Ethical and Social Issues with Social Tools

I recently read a quote about learning in the 21st Century. It said “as society changes, the skills needed to negotiate the complexities of life also change.” Obviously, this quote rang true to me, as it was examining the change in societal needs from ‘readin’, ‘ritin’, and ‘rithmetic’, to how students need to be proficient not just in a variety of subject areas, but also need to understand information in a variety of forms. Fortunately, we have access to information like never before – we can find nearly anything we want, nearly instantly, if we know how to search for it. However, to paraphrase Ben Parker (yes, I’m quoting Spiderman), with greater access comes greater responsibility. As educators, there are a number of underlying issues related to the ethics and legal issues surrounding 21st Century learning that are worth discussing.

Issue #1: Does social media need be taught in schools?

Social media is a very real thing. Many of us cannot perform the day to day functions we do without our phone, tablet, or computer. Some of us wouldn’t have the jobs we have without Facebook or Twitter or other social networking sites. None of us would communicate as effectively if we didn’t have access to the social media tools that we currently have. As educators, it is our job and our duty to provide students with skills that are applicable to the real world, and social media is one of those relevant skills. It is important, as well, for us to provide students with an idea of how social media can affect their future.

Students need to be provided with education around a variety of concepts surrounding social media.

Too Much Information: The infographic below is a good reason why, if nothing else, we should provide our students with at least the basics surrounding safety when using social media. One of the things I notice when looking at this infographic is the statistic surrounding location tagging. One in four people puts a location tag on their photos. To me, this is dangerous. This opens a person up to the possibility of both cyber crime and real world threats. For example, posting your upcoming plans can leave you open to having your house burglarized. To me, it seems as though society in general is not really considering just how much information they provide when they use social media.  We need to provide students with instruction on online privacy in order to keep themselves safe.

Online reputation: I also discovered some statistics surrounding employers and their use of social media to find employees. Forbes Magazine mentions that “34% of employers who scan social media sites have found content that caused them not to hire the candidate.” Whether the reason is inappropriate photos, immature content, or simply having friends that the employer views as unseemly, employers are finding reasons to no longer consider people for jobs. Not only is the amount of information students disseminate online, but so is the quality of the content. On the converse, a student’s online reputation is also an opportunity for them to create a positive representation of themselves, to put a good foot forward, so to speak. 

Benefits of social media: We can look at social media as the 21^st Century resume. As mentioned earlier, many employers screen potential employees using social media. Students can build their own ‘brand’ so to speak, by getting involved in the right online communities and networking with the right people. In effect, students can set themselves up for success if they are educated in how to create a searchable online presence. 

One of the sayings that I often see regarding social media is that the internet is written in pen, not in pencil. In other words, what students say using social media, once out there, is out there. Social media is not disappearing anytime soon, and so ethically it is up to us as teachers to provide them with the framework to be successful using social media.

Issue #2: If social media is taught in schools, how do we keep students safe?

As I mentioned when discussing the first issue, I feel it should be, at least partially, the responsibility of teachers to show students how to use social media. With that comes the caveat that if we are teaching social media, it is also our job to teach students how to be safe online. An agreed upon point from most educators is that while we should be teaching students how to be safe online, it doesn’t really boil down to a few lessons in class. What can and can’t be shared online, instead, must be brought up often and in context when working with any web 2.0 tools. A few basic principles, shared constantly with our students, will do a good job of keeping them safe in their online activities.

Boundaries: As teachers, it is our job to give students the tools necessary to make the right decisions. If we can help our students set their own personal boundaries, about where they stand on specific issues, and if we walk students through hypothetical situations to help them define these boundaries, then they will understand and be able to defend their boundaries. A good approach when discussing boundaries is to have students help with creating the guidelines. Teacher and internet blogger Penille Ripp compares using the Internet to a trip to the mall – she asks her students to discuss the safety guidelines around an unsupervised trip to the mall – which is something the students already understand and can apply to a real situation, and then has her students adapt those guidelines for online use.

 

Privacy: Students need to be educated about the idea of public vs. private in a number of contexts. For example, consider the idea of sharing a video online. Edublogs states “when educators allow their students to publish their content in a public space they spend more time educating their students and reinforcing appropriate online behaviour.” By removing limitations on the ‘global’ aspect of social media, teachers end up doing a better job educating their students, and, typically, students end up more motivated and end up feeling accomplished and professional. A good idea when allowing students to post content publically would be to have them post it in a forum where comments and messages are also sent to a moderator/administrator – in this case, the teacher. On the other end of the spectrum, as educators it is our duty to ensure that we are not exposing any personal information (names, photos, etc) of students when they are using social media. A good idea might be for students to use an avatar and a nickname for when they are posting online, so that some privacy is maintained.