Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Swampfox10mm]

I have some university students on my friends list. I don't go around advertising it, but if someone asks or adds me, I'll usually comply. I don't have a problem with it. Then again, I am not really posting anything I wouldn't say/do/show in class, either.

Personally, I think the world has gotten too paranoid.

I also question some people who are fanatical about discussing issues like these, or seem somewhat obsessed with how "wrong" they think everything is (like the guy who posted that I shouldn't be meeting with female students in my office during consultation time because people might get the wrong idea).

I immediately question what's really going on with some of these people -- much like the self-righteous/pious priest or church leader who preaches anti-gay things, yet gets caught molesting young children or seeing male prostitutes.

It's almost as if they are over-compensating for something, and quite frankly, it's creepy.

Again, all of the people I friend are adults. It would be different with kids, and as far as I know, teens and younger aren't legally supposed to have FB accounts, anyway.

[PatrickGHBusan]

[Swampfox10mm]

Thankfully, we get no such directive about meeting students and keeping the door open. I mostly do anyway, just to make it apparent that I am actually MEETING students during office hours, though... this has been a good thing, as the Korean profs. notice. As is the case in many situations, I have so many students to deal with, I encourage them to bring a partner from class so I can speak with two at once -- saves time.

[Hokie21]

His screen name is Creeper.......so I'm guessing he's just trying to rile some people up.

[chachee99]

Open up a second account if you want to have your students join you on facebook. And DO NOT ADD YOUR PRIMARY ACCOUNT AS A FRIEND TO YOUR TEACHER ACCOUNT! That's just asking for trouble,


Or you can do what I do and just say no.

[liveinkorea316]

I have students as friends on my facebook account. I would like to know some examples of the dangers in this. All I have heard so far is how dangerous it is without specifics.

I have not experienced any problems so far. It is a great way to keep in touch with past and current students I like and I and eventually discard past students that I no longer have anything to do with anymore.

You know, Facebook already has its own rules about pornography and such and there is a self reporting mechanism to deal with pictures and such. it is not perfect, but your facebook account should not contain anything questionable anyway as far as I know.

Yes people back home have been fired for posting things about their work on Facebook but that was not because they were friends with their boss...the info got out somehow anyway through the grapevine. I wrote something about my work on my Facebook recently and my mother emailed me and told me I should delete it as a caution. I thought it was good advice. That had nothing do do with students btw.

[silkhighway]

In the Canadian schoolboard in the area I live in, teachers are explicitly told not to add students to their Facebook accounts and only use school email accounts for exchanging emails. Having a lot of students as your friend on Facebook would be a reason not to hire you.

There are a lot of problems with Facebook, not least of which, that Facebook constantly changes their privacy policy and settings, and have an opt-out policy instead of an opt-in when they introduce new features.

[silkhighway]

[Times30]

Some students have added me. I had to go and delete all the tags of me virtually everywhere. I don't care honestly, I'd rather let my online "cool" image suffer than to have my students exposed to stupid drunken behavior.

Anyways, I DO believe it's possible to foster a good relationships with my students over facebook. I give them encouragement and they tell me about the status of their tests and stuff. An invisible pat on the back when they need it.

I'm sure a lot of bad can come from it, but I'd like to think that sometimes a kid needs encouragement from an outside source. Kids build their psychological environment from what they see, and if there is a "foreigner" who distant but willing to say hello and good job, then I think it can shape their future quite well even though it's on facebook.

But man, had to detag.... virtually everything...

In terms of benefits? WHHO KNOWS, maybe someday one of your students will be the next president of Korea. You never know, no reason to burn bridges if you don't have to.

[ttompatz]

Just to toss a little more fuel on the fire....

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/canadian-teachers-won-t-friending-students-anytime-soon-182136547.html

Canadian teachers won�t be �friending� students anytime soon

Here's a status update for Canadian students: your teachers don't want to "friend" you.

A new survey has found that only six per cent of teachers in Canada say they have accepted social media requests from their students, while 88 per cent note that it's not a good idea.

This puts them well below the global average of 34 per cent of teachers who have shared their photos, updates, videos and information with students, even though 67 per cent of them acknowledge it exposes them to risk.

As QMI agency reports, the survey, conducted by Norton by Symantec, found that Canadian educators tend to be far more cautious when it comes to interacting with their students online.

"Teachers are much more aware and secure," said Lynn Hargrove, director of consumer solutions from Symantec. "They see there's risks."

She added that part of the reason Canadian teachers appeared to buck the trend has to do with union guidelines that prohibit teachers and students from connecting over the Internet.

Despite erring on the side of caution, however, the survey found that eight per cent of Canadian teachers say they knew a colleague who had been cyberbaited, a phenomenon that involves students egging teaching on in the classroom or online in order to record his or her reaction and post it to Facebook or YouTube.

But thanks to their extra precaution, Canadians still come in far behind the 21 per cent global cyberbaiting average.

While Hargrove acknowledges the danger in making personal information available to students, she says there are still ways for teachers to reach out through social networking by keeping a separate account for friends and family and having one specifically designed to interact with students.

"Teachers are a great way to help kids be responsible online," she added.

The annual Norton Online Family Report interviewed 9,888 people � including children, parents and teachers � in 24 countries between Feb. 6 and March 14 of this year.

.

[thegadfly]

There are even places where friending students is against the law:

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/missouri-bans-students-and-teachers-from-being-facebook-friends/2260

Not saying I support the law...but again, I don't see any good coming out of adding students as friends on facebook. It is unnecessary exposure to a myriad of potential complaints.

[Captain Corea]

[silkhighway]

[toonchoon]

I wouldn't friend middle school kids. I've taught them before, and they found me on facebook long after I left, and I still didn't friend them.

I do friend my uni students on facebook, but they see a limited profile, though pretty much everybody but my folks and a few close friends see my limited profile.

[liveinkorea316]

I have to clarify, that I teach uni so most of my students are 19 and older. Still doesn't mean they act that age, but hey.

Anyway, I do understand the issues of adding high school students and younger and I ould not add them either. It is just a case of children in an adults world I guess.