How Should Westford's Schools Approach Social Media?
It might be black and white one way or the other, or perhaps more complex. We want your take.
A few months ago, a Westford parent came to us and said their child's school had sent an e-mail saying the school was promoting an event through Facebook, even though Facebook is banned on school grounds.
Indeed, many school organizations at Westford Academy and throughout town have social media accounts of one form of another. Does this send a mixed message to kids, or is it an apples and oranges situation?
We've attached two policies from the Westford Public Schools website relating to the school's computing environment, and today we want your take.
Is Facebook too distracting to ever be used in a school setting? Could it be used as an educational tool? Or, perhaps there is a middle ground in between that keeps students from getting distracted while utilizing networking technology?
What do you think? Tell us in the comments.
Jamaal
6:17 am on Monday, March 18, 2013
'school was promoting an event through Facebook, even though Facebook is banned on school grounds."
Oh Boy!
My advice: With extreme caution! So many of our kids are SOOOOOO tech savy but increasingly struggle having a face to face conversation or presenting to real people. Unless we are going to try and online class model we should take care we are doing right by our educational standards and the social and emotional well being of our students.
Christi
9:38 am on Monday, March 18, 2013
Marketing on Facebook is a fact of life & here to stay. Of course kids should learn to use it responsibly. It's incredibly useful; all sorts of organizations use Facebook to promote events; girl scouts, theater groups, charities... There is a Social Media Marketing course at the High School, as well there should be. It's a 'no-brainer' as far as I'm concerned.