Should teachers and students be “friends” on social networking sites?

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The video Social Media Revolution that I watched last week illustrates how fast social networking sites grow. I believe that social networking sites can be the learning tool for L2 learners, and it can also create platforms that relate students and the teacher together to learn, to communicate and to share. For example, by encouraging L2 learners to join native speakers through groups on Facebook, talking with native language speaker on Skype or following native speakers on Twitter. However, social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace are the places where both teachers and students share the same forums to connect and keep in touch with their friends and families. Some students will send friend requests to the teacher in order to learn, to communicate and to keep in touch with the teacher. The thing is, networks will sassily blur the students-teacher relationship since all the personal information may be available on profiles. Is it appropriate to be “friend” with students on a social network? The blog The Digital Down Low from Matt Montagne discussed same topic: "Should teachers and students be 'friends' on social networking sites?”

In the Blog, the author illustrates his idea that it is necessary to set up social network policy if one is going to share his/her information with students. For example, the author has set up his own Facebook policy to state that he only accepts a friend request from past/present students and parents under the condition that everyone must use respectful language and keep their profile “clean”. By doing so, he gave positive feedback towards the topic, “ the experience of connecting with students in a variety of ways and spaces allows to talk intelligently to other adults about what students are doing with these powerful communication and collaboration platforms.”

When I was teaching at a language institution, my students used to ask me for my personal blog website, I refused to give to them because the blog is personal and private, and I think there needs to be a certain distance between teachers and students to maintain respect. But in terms of encouraging students to use social network to be a learning tool, I think it offers a new way for students to communicate with their teachers and could serve an important purpose such as ask questions online or get any assignments they missed. However, I do think that teacher should set up a separate Facebook account to interact with the students to separate from his/her private personal page. And setting up a Facebook policy like what Matt Montagne did is a great idea to clear up all the information for students.

I did some researches online about this topic and found out that Missouri State just passed Missouri Senate Bill 54 on August 28^th that any social networking is prohibited between teachers and students. I wonder how my classmates and the teacher think about this.

Here is another link that I found helpful for me to understand this issue.

Positively Media

Social Media Revolution

The video Social Media Revolution 2 impressed  me a  lot. It is amazing how fast the world of social media grows and how social media has been able to take over  in such a short time. The video states a lot of facts the social media revolution in our times, and how the internet and its wide accessibility change the society and interlink  people over the whole world in such a little time.  I still remember 5 years ago when I signed up for Facebook and RENREN(Chinese version of Facebook), the population of users just started to grow, and now it’s more than what I could ever imagined.  I love all the statistics that is shown in the video, it puts the whole thing into perspective and how much social media has become a part of people’s daily lives.

As an ESL teacher, I think the social media should be the learning tool for L2 learners. When I was learning English on my freshman year at collage, English version Facebook and YouTube were the websites that I browsed every day,  which is the place I interact with English native speakers. I think L2 learners will be intrigued by the opportunity to learn something of L2 and its culture via social medias.

Social media could be the platforms that facilitate L2 students to learn L2 effectively. Here are some thoughts that I would like to try in my future teaching:

Join native speakers through groups on Facebook:

Learning French

Finding native speakers on Twitter:

Teaching & Learning Spanish

Talking with native speakers on Skype:

Tech teacher Silvia Tolisano, speaking from Buenos Aires via Skype video calling, describes how her students have been going around the world via Skype.

Technology as a Mediation

“CMC provides a third platform where L2 students can transcend the spatial and temporal confines of the classroom via the internet.”(10) 

It reminds me of sociocultural theory which is brought up by Vygotsky. In Vygotsky’s theory, human being use mediation to  establish a relationship between ourselves and the world. For ESL teacher, technology is the tool as mediation  in second language learning, it helps students to build connection between students and the second language.  For example,  the chapter gives an example about how E-mail offers students the highest level of interactivity.   Warschauer (1997:475) points out that with reference to computer-mediated-communication, long distance exchanges with native speakers’ provides an excellent example of students through interaction with more capable peers.  Compare with classroom-based second language learning, CMC  gives rise to a different kind of discursive practice than normally occurs between people in face-to –face interaction.   For example, L2 learners  could chat with native speakers online, and through the interaction, L2 learners have opportunity  to learn something of new such second language culture.  For me, CMC definitely will help ESL teachers to build close relationship between students and L2 during  their second language learning process, but the question is, by using internet, the way people “talk” to each other electronically is different from the way they converse with each other in face-to-face encounters , can the  technology  such as the use of CMC  have an impact on the way face-to-face interaction?  And this is the question that I am still looking for the answer by using CMC in my classroom.

Warschauer, M. (997), Computer-mediated collaborative learning: theory and practice. The Modern Language Journal, 81, 470-481.

Going in the Internet is like going out on Halloween!

Dear all,

Thanks to the Internet, we can have more knowledge than ever before and can connect with people all around the world and able to access almost limitless information on demand! Indeed, the Internet offers some amazing abilities, (such as our class-blog J), BUT you have to realize sometimes internet can also cause harm towards you.

Ask yourself some questions and see if you have minds to protect yourself online:

• Would you give an online stranger your password to your Facebook or Twitter?
• Would you send your personal picture to someone you barely know in life?

You should aware that going in the Internet is like going out on Halloween because everyone’s face is hidden from the screen!

Therefore, seeping safe when you’re online!

1.       Be careful with your password. Just keep it secret!!

2.       Stranger Danger: Don’t give any information about yourself to any online strangers. Include: Your name

               Your telephone number

               Your birthday

               Your height and weight

               Your parent’s name

3.       Never send your picture or personal information to someone you only know online.

4.       Be mindful of logging out every time when you use computer.

5.       Do not open email from strangers, and never respond to emails with inappropriate materials.

6.       Do not arrange a face to face meeting with someone you met online.

Reference:

Know the Risks - Privacy Invasions

Three Ways to Teach :)

Using a blog makes learning more independent of time and place, peers have this chance to participate, share their own thoughts and teacher can teach anytime and anywhere. besides, it facilitates reflections and evaluations.

To teach second langauge to speakers of other languages, I think teacher should understand each student's cultural background. Students who come from different cultural backgrounds have different perspectives on learning style. In terms of using blog to integrate teaching and learning, teacher should know how to develop himself/herself as a facilitator with open mind by creating learning environment. It is necessary to facilitate students to understand each student's blog post by establishing truse, comfortable and safe environment in order to get everyone involved.

The article Supprting Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Learners in English Education  really helps me to grasp an idea on how to set up activities and assignments towards diverse cultural learners.

Three Ways that I Would Like to Use:

1. Autobiographical writing:

Students use blog as a dairy to reflect their daily life. Students need as many opportunities as possible to interact in the target language instead of seating in in the traditional classroom.

Through autobiographical writing, culturally diverse learners show their diverse experience, culture, and personal life to their learning communities, “teachers and teacher educators must respect all learners and themselves as individuals with culturally defined identities.”( Supprting Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Learners in English Education) Students need to understand and learn about others’ linguistic and cultural backgrounds and experiences. For example, Have second language learners read autobiographies of their age and then write their own stories, and compare and contrast their stories with the ones they read.

2. Peer Reviews and Comments: Blog as a tool to reflect students’ thoughts.

Students write their thoughts and responds to the teacher and the comments from each other. This is the opportunity for collective and collaborative learning since students have the opportunity to read their classmates’ blog and those of others. In this case, students are required to read and respond to classmates’’ posts. Ideally, students need to review the comments left by other classmates and leave their own responses.

3.Blogging Buddy:

When teacher does not have enough time to comment extensively on each student’s post, “blogging buddy”, which could be assigned by the teacher or be chosen from student as students’ editing partner, could take the responsibility to review and comment other’s post. When every student has their own blogging buddy, students will be motivated to post and to give their partner written feedback.

Each second language learner brings with his/her rich and varied language and cultural experiences. As NCTE mentions, “all too often, these experiences remain unrecognized or undervalued as dominant mainstream discourses suppress students’ cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1990)”, therefore teacher should actively acknowledge and incorporate funds of knowledge by understanding that second language learners normally have the fear of using non-native language to compose their ideas, and the needs to be encouraged to write in that language as often as possible.