I teach middle school and tell my students all the time that although I am friendly I am not their friend. I don't add my current students but I have a list of former students to follow up on them.
We need to engage students in online settings - it raises the tone of their discourse if they know adults are present. In the longer term, our presence with them in these forums helps us to reinforce the point that their online profile can be their best asset, a kind of life-long portfolio, something to point to with pride in job interviews, rather than just a repository of embarrassing photos from the weekend that will bite them later when they apply for jobs or university.
As many others did, I also voted no. However, I think that it is very possible to create or use a social networking site specifically for education purposes that includes teachers and students as 'friends.' It would not be for personal chatter, however.
Also, I have in fact added a FORMER student as a friend on a social networking site, but that came about after their graduation.
I teach middle school and tell my students all the time that although I am friendly I am not their friend. I don't add my current students but I have a list of former students to follow up on them.
We need to engage students in online settings - it raises the tone of their discourse if they know adults are present. In the longer term, our presence with them in these forums helps us to reinforce the point that their online profile can be their best asset, a kind of life-long portfolio, something to point to with pride in job interviews, rather than just a repository of embarrassing photos from the weekend that will bite them later when they apply for jobs or university.
As many others did, I also voted no. However, I think that it is very possible to create or use a social networking site specifically for education purposes that includes teachers and students as 'friends.' It would not be for personal chatter, however.
Also, I have in fact added a FORMER student as a friend on a social networking site, but that came about after their graduation.