OCT | ~ Mark's Musings ~ blog.markwcarbone.ca

On Monday April 11th, the long awaited press release of the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) electronic communication and social media advisory was released. I was attending the OCT live presentation on Tuesday in Toronto, and viewed the advisory print document and watched the video to be well informed for the session.

My initial impression of the print document was that it was a well written, solid framework to guide educators into this new territory. I was very impressed with the video production as it captured a positive spirit for leveraging these new tools within our education system. I did feel that some additional clarification was required in the area of Facebook use, and planned my comments and questions for the live session.

It was interesting to watch the press and media take on the documents and follow the reactions via Twitter. As one would expect, reaction varied widely, tending towards the ‘too cautious’ end of the scale. Tuesday morning, I was able to have a conversation with Chris Vollum, an excellent speaker who has significant experience presenting social media sessions to school and parent audiences across the province and at many WRDSB schools. Chris, who was interviewed as part of the video, had a positive reaction and felt the overall message was positive. I also had a good phone discussion with Jane Mitchinson who has provided extensive leadership in technology and social media use within our Board.

The session was well organized, with the agenda organized as: presentation, table discussion and Q&A. I captured some of the important highlights and shared them on Twitter:

Opening remarks: OK to use social media in responsibly and ethically — key factors: care, trust, integrity and respect
The intent of the advisory is to clarify responsibilities while capitalizing on the potential of these tools
Social media tools can be appropriate, useful and powerful
OCT: ‘off duty’ use of social media tools matters – what does appropriate use look like?
Online behavior by teachers should reflect the same professional ethics as used in the school setting
Private vs. Professional: onus on members, off duty conduct matters, exercise caution, act professionally at all times
The internet is part of a teacher’s off duty realm
Any online presence should respect professional integrity, even in the somewhat less formal social media environment
Reviewing some examples of professional misconduct -I note that these examples would be inappropriate online or offline
Teachers: model good behavior, advocate proper use (digital citizenship) be courteous and professional at all times
Facebook – caution re ‘friending’ – but no distinguishing of friend=contact, it is all about the security and privacy settings – education!!
My comment: follow the Grandma rule— if you don’t want your Grandma to find out, don’t put it on Facebook
You can’t judge social media from outside
Board hosted email should be used for communications with parents (not personal email addresses)

The table discussions were interesting. We were given 4 scenario questions to consider. All were great questions with pros and cons and certainly generated excellent discussion around the different viewpoints — risk factor(s), legal implications, empathy, professional approach.

In some ways, I enjoyed the Q&A best. Many good questions were asked, and gave further indication that there are multiple factors to consider in almost all situations. I did take the opportunity to raise a few points during the discussion:

Digital citizenship and character development programs are essential for teachers and students
Staff and students need authentic experiences with social media tools in a real world context
Your digital footprint represents your online presence – how google-able are you?
Your digital legacy is your digital reputation – how will other perceive you and remember you?
Social media tools offer many opportunities for connecting, collaborating and sharing – embrace & capitalize

I did ask specific clarification around the ‘teachers should not friend students’ point. In the Facebook environment, a ‘friend’ is a contact. How any 2 contacts interact is dependent on security and privacy settings, and the relationship — a professional context suitable to the educational environment. I sited examples where teachers might ‘friend’ students, but have suitably locked down profiles and interact with students in a Facebook group setting. Panel members who addressed my question indicated that there is no issue with this if it is done properly with appropriate settings and professional conduct. We all recognized and acknowledged the need for people to know, understand and use appropriate settings (Digital Citizenship).

I took the time to meet the panel members after the session. I appreciate the work done on this document, and the importance of the framework established and congratulate the team that worked on the preparation of this document.

What if I could change one thing? – The one thing that I wish could be changed is the manner in which this was handled by the media. They really grabbed a couple of small pieces of information and cast a giant negative spin on things — so much for fact finding and balanced reporting. Unfortunately, this is all some people will remember.

Next steps: Embrace change! Given the great potential of these tools, it is important that those comfortable in leading, continue to learn and share best practices and experiences. Boards and federations need to make sure Digital Citizenship and Character Development programs and other training supports are in place. Pre-service teacher programs should provide a good grounding in Web 2.0 and social media tools. Teachers need to be familiar and comfortable with these tools before using them with students.

~ Mark

When I got home today the newest publication from the Ontario Teachers College was in the mailbox. I did a quick thumb through and the article that initially caught my eye was the ‘Survey says …’

The article reports on a recent members survey. I noted two points:

1. Usage of social media by teachers is increasing (not really a surprise). Details showed

30.1% connect on Facebook for up to 2 hours per week
32.4 % watch YouTube for a little under an hour/week
50.3% tune into YouTube for as much as 2 hours/week
35.8% use other forms of social media

2. In answer to the question ‘Should the college (OTC) make use of social media tools?’, I found the results very interesting.

MySpace 8%
LinkedIn 11%
Twitter 14%
YouTube 20%
Facebook 48%

Hmmm. Facebook wins by a landslide. While I am not surprised that members see value in using Facebook as a connecting tool, the margin of choice was surprising to me. I would have also anticipated the Twitter use would have been higher, especially given the extensive education based PLNs members are using effectively.

It is good to see the overall growth in the use of social media tools. Keep those PLN online connections alive. Invite a new person to participate today!

~ Mark