Profs on Facebook
Had an interesting discussion today about the pros and cons of profs becoming Facebook friends with their students. On the one hand, profs want to connect with students as individuals — it makes education more effective, as well as more fun. On the other hand, everyone is entitled to keep their private and professional lives separate, but social networking sites blur the boundaries between them to the point of nonexistence.
Similarly, some people think that students will find an “invitation” to be a prof’s Facebook friend as hard to turn down as an “invitation” from your boss to play golf (as in, “Uh oh, if I don’t, I won’t get the same referrals/references/opportunities as people who do”). On the other hand, a lot of shy people are more comfortable networking electronically than face-to-face.
So, what do you think? Don’t do it at all? Create a group called “Friends of Professor X”, remind students to make sure their privacy settings (and posted content) are appropriate, and invite them to join that? Something in between? What would you do?
I’m a student.
There’s a difference between interacting with a Prof. through a social networking website and becoming friends with them. I wouldn’t accept (or initiate) a friend request with a professor unless I had an actual personal relationship with them, but I’d be happy to join a course Facebook group,
I play “facebook chicken”. At the end of the term, after grades are in, I respond to all extant student friend requests. But I never “friend” students myself — that seems invasive somehow.
As a pretty hard core Facebook user I don’t really see an issue with student or teacher initiating or being Facebook friends.
Facebook has really great privacy tools, you can create friend groups and give these groups different access to your content in Facebook. I think these tools kinda make this whole issue mute…
Just accept requests from your students and don’t send them yourself.
It seems to me people use Facebook in different ways.
I use it just to keep in touch and see what’s going on with friends, so for me it wouldn’t be weird.
However a lot of people — students especially? — are *really* personal with it, e.g. photos of them drunk in a bar or status messages unfit for general consumption.
That sort of thing makes me think it’s over the line, unless the student is no longer a student.
In such matters, isn’t it always best to err on the side of caution?
” social networking sites blur the boundaries between [private and professional relationships] to the point of nonexistence.”
That’s why I’m still struggling with how to use them, particularly facebook, and why Greg and I keep debating the issue. Facebook is largely geared a personal/friend relationships, and I’m a little uncomfortable revealing my social/personal network of friends to students.
Here’s a few concerns I have with students as friends on facebook:
First, I worry about what personal information I am revealing on facebook to students. Could students try to use this information to gain an advantage? What innocuous information is there that might be misconstrued? I know that I am more cautious about what information appears there.
Second, I worry about students feeling pressure to reveal personal information to me. I really enjoy getting to know my students, but it should be their choice what to reveal to me. Not only that, but as an educator, I think I have a responsibility to encourage students to think about privacy issues.
Third, I worry about what kinds of snap judgements people make based on offhand comments or aspects of someone’s personal life that really have nothing to do with their professional relationship. Social networking sites seem to magnify these kinds of issues which of course exist elsewhere.
Fourth, I worry about fairness or the perception of fairness. I like many of my students very much. Some I get to know on a personal level which is one of the reasons why I love my job. There are many students that I just never have the opportunity to really get to know. There are few students that I end up disliking, usually because of the way they treat me or others. I don’t those students as friends on facebook. But I still want to treat them fairly and professionally in my class. So what message does it send if I reject a request for friendship on facebook?
Finally, there are aspects to this that make me feel that it is a bit like the “old boys network”. As long as you play golf or go to the pub after work, you get all the inside information. Don’t get me wrong, networking is important, and the better I know a student the better reference letter I can write.
I would very much like to use current technology to improve my teaching, and to improve my relationship with my students, but I’m still wary of that personal/professional line.