Facebook

=Using Facebook for Educational Purposes=

I am taking a 21st century step for education and creating a [|Facebook] account for professional teaching purposes. The purpose of this account is to create another avenue for my students to communicate and interact with me about classroom assignments, course content, mentoring needs, and/or any other academic need a student might have. Furthermore, [|a variety of applications] have been developed for Facebook that have academic value. I can guide students to these applications and/or facilitate discussions or activities through them.

This step is motivated by the fact that Facebook has become a core tool for communication, networking, and sharing of information between students (and people of all ages around the world!), so I believe it’s only natural for a [|21st century educator] to use this same wonderful medium for academic purposes. Students are usually logged into their Facebook account when they are on a computer, so this will create an even faster avenue for students to communicate with and receive feedback from me in an even timelier manner. I can also get information not given in class to students faster, as well. The goal for these processes involved on Facebook is the same as in the classroom: to promote student learning and communication, help students achieve deeper understanding of the curricular content and skills being covered in the course, and provide advice about personal and/or academic issues the students are contemplating.

I will only add current students as friends. I will also add past students if they would like me to be an additional resource to help them in their current academic endeavors. This account is not meant to be an informal, personal networking account.

I will respect the privacy of each student’s personal Facebook page. Students do have the option, however, to limit what any individual friend can see in their profile through privacy controls. So, students are encouraged to set these controls to the desired level of privacy if they worry about me seeing anything on their page they would prefer me not to see.

Hopefully students will find other creative means to use Facebook for academic purposes along with the connection to me through the medium!

My profile name is: Toga Learning.