Ontario Teachers Told Not to Friend Students on Facebook
RSSBy Lauren Barack
Concerned about the blurring of professional boundaries between students and educators, the Ontario College of Teachers—the regulatory board for all public teachers in Canada's second largest province—is advising members not to friend students on Facebook, among other social media guidelines. While noting that social media and electronic communication "can be effective when used cautiously and professionally," the report, "Professional Advisory: Use of Electronic Communication and Social Media," warns that these popular tools weren't designed for use in educational settings and "can expose members to risk when it comes to maintaining professionalism." To help its members follow best practices, the college drafted several points in the report on how to behave with students when using social media in classrooms—and, even, on their own time. These include declining friend requests from students, as well as not issuing ones themselves, notifying parents and guardians before using social networks for class work, asking others not to tag them in photographs without permission, and avoiding online criticism about students, colleagues, employers, or others in their community. "The use of the Internet and social media, despite best intentions, may cause members to forget their professional responsibilities and the unique position of trust and authority given to them by society," the report says. "The dynamic between a member and a student is forever changed when the two become 'friends' in an online environment." Ultimately, the college wants its members to understand that electronic messages are not anonymous and that without taking a fairly strong level of control, images, posts, and comments can remain online and potentially outside a teacher's ability to remove them once they're posted or sent. "They can be tracked, misdirected, manipulated and live forever on the Internet," says the report. "Social media sites create and archive copies of every piece of content posted, even when deleted from online profiles. Once information is digitized, the author relinquishes control." This article originally appeared in the newsletter Extra Helping. Go here to subscribe. The problem is not teachers but the failure of the
Ontario College of Teachers to come to grips with outrageous conduct of school boards and school board
administration. Over $835,000 was stolen from a school
board and not one receipt was ever asked for by the
school board. Who really knows how many millions have
actually been lost in the London School Board. In
Ontario a child disappeared from the steps of a school
and not one third party investigation was under taken
to determine if the school administration was
responsible for the lose of the child. Two children in
the London Ontario schools committed suicide rather
then face school yard bullies. One high school student
who wrote an essay on how he was going to hang himself
carried out what he wrote the teacher. The teacher and
school board are being taken to court but no criminal
charges are even considered for the school who did
nothing to safe the persons life. The stories go on for
pages.... so is social networking important. Yes...but
nothing compared to the shameful acts of Ontario School Administrators. If people are concerned about
protecting children from abuse in schools. Speak up for
the sake of kids. www.bill131.ca.
Background cases.
Evil Lurks in Ontario.
40 years and school adminsitartor admist forcing sex on
children, no accountability
http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?
e=3080359
Busing, Student safety low priority
http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/christina_
blizzard/2011/04/12/17970346.html#/comment/columnists/c
hristina_blizzard/2011/04/12/pf-17970346.html
Student sends written statment to teacher describing
future suicide. Teacher does not intervene to safe the
young man.
http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2011/2011onsc869/2
011onsc869.html#_ftn1
Paul Fortin, OCT,
Teacher allowed to re-enter teaching after ????????
with child
http://professionallyspeaking.oct.ca/march_2011/go/disp
ute_resolution.aspx
http://www.oct.ca/PublicRegister/memberDetails.aspx?
memberID=530290
Tracy Burns Strip Search
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2010/11/25/o
ttawa-bonds-video-115.html
Principal knows about questionable "sexual behaviour"
of Teacher and does not Report Teacher to College
http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?
archive=true&e=2121249
Student Killed while school adminsitartion does nothing
about violence.
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/429189
Let him out of jail to Teach.
http://www.oct.ca/investigations_hearings/decision_summ
aries/sept_03/sept_abdallah.aspx?lang=en-CA
Female Sex Offender allowed to Teach.
http://www.oct.ca/investigations_hearings/decision_summ
aries/dec_05/dec05_webb.aspx?lang=en-CA
$880,000 Taken from School Board and no one notices.
http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2011/01/27/17058051.
html
Catholic Repeat Sex Offender allowed to remain as a
tecaher during years of Appeals
http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Baggio+appeal+dismissed
/4168144/story.html
Young girl begged for help.
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2011/01/15
/16903291.html
Sex offender found not guilty but destroyed victim
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2011/01/15
/16903406.html
Almost 400 hundred children Dead in Government Care
http://www.protectingcanadianchildren.ca/index.htm
Children Abused
http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/11/22/1625867
6.html
Children Abused
http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?
e=2781729
http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2010/05/12/13916866.
html
http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2010/10/05/15591386.
html#/news/london/2010/10/05/pf-15591386.html
Sex offenders not reported
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/05/29/ott-
lawsuit-defence-ashbury-college.html
Beatings Reported
http://www.yorkregionanti-bullying.org/
http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2010/05/31/14206986.
html
One of the Kids who killed himself rather then Face
Bullies….
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?
gid=119712801384511&v=wall
Secret Society Covering it Up
http://www.pimedu.org/workgroup.html
/A first grade teacher in Paterson, NJ, was suspended in April after parents complained about derogatory comments she wrote about her students on the popular social networking site. And a high school English teacher in Doylestown, PA, was recently suspended after she posted insulting comments about students, parents, and other teachers on her then-anonymous blog./
this is from the article above. I think it has nothing to do with students and teachers, but rather with facebook use. Education now cannot be imagined without 'media', communication. It is not difficult to just give it a positive PUSH. Lets educate people about how to use this facebook thing as an example. 'Media' as whole is not controlled. No matter what facebook is or what this or that sit is, it is crazy all over that screen. Seems to me that it is not only facebook but everything actually. What does it mean not have my student as a friend on facebook if I know who he/she is?? The answer is shocking, because it prove our failure to communicate with our students correctly no matter HOW... I had a teacher facebook account for over 2 years with my principal's knowledge. There were about 540 students connected to it and they could message me or see my educational posts even if they were never my classroom students. I had many students doing my "fun" assignments only becasue tehy saw the posts on FB. i was told to "shut it down" when it was noticed that we coudl see future fights and issues based on students wall posts teh night before. I deactivated and made a teacher page instead. It seems to be safer but less seen and used. www.facebook.com/stemlab I had a teacher facebook account for over 2 years with my principal's knowledge. There were about 540 students connected to it and they could message me or see my educational posts even if they were never my classroom students. I had many students doing my "fun" assignments only because they saw the posts on FB. i was told to "shut it down" when it was noticed that we could see future fights and issues based on students wall posts the night before. I deactivated and made a teacher page instead. It seems to be safer but less seen and used. www.facebook.com/stemlab * = Required information
Teachers in the U.S. have come under fire in recent months for calling their students "future criminals," "germ bags," or saying they "hate their guts" on Facebook. A first grade teacher in Paterson, NJ, was suspended in April after parents complained about derogatory comments she wrote about her students on the popular social networking site. And a high school English teacher in Doylestown, PA, was recently suspended after she posted insulting comments about students, parents, and other teachers on her then-anonymous blog.
Reader Comments (8)
Posted by Mary on April 20, 2011 09:56:21PM
Posted by Nomatter on April 21, 2011 01:10:22AM
Posted by Francesco Portelos on April 21, 2011 10:39:52AM
Posted by Francesco Portelos on April 21, 2011 10:40:13AM
