Personal e-mails or texts, are they really personal? Usually a school district allows individuals (Administrators, Educators, and Students) to respond to their personal emails or texts at work. Have you or your students ever logged into personal e-mail accounts or texted messages during school hours? If you have, then you’ve may have allowed the school access to your personal email and/or your personal text messages. While this is not true of every school, you would not know it until you’ve read your school’s Acceptable Use Policy.
Here is an excerpt from the “Vermont Principal’s Association’s” suggested acceptable use policy.
“Users should not expect that any files and records of their online activity created on the District’s system are private. Users will be fully and regularly informed about the District’s supervision and monitoring activities and the limitations on their privacy.”
1) Watch this video about employee privacy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB8b-C3jUr4
2) Please provide a paragraph answer for each question below.
a. Do you read or answer personal emails and/or texts at school, is this addressed by your acceptable use policy? Do you consider this information private?
b. Do you contact students via email or text, for educational purposes? How is this valuable? How could this be harmful?
c. If you are contacted by a student or another professional with inappropriate information, what is the correct way to respond? Who should you inform? What is the school’s procedure?
3) Many educators share their Social Networks with other educators or students. While not illegal, it is important to remember that educators also have a professional relationship to maintain with these individuals. Many schools have policies regarding this situation.
If you have a personal Facebook or MySpace account and you allow students and colleagues to access your information, it is possible to put your professional license at risk. You “hook up” with your students’ account and become aware of their unsafe or inappropriate behaviors online or offline. Vermont’s Educator’s code of ethics requires you to report this information to your administrator. Please read the below excerpt.
“5528 Principle VIII. A professional educator fulfills all of his or her obligations to students. Unprofessional conduct includes, but is not limited to, the failure to provide appropriate supervision of students at school or school-sponsored activities, or the failure to ensure the safety and well-being of students.”
The full text of this article can be found here:
4) Watch This Video about Social Networking and answer the questions below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuaZ58dE7WI
a. Do you feel students and teachers should be “Facebook Friends?” If you are friended by a student who has inappropriate information on their website, what is your responsibility as an educator? Should you friend students? Should you friend Colleagues.
b. What types of information should you avoid putting onto a social networking website like Facebook?
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