Ohio Teachers And Online Social Networking: Part 3
The CEA Blog has been trying to keep up with the flurry of online discussions centered around an Ohio Education Association (OEA) memo distributed in early October warning members to stay away from online social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace. Blogger reactions were documented in Part 1 and Part 2, but bloggers continue to sound off on the memo. More after the jump.
Ben Wildeboer at Sustainably Digital writes in part:
It’s time for school officials to realize that social networking sites and other online collaboration tools (wikis, blogs, etc.) aren’t a fad that will soon fade away. Schools often seem so afraid of change; whenever something new comes along it’s banned or blocked before its merits can be determined.
Wesley Fryer agrees with Ben….
Rick over at LeaderTalk writes:
Huh? Is the education association led by people who are so out of touch they don’t even know what their newest and youngest members are up to? Or am I being naive, and this a reasonable attempt for the OEA to protect its members?
Illinois teacher-union President blogger PREA Prez weighs in on the issue, too.
January 21st, 2008 at 12:39 am
It is a challenging situation. OEA’s Legal team is probably attempting to reduce the liklihood of representing educators with any situations Facebook and Myspace may help create thereby reducing legislative costs to all members.
However, it would be more prudent, and better appreciated by the younger or more technologically based union members, if OEA gave guidelines on proper use of on-line communities such as MySpace. This would allow educators to have a life more normal outside of the classroom walls.
January 26th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
What happened to our right to privacy? Teachers do not crawl under their desks only to pop back up in the morning in a different outfit. We have rights for wich it seems our local and state unions are not willin to fight. I grant you he fact that teachers and students should not be involved in inappropriate relationships. It saddens me that there are actually adults anywhere that would consider that appropriate. However, If I want to have a myspace or facebook account, that is not anyone elses business. If I want to find a new relationship on match.com then I should be allowed to do that. Teachers do need to be careful that things they do cannot be misconstrued by others, however that does not mean that we cannot be human. Online education is the way of the future, yet as public school teachers we are not expected to communicate online with our students. Does this really make any sense.
If we are going to place these restrictions on teachers, then what about police officers, firefighters, doctors, nurses, social workers, custodians, secretaries…hmmm, can anyone name another 50 to 100 jobs that come in contact with children?
If the unions give in on this one, then what is next? Maybe we should all have to drive hybrids to prove that we are morally responsible to the environment? Maybe we should all have to attend a religious service to prove that we have some sort of moral character? Maybe we should not be allowed to drink, or smoke, or listen to rap or rock music? Maybe we shouldn’t even be allowed in establishments that serve alcohol or play that type of music? Go ahead, back down on this one and the let’s see what the next move is to take away our right to a personal life.
No wonder we cannot get and keep good teachers. At this point, I would never recommend that anyone pursue education as a profession. Would the rest of you really want your kids working as hard as you have to and then have their personal lives put under a microscope?
February 6th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Remember when we were cautioned to NEVER, EVER, EVER participate in BLOGging?