Teachers and Technology: The Do's and Don'ts of Facebook

This week we've ween taking a look at social networking.  What you should be doing, and not doing, while online.  It's the teachers turn this time.  They're staying connected.  So are their students. 

 The two groups, teachers and students, often connect with one another on college campuses.   Kara McElwrath teaches an online privacy class at UIS.  She's friends with alot of her friends on Facebook.  But the account students have access to, she says, is solely for professional purposes.

McElwrath encourages all of her students to have two accounts once they begin their careers.  One account for family and friends.  The other for colleagues, and in teacher's cases, students. It should be used to share websites and educational videos.  And she says, nothing else.

"As a teacher I wouldn't want my students to know whether I'm having a good or bad day," says McElwarth, "I wouldn't want to post on Facebook that I'm getting ready to go on vacation because then anybody can then see that, 'Hey I'm going to be out of town my house is going to be empty."

While students and teachers on college campuses are connecting, many K-12 school districts have strict policies prohibiting teachers from 'friending' a student online.