Students and tutors as Facebook friends

I have found it enriching to open channels whereby others can communicate their feelings, their private perceptual worlds, to me. (Carl Rogers, from On Becoming a Person, Part I)

At Carnegie College, we use Facebook on a daily basis. Rather than restrict its use we encourage students to get involved. There are groups set up for each class and all students have embraced it. As a result of this, some students have sent friend requests to staff, such as myself which I have duly accepted.

Yesterday, my colleague Colin Maxwell made the following post in a group of leaders in learning technology.

Colin's Facebook post which started this debate

Knowing Colin, I think he just wanted to spice up the group up a little but it was a valid question and I am in the process of writing up a survey to collate information as a series of graphs with a conclusion

So here are some of the main responses from staff and education leaders:

 I went down the personal account road for a while mainly because I didn’t get Facebook and the way Social Media is used by my students, that lasted all of a month or so and this is my only account, I have lists set up but don’t even use them. I like the idea of Google+ circles, but if you want to share a set of holiday snaps with family why not set up a Picasa or Photobucket album and make it private. Anyway, once I understood the whole social media concept, I quite enjoy the banter and I “personally” feel it has broken down many barriers between myself and my students and one of the main contributors to the rapport I have with them…

… Having tried to make people do stuff with technology and their teaching practice for years. At the start I couldn’t understand why staff wouldn’t do things that were obviously much better……then I realised it’s only obvious to a few people who are naturally adventurous and outgoing. And that staff can be fantastic teachers in all sorts of ways. I think there is space in the world for all sorts of people, including those who don’t want to teach using Facebook or even technology…..isn’t that what diversity is all about? Shouldn’t we be teaching tolerance and accepting others? What about shy people or people who are naturally private….should they not join the profession? It takes all sorts and the young people need to know that too.

None of these , I just feel it is more professional to separate my private life form my work life. Keeping my private life form my students has never prevented me from developing a rapport with them which I agree is essential in teaching.

… Someone would need to explain to me how seeing all the posts on my ‘home’ Facebook from friends and family would in any way enhance the learning experience! Do learners really need that level of information to feel they have some kind of rapport with me?

Another element to this – do we show our ‘real’ personalities in all interactions or do we behave differently in different situations? I’ve got Spotify linked to my other FB profile; I post comments, messages and links to friends overseas. Can’t imagine that it would be very interesting to many of my friends here.

It’s good to have students on Facebook but it should be separate accounts to avoid confusion and remain professional. Relationships with them should be made on a personal ‘face to face’ basis, spending time… though I can see the benefits for people who struggle with that i.e. students on the Autistic Spectrum who often find it more comfortable to use technology.

My pal, also a lecturer likes Led Zeppelin. He shared some YouTube links on Facebook & his students had a new found respect for him which led to a better rapport in the classroom. Suddenly there was some common ground.

Some really interesting points here! I know at least one lecturer who does not believe in building rapport with students and will say so publicly but research shows building rapport is crucial to effective learning. Why do we let teachers do their own thing (even if research shows it to be bad) once they close the classroom door? No other profession operates in that manner.

There is certainly a “generation gap” type divide between educators and students and again I put it down to a misunderstanding of today’s youth culture and the way they use and interpret social media combined with a fear of technology and not knowing how to use it efficiently. I am a private person (believe it or not) but around 200 of the 252 people on my friend list are students or ex-students, the rest are family and friends. I have lists set up so that if I choose i can post to family only, friends only or students only but as I say they are never used.

Interesting! I switched and went with just one account a couple of years back, which mixes lots of different groups of people I interact with including students. Figure I can be myself all the time and know I can still learn as much from students. Flip side is also there – not all students want staff on their friends list, preferring to keep their rants, social activity, etc away from staff (which of course is also a free choice!)

I posted the following question on the wall of my ONLY Facebook account, were having a little debate about this in college, what do you think about having a tutor on your friend list, does it build rapport?? Is it a pain?? If so why?

Within an hour, on my wall and the class groups I had 65 replies, here are a selection of the main points raised…. By students:

I think it really should be up to the tutor themselves if they are okay with students having their own personal Facebook on your friends list & if they’re okay with it then there’s no reason why not to add their personal account

I think it’s a really good, makes it easier to learn when its less formal

I don’t see why not. Then you can talk to them about other stuff other than college work.

I think it helps as they can bring up things that perhaps they wouldn’t say/do face to face. With personal or work accounts it’s a matter of opinion really I don’t mind either really as long as the tutor is on hand….

It does total depend on how you use it, I don’t mind as Facebook is a bit of fun and I never use it for anything serious and I’m conscious of the information I put up. It can sometimes be embarrassing too having family, parents, tutors etc when you have friends like mine who like to post pictures of you for a laugh.

If you are on friendly terms with a student I see no problem. As a tutor though I could see more potential conflicts with the right to say what you want and what your employers might not want to hear. That said I’ve never grassed up Graeme for dressing up in rubber and playing Call of Duty with a bunch of sweaty men of a weekend. As someone on my friends list, what he gets up to in his free time isn’t college businesses.

Quite a discussion developed in only an hour – I guess that demonstrates the power of social media.

I think it’s the way forward, being able to get in quick contact with tutors for guidance or rapid course assistance is very handy and also it does build up some familiarity and banter between tutors and students!

Having a lecturer on Facebook does have positives such as getting feedback quicker, getting help and all those sort of things. However the negative is sharing private information that one might not want to see, for example, if I was a lecturer I certainly wouldn’t like to read the often racist, absurd, outrageous status updates some people post. I also wouldn’t want to see half of the photos people upload drunk.

I think it’s a personal choice, we’re all old enough to be sensible and make our own decisions, and it only takes a couple of clicks to un-friend someone if they’re annoying you anyway

I think it is a good idea and it should be at the discretion of the tutor and the student. The whole privacy thing works both ways. It shouldn’t be mandatory but for those who want to participate then why not.

I don’t think it would be a problem at all, and if lecturers are concerned about privacy, Facebook gives you deep control over what information and updates you share with people, and what lists of people can see what.

I myself have benefited from tutors on Facebook. if we’re doing work at home and have no idea how to find something or where to put it, or are even lost for ideas it’s as easy as coming on this and asking our tutors, making sure we’ve done all our work and don’t give the excuse of “i didn’t know what to do” a week later because we don’t have you for the next 6 days of the week to ask you in college. This is a lot easier I think

It’s possible, but who cares, when you’re out of college, none of our business.