So, I'm doing some reading (durh), and I just finished a quickie article concerning Facebook -- it was nice and succinct, and equally thought-provoking in about...3 or so paragraphs.
Some key points (made easy by Zotero, baby!):
Some downsides:
-Instinctive "creepyness" factor knowing your prof is on facebook and has found you!
-May limit how much genuine interaction a student may have once friended to a professor, knowing that they can see some pieces of information (unless they set their options to more private, which the article didn't discuss since this was written prior to "new" facebook, or wackbook).
-May create an awkward student/professor dynamic -- being "friends" may leave a student feeling entitled to options they shouldn't have (e.g., grade leniency, the ability to bump into a full class, etc).
Upsides:
-Can help a professor get a more complete feel of a student -- see how their personal life informs their in-class persona, and allows them to act more informed (e.g., seeing a students status change from "in a relationship" to "single," other stuffs like that).
-Can break the tension/dispel possible "hegemeny" myths by finding out a professor is approachable (e.g., "poking" a professor and having the professor "poke" back -- in this case, "poking" means sending a message to a professor to their facebook account saying he/she has been poked by x -- totally harmless).
Anyway, if you want to read the article itself (with more specific examples), I included the reference:
Lipka, S. (2007, Dec 7). For professors, 'friending' can be fraught. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 54(15), pp. A1, A28.
<3 Gl3nn
PS, in the interest of using this as a teaching tool, if/when you read this post, please leave a comment concerning this issue -- how do you feel about your profs being on facebook?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
A professor friend -- not to be confused with "friend" -- of mine maintains a professional Faceboook identity that is completely separate from her social identity. For example, when actual friends try to friend her on Facebook, she declines, and then she sends a nice message explaining why. Thus, she is able to use Facebook to connect with her students -- to post interesting links and follow-up on classroom discussions -- while maintaining a certain level of privacy. There are, inevitably, friends' photos of her own drunken college reveries on Facebook, but they are segregated from her professional profile. Time will tell, of course, whether or not she is able to maintain this distinction, but, for now, it seems like a workable solution.
Post a Comment