Professional image and social media
First let me admit that I am "experienced" in that I have been teaching for a while, long enough to remember a time before the internet was in our pockets! I am seeing a trend of more and more instructors connecting with students on social media such as Facebook. And frequently it is there that a line really becomes blurred. As such, I will not accept students as friends on Facebook even if they ask. Once they graduate and get into the profession I will happily accept. I wonder how many of the instructors who are participating in this forum do accepts those requests and how to they keep those between professionalism and friends from blurring. And/or do instructor create a separate and distinct page for true instruction?
Andrea,
I love that you brought this up. To my knowledge, the school I currently teach at does not have a policy in regards to this. At a previous university, I was required to have a Facebook account AND accept students' friend requests. I was very uncomfortable with this idea and actually created a separate Facebook account for colleagues and students. I thought keeping my personal life separate was necessary and I didn't feel comfortable knowing intimate details of my students' lives. I have since deactivated this account but would accept requests on my LinkedIn account.
I do not accept friend requests on FaceBook from students. Only after the student graduates do I accept friend requests. I feel the students have the right to complain and moan about school without the teacher being involved. It's normal student behavior.
Our school has a policy of instructors' not friending students at our school. This is fine with me, as I'm not on Facebook or Twitter. If a student asks about this, I tell them to send me a request to connect on LinkedIn as soon they graduate. This is a platform for professional networking and allows me to recommend graduates who did good work.
My opinion is that instructors need to know when to draw the line. Some student can be very emotional so it is important you draw the line early. If a student communicates with you on social media, it should strictly be questions about the class and nothing more.
