School started for me last week and one of the first tasks for the students was to register for the class social network. It did not take me long to be convinced that teachers need to engage with students online. However, teachers need to use a social network designed for education such as edmodo or Schoology. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are too open and students are logging into them with no clue about what to share or how to act. Like it or not it may be up to teachers to show their students how to interact online in a safe and secure environment.

Once all of my students logged on to our network, I allowed the students a few minutes to send out notes so they can understand how the network worked and see what is appropriate to post. Students learned quickly the only person they can send direct messages to is me. This means everything else they post can be seen by the rest of the class. This did not deter some students as they kept thinking they were in a chat room. Another student thought anything went after school, thinking I would not find out. One student kept complaining he could not see who was logged into the network because he did not want to be the only one chatting out there. There was one unfortunate incident of cyberbullying when one male student decided to do the age old thing boys like to do in school, tease a female student. The girl did not find it amusing.

Many teachers would see this chaos as reasons not to get anywhere near their students online but that would be wrong. Let’s look at how the students interacted initially. They had no prior rules of conduct in online socialization. Without rules explained and enforced by adults it is no wonder students’ online experience can devolve into a Lord of the Flies type of world. Think this socialization is not part of a teacher’s job? What do teachers do all day? Enforce rules that help mold young people into members of our society starting on the first day of Kindergarten. Why should online behavior be any different?

As students realize our network is for class business only the interaction is becoming a positive experience for students. Many students are engaging in class discussions. My students love the idea of turning in their assignments online. They also are learning what to post to the group and not post from this experience. Our network allows students to turn-in assignments with a feature designed for such purposes. I can provide private feedback and their grade securely. This is something students like after I explain I would have to respond openly if they just reply to the assignment. Most  quickly redo the assignment properly and use the reply to ask questions about the assignment which is alright. Also, some of our online discussions are starting to become meaningful as students have time to think about a response to a question. Finally, the students like the idea I patrol the site often with my iPhone and respond to questions or rebuke a student for an inappropriate post. The student who thought once school was out it was open chat time on the network was rebuked by another student who pointed out  I am always looking and providing feedback.

If this experience helps students as they continue interacting in the online world the effort is worth it. Hopefully, students will learn my biggest objective in using a social network, to think before posting anything online. If other teachers join me in teaching that lesson, students will learn to safely engage online. This means cyberbullying incidents should go down. Students will not post anything that can embarrass them later in life. Parents can feel better about what their children do online. Finally, students will have a new and potentially better educational experience.

Homework Question

Join in the conversation and add your comments below:

• How are you networking with your students?
• What social networking do you use?
• What advice can you give other teachers who want to network with their class?