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How to Monitor Student Activity on Facebook

January 29, 2012 in Internet Safety with 0 Comments

To help combat cyber bullying, consider monitoring student activity on Facebook. Privacy settings on Facebook profiles make it difficult for school leaders to see negative comments posted by students, but there are still ways to monitor students’ Facebook accounts. First, you can empower a group of students to be your school’s “online safety monitors.” When dramatic situations, such as bullying or threats of a fight, are posted on Facebook, these students report the threat to school officials, who are able to contact parents and handle the situation immediately. A second way to monitor student activity online is to create a personal Facebook account to friend students on Facebook. There are two ways to do this:

 

Create a Facebook Profile for the School Mascot. A Facebook profile is a personal Facebook account of an individual person. In order to view users’ profiles, you’ll need to be friends with them on Facebook. One way school leaders have done this is by creating personal accounts as school mascots. We created a Facebook profile for “Megabyte,” the Mentorship Academy mascot. Megabyte’s account is able to friend students, and since Megabyte isn’t an authority figure, students are likely to accept his friend requests. All administrators have access to the Megabyte account and can use this account when researching incidents that inevitably occur on Facebook.

 

Use your own Personal Facebook Account. A second way to see student activity on Facebook is for administrators to use their own personal Facebook account. There are examples of school administrators who have blurred the line between school life and home life and have made their personal Facebook accounts open to their school communities. It is important to be able to research bullying that occurs online, especially when it impacts your school community. By being Facebook friends with students and parents, you can see what they’ve posted on Facebook.

Becoming aware of what students already know can help you be more “in tune” with issues impacting your school community.

Six Safety Steps

April 13, 2011 in Internet Safety with 0 Comments

Here are six specific steps schools can take to educate students and parents to utilize social media safely and effectively:

1. Start small

Start with one technology, perhaps student portfolios.It can be tempting to dive into the deep end of social media but this would be foolish.

2. Get trained

When adopting new technology, ensure that students and teachers have adequate train- ing. Knowing a tool well will help ensure the focus stays on learning.

3. Teach parents

Empower your parents by hosting an Inter- net Safety seminar. An effective speaker will teach parents about the dangers online and answer questions they have.

4. Hire a great faculty

Hire a competent and student-centered director of technology. It is important that your technology staff be both experts in the technology but also love working with students. The purpose of technology at school is not to catch students breaking rules, but to educate them to use technology wisely in a safe environment. Since there is no 100% failproof system, a student-centered staff will take the time to train teachers, talk to kids, and collaborate with parents when things go awry.

5. Utilize group policing

When inappropriate content is posted, and it will be posted, the community of users is empowered to flag the content. On Ning, for example, all of our teachers are administrators and students have the opportunity to flag inap- propriate content, reporting it to an administrator.

6. Build a culture of collaboration.

Students need to feel that they can report what is happening online, par- ticularly when a situation has gotten out of control. With students feeling such a personal connection to their computer, it can feel like a violation to report to the school administration. Find ways to build a culture of trust.

 

 

Why Schools should use Social Media

April 5, 2011 in Ed Tech, Internet Safety, Social Media with 0 Comments

There are many benefits to a social media strategy for your school.
Engaged Families – Want an advocate for your school who knows your faculty, staff and mission better than anyone else? Engaged families are the way to go. Once your families have a connection with your school and feel like a “valued” customer, you will have an advocate for life who will promote your school and aid in your grass-roots marketing.
Larger Events – Creates greater parent and community awareness for your events. Start advertising your events, and we guarantee turnout and participation will increase.
Authentic Feedback – Social Media gives you the opportunity to not only monitor what is being said about your organization, but also gives you the opportunity to participate.
Fundraising – Social Media helps your school connect with potential donors. Your Web site, Facebook and Twitter page say a lot about you and who you are as an organization. This is a great opportunity to give potential donors and thought leaders a glimpse into your organization.
Community Buy-in – Not only does Social Media give community members the opportunity to engage and be a part of the conversation, but it also allows you to build relationships with them. Creating more advocates and lovers of your organization.
Student recruitment/enrollment – Creates ownership and excitement among the students who attend the school when they see their work displayed on your Social Media pages. It also allows you to begin the recruitent process early on.