Instructify

It used to be for college students only, but now there’s no escaping Facebook if you’re a teacher. Students are jumping ship from clunky, older services like Friendster and MySpace in record numbers, especially now that Facebook has added applications, video, and a host of new options. If you’re not yet using the social-networking behemoth, you may feel apprehensive about joining.

Still, as students flock to social networking sites, they’ll tune you out pretty quickly if you answer their “why aren’t you on Facebook” queries with a clueless “Face-what?” Teachers don’t have to be power users every time kids discover a new technology, but you’ll fare better in the classroom when you try to meet students where they are. If you’re feeling bold enough to try social networking for the first time, these tips will help you navigate Facebook. Heck, they may even help you teach with it.

1. Use the built-in privacy settings

Facebook allows you to restrict access to almost every piece of your profile. By following the “privacy” link in the top right-hand corner of your Facebook homepage, you can set access to your profile, limit people from finding you in searches, or control what information is sent to Facebook’s mini-feeds.

Of course, if anyone tries to hassle you, you can just shut them out entirely with the “Block People” option.

2. Consider a public-face profile and a friends-only profile

Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it, too? A lot of teachers are finding it easier to have two profiles - one they share with students, and one they share with friends. If you have two different e-mail accounts, you can sign up for two profiles with the service. You definitely don’t want your students to have access to a list of your friends. Do your college drinking buddies really need to see the information you created for your third-period class?

3. Be judicious about the information you share

Do you remember the Drunken Pirate? She’s the Millersville University student who posted a picture of herself drinking at a party, and it cost her a diploma when the School of Education deemed the picture “unprofessional” and “potentially offensive to students.”

It doesn’t take a genius figure out that some parts of your life don’t need to be shared in a forum that students, colleagues, and administrators can access. Keep those pictures G-rated. Think long and hard about whether or not you want to give students a look at your spouse’s name or profile. If you use personal information - like a pet’s name or a birthdate - in your computer passwords, it’s not such a bad idea to keep that away from students, too.

4. Formulate a policy on friending students before you begin

Curious students will search for their teachers on a regular basis, and as soon as you have a profile, you may find yourself inundated with requests from students. Knowing why you have your profile and what you want to do with it is important.

If you use Facebook solely for personal reasons, you may have some explaining to do when you reject a student’s request to be your friend. Danah Boyd, a leader in the field of research on how students use social networks, writes:

A frantic professor stopped me in the hall to ask, “What do you do when your students invite you to be their friend on Facebook?” “Smile and say thank you,” I replied, “because it’s a sign that they respect you.” Any teacher or professor knows that fraternizing with your students is ethically unacceptable because of the power dynamics involved; yet students regularly invite their professors and teachers to be Friends on social network sites. Is this friendship?

If you add one student as a friend, you should be prepared to add them all, but be prepared for some curious quandaries. Do you accept the friend request from the student in another teacher’s class? What if a parent requests friendship?

Teachers should not make friendship requests of students. Students may not feel empowered to reject your request because of the classroom power dynamic, and will resent being forced to give up their “private space.”

5. Use status updates to nudge students for assignments, or to let students know about important events

A few words can be very powerful. When my creative writing class was lagging behind on their assignments, I updated my status to “waiting on papers.” The very next day, more than half of the students who had added me as a friend handed in the overdue work. “I didn’t realize I was late,” said one, “but when I saw you put it on your Facebook, I thought, ‘If he’s impatient enough to put this assignment on his Facebook, I had better hurry up and turn it in.’” Similarly, setting up events for school functions, like the Drama Club’s performance of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” might entice students to get involved.

6. Get to know your students

Got a shy student who won’t talk in class? You may find that, online, he’s a dynamo. Alyssa Trzeszkowski-Giese, in an article for Teacher Magazine, recounts her first forays into the world of Facebook, and how they changed her perception of her students:

I scanned the list of Facebook “groups” [the former student] belonged to. Among the list of 35 were groups for our high school and for the college he would be attending. Hidden near the bottom of the list, sandwiched between “Gilbertology: The Study of Gilbert Arenas” and “Slam Poetry Lounge,” was a group called “Students of Giese Anonymous,” the “Officially Unofficial Page for Students of Mrs. Giese’s English Class.” The group was formed by Phillip himself. If I thought Phillip didn’t like my class, I was wrong. He was listening to every word I said.

We’ve already shown you how online discussion forums can help shy students open up. Facebook may help you identify the students who would most benefit from those online discussions.

7. Find your colleagues and collaborate with them

Using the Search box, you can find your Facebooking colleagues and add them to your list of friends. With more and more teachers becoming comfortable using collaborative tools, you may find features like Groups invaluable for sharing information, ideas, or lesson plans. You may even find yourself organizing new projects in ways you didn’t expect. It might not be long before Facebook becomes a venue for your professional development.

Facebook’s power as a teaching tool is still unrefined. New applications are being added constantly, and while scores of them are devoted to answering the burning, eternal question- “Am I hot or not?”- some may be valuable aids in extending your classroom beyond its four-walled barrier. And though you may not be ready to move your whole class into Facebook just yet, you may find yourself using your newfound 21st century skills to reach students in a way you never thought possible. -ROSS WHITE

Are you a teacher with a Facebook account? Does it affect your teaching? Let us know in the comments!