCartan is entering his fifth year as principal of Eden Prairie High School, the largest high school in Minnesota. McCartan has been a principal for twelve years, and has been in education for 26 years. Last year, Eden Prairie High School made news when administrators punished thirteen students for drinking alcohol—a school violation that was captured in photos posted on social networking sites.
November 15th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
I THANK YOU FOR THE PRUDENT ADVICE.I WILL SHARE THEM WITH MY COLLEAGUES.
VAN JOHNSON
ELEM. COUNSELOR