New Promises

Promises are meaningful. Promises are contracts; they set expectations. When I began my work in education, I knew that I was making a promise to my students. The promise was to give them the very best education. "The Educational Promise of Social Media" in the Herff Jones Achievement Series (September 2011) was brought to my attention by @NMHS_Principal. The promise here is the same....social media is a vehicle to give all students the very best education.

To some social media promises to bring problems. If school districts and their teachers embrace social media, the promises are trouble. Missouri is so sure of this that they began enforcing a state law that governs teacher-student communication in cyberspace. Districts in Illinois and Connecticut have policies which bar contact between teachers and students through email and social networking sites.

To others social media promises to bring a new way to connect to today's connected learners. Connected educators have learned new ways of instructing with social media. They are helping students connect with industry experts via twitter. Students are using Skype to connect with well-known authors and are posting videos to their own YouTube Channels.

I wonder if there were policies similar to this when the telephone made its debut. Did districts write policies which limited the way teachers and students could communicate? Once again the medium becomes the culprit and not the user.

Some people will misuse technology. I guess that is the promise, but to limit the technology is not the answer. If a student cheats using his smart phone, it is not a smart phone issue--it is a cheating issue. The smart phone is no more guilty than the cheat sheet was to students in the 1970's.

It is always easy to point a finger at the method used when something goes awry, but the issue is never the method, it is always the person using the method. A speeding car which causes an accident is not the culprit...the driver is. An empty box of Twinkies is not the cause of a stomach ache....the person's choice to eat the whole box is. A Facebook personal message which causes heartache is not the instigator.....the author of the message is.

If schools are to teach Digital Citizenship, we need to teach responsible use of social media, and one of the best ways to do that is to use social media responsibly in the classroom. Social media is a way to communicate, highlight achievements, and provide valuable learning opportunities for students, teachers, staff, and parents. It is a medium that can be a great vehicle for educational opportunities.

Being innovative and teaching to the students' level has always been expected of our best teachers. Educators are professionals and should be expected to act professionally. Why would we expect them to act any other way whether they are discussing an assignment with a student in the hallway between classes, emailing a student, or using social media? Why must a policy be instituted because a misuse might occur? Misuses happen with everything; but once again, the misuse is a matter of the person making an inappropriate choice. It is not a matter of the medium that the person used. Social Media has so many promises and possibilities.  Educators are expected to handle themselves and their classrooms in professional ways....that expectation does not change with social media. Social Media is evolving not evaporating. It is time that we encourage educational professionals to do their jobs with all of the tools that are available. Social Media promises to evolve and expand faster than schools can create policies; yet, the fast-paced evolution of social media offers valuable opportunities and new promises for educational benefits.