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Levy,Andrew (2009) “Teenage workersackedformoaningonFacebookabouthertotallyboringjob”.
Mail Online
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1155971/Teenage-office-worker-sacked-moaning-Facebook-
totally-boring-job.html
McIntosh,Euan - Digital Media& Education (2010) “Two reasonsforteachingFacebookinschool “.
http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2010/03/two-reasons-for-teaching-facebook-in-school.html
Moult,Julie “WomansackedonFacebookfor complainingaboutherbossafterforgettingshe had added
himas a friend”Mail Online
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1206491/Woman-sacked-Facebook-bos-ins..[Accessed24
March 2010]
Stewart,William(19Feb2010) Status update:FacebookcanhelppupilspassEnglish,TimesEducational
Supplement
http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode+6036322
100 waysyoushouldbe usingFacebookinyourclassroom
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Article To connect...only to connect
- 1. To connect..only to connect EnglishinAotearoa,April 2010 Aftertexting,itisyoungadults’use of social media –Beboand Facebookwhichmostattracts the attentionof the mediaandthe teachingprofession. Thisattention,however,focusesonthe unusual and negative elementsof thisphenomenon. Afterall,there isnonewsvalue inareportthat one million studentsloggedintoFacebooktodayandloggedoff againwithoutanythinguntowardhappening. Bizarre thoughthisdesire toconnectwithother people throughthe Internetmaybe,isitany more bizarre thanthe habitof the previousgenerationtogohome fromschool andimmediatelycall their friendsfromwhomtheyhadonlyjustpartedcompany? As E. M. Forsterobserved,the needtoreach out andconnect withothersseemstobe an overwhelmingneed. It isalso a popularpass time withFacebookclaimingearly2010 to have 300 millionusersandMySpace 200 million. If these websiteswere nationstates,theywouldbe amongthe toptencountriesforsize of population. It isalsoa compellingactivitywithhalf of the registeredusersof Facebookloggingonevery day. There iseventhe storyof the Italiangangster,Pasquale Manfredi,whoseaddictiontoFacebook allowedthe Italianpolice totrackhimto the safe house where he washiding. The rise of these websiteshasbeenmeteoric. Facebook,Bebo,MySpace,Orkutand Friendsterdidnot existtenyearsago. They are meteoricalsoinhow quicklytheyfall fromfavour. Friendster’s inexplicable inabilitytocapitaliseonitsearlypopularityisbeingrepeatedinthe waningfortunesof Beboand MySpace as usersswitchto Facebook. These businessventuresdonotlooklikelytohave the longevityof the Bankof England. Doesthat mean,therefore, thatwe candismissthemassome teenage craze that will goawayif we waitlongenough? It wouldbe a brave personwhowouldpredictthe future of social networking. Itisgoingto change,evenbe transformed, butitisunlikelytodisappear altogether. Is there a place inthe Englishclassroomtoteach studentsaboutsocial networking? Ourstudentsare havingnodifficultyfindingFacebook onthe web,registeringasusers andthenspendinghours interactingonthe site. What can teachersaddthat studentsneedtolearnandwhyshoulditbe their responsibility? Firstof all there isthe newCurriculum,KeyCompetencyTwo,usinglanguage, symbolsandtexts; “They confidentlyuse ICT...toaccessand provide informationandtocommunicate withothers.” While this competencyincludedblogs,socialbookmarkingsites,wikis,fansites,photoandvideosharingsites,at the moment,the mostsignificantwayourstudentsare usingICTison Facebook. While Ihave previouslydismissedthe media storiesasscare mongering,these incidentsdopointout that social networkingisnotwithoutitsrisks. Itisperhapseasierona social networkingsitetoassume anotheridentitytogainthe confidence of otherusersandeasiertomake goodanythreatsof blackmailingvictimsbypublishingtheirindiscretionswhere theirfamilyandfriendscanfindthem. While mostsexual predatorsstill use traditional methodstomeettheirvictims,social networksitesdo
- 2. allowthemtoextendtheirreachintothe community. Englishteachershave asmuchresponsibilityas anyone else toteachstudentshowtokeepthemselvessafe onthe net. The newsstoriesalsohighlightanotherphenomenon,doocing,the mistake of beingfiredfromyourjob by postingonthe netcommentsaboutyour employerwhichhe orshe considerstobe offensive or disloyal. Inone case in2009, the unfortunate employeewasalsofiredonFacebook. Itseemsshe forgotshe addedheremployerasa friendonFacebook,makingitinevitablehe wouldreadher post: “OMG I HATE MY JOB!!!My bossisa total pervy xxxeralwaysmakingme doxxx stuff justtoxxx me off!!!XXXER!’ Nor isthe range of indiscretionsconfinedtoemploymentmatters. Prospectiveemployershire recruitmentagentstolookat the Facebookpagesof prospective employeesandthere isthe case of the womaninAmericawhoconvincedajudge to be lenientinadrinkdrivingcharge because she hadseen the error of her ways,at leastuntil the prosecutordrew tothe judge’sattentionthe photographsof her celebrationpartywhichshe thoughtfullypostedonMySpace. We alsohadthe case of a group of Burnside HighSchool students libellingtheirnew AssociatePrincipal. If we thenseektocoverour tracks and delete compromisingmaterial the mattermaynotendthere. In a case currentat the time of writingthis,five youngNorweigiantouristswhoshotendangeredwildlife and postedtheirexploitonYoutube,mayhave thoughtthe trail of evidence hadendedbutbefore they deletedthe videoclip ithadbeencopiedseveral timesandthe copyistshave thoughtfullydownloaded theircopiesonto YouTube. These youngmenalsodeletedtheirFacebookprofilesbutwillfindthat Facebookbacksup all itsdata, so copiesof theirFacebookpostsexistand canbe recoveredbyforensic methodsshouldthe Norwegianprosecutorseektouncoverall the evidence. We maybe a biggermenace toourselvesthanall the conmenand sexual predatorswhostalkthe web. There isa lotmore to usingICT safelyandresponsiblythanbeingconfidentabouthow touse it to communicate andcreate newinformation. What I have outlinessofarisan argumentwhyschoolsshouldbe teachingstudentsaboutthe pitfallsof usingsocial networkingandithasto be said that most studentsexperience noproblemsusingFacebook and the like. SchoolsinAmerica,suchas the FloridaVirtual School have establishedapresence onFacebookso studentscanlinkto itas fans andreceive invitationsandothermessagesfromthe school through Facebook. Here inNewZealand,myownschool Te Ahoo Te Kura Pounamu(The Correspondence School) hascopiedthisideaandallowsitsstudentstolinktoitas fans. Atabout the same time,the WellingtonRegionalTeachersof Englishhasdone the same thingandcan now connectwithits membersthroughFacebook. Teachersin the UnitedKingdomhave beenseizingonthe motivationalaspectsof usingmediawhichare highlyattractive tostudents. A postingonthe Online College website listsone hundredideaswhere teacherscan use Facebookandwhile onlyafew of these are relevanttothe Englishclassroomtheyare worthexploring.
- 3. Startingwiththe humorousideaof Mrs Bennettfrom Pride andPrejudicehavingherownFacebook profile,one wagmanagedtosummarise the eventsof the novel inaseriesof shortposts. The ideacan easilybe appliedtoothernarratives. How couldthe eventsof complex novelswithmultiplenarrators such as PhillipaGregory’s The OtherQueen,be representedinthisway? Studentscouldcreate homepagesforcharactersfrombooks. ThisactivityworksbetterinMySpace where userscandecorate theirhomepagesandaddappropriate music. Havingstudentsthinkabout howMel Marriott from Out walkedMel mightdecorate herpage, whatsort of photographbest representsherpersonalityandwhatmusicshe mightlike tohave playingwhensomeone openedher page can encourage studentstothinkaboutthe charactersmore than justinwhat theydo. There are specificsocial networkingsitesforpeople whoenjoyreading:Shelfari,GoodReads,Chain Reading,LitMinds,Have a Hootread a Book,Library Thing,BookJetty,Anobii andSocialogue,butthe bigsocial networkingsiteshave add -onfeatureswhichallow userstoformbookclubsand to post reviewsof the bookstheyhave read. Itis nottoo great a stepto have yourstudentspostingtheirbook reviewsforthe wide readingstandardonFacebookandsharingtheirreadingwiththe class. In anotherinitiative,the PublicLibrarywhere I live (HuttCity) hascreateda profile onBeboandinvited youngadultsto linktotheirprofile. Beboisthenusedbythe YoungAdultlibrariantoadvertise competitions,othereventsand newacquisitions. If you do make the stepto goinginto Facebook, andusingitas a course managementsystemfor example,thenconsiderafewpointerstoavoidbeingthe victimof some prank. Create a separate account justfor yourclasses. Learnhow to use the privacysettingsespeciallyonyourprivate Facebook site. Acceptfriendrequestsonlyfromyourpresentstudentsandonlyonyourschool account. Ensure studentsputyouon limitedaccesstotheirownpages. Keepyourcommentsonline asprofessional as your conversationswithstudentsinclass. Blane,Douglas(20 November2009) CPD– Social media should be in every teacher’stoolbox Times Educational Supplement http://www/tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode+6028156 DailyTech.comMarch19 2010 FacebookAddictionLeadstoMurderousMafiaMember'sArrest http://www.dailytech.com/Facebook+Addiction+Leads+to+Murderous+Mafia+Members+Arrest/article1 7933.htm HeatherArmstrong(a.ka.Dooce) whowasfiredforbloggingaboutherboss.
- 4. http://www.dooce.com Levy,Andrew (2009) “Teenage workersackedformoaningonFacebookabouthertotallyboringjob”. Mail Online http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1155971/Teenage-office-worker-sacked-moaning-Facebook- totally-boring-job.html McIntosh,Euan - Digital Media& Education (2010) “Two reasonsforteachingFacebookinschool “. http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2010/03/two-reasons-for-teaching-facebook-in-school.html Moult,Julie “WomansackedonFacebookfor complainingaboutherbossafterforgettingshe had added himas a friend”Mail Online http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1206491/Woman-sacked-Facebook-bos-ins..[Accessed24 March 2010] Stewart,William(19Feb2010) Status update:FacebookcanhelppupilspassEnglish,TimesEducational Supplement http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode+6036322 100 waysyoushouldbe usingFacebookinyourclassroom http://www.onlinecollege.org/2009/10/20/100-ways-you-should-be-using-facebook-in-your- classroom.html