Social Media Rules for Teachers Released by New York City

Teachers interacting with students via social media should have no expectation of privacy.

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There's less of the social in social media for teachers in New York City. On Monday the New York City Dept of Education released guidelines for the use of social media. Teachers are being advised to keep a clear distinction between the use of their personal and professional accounts, and should be aware that their social media may be monitored.While multi-media learning continues to gain ground and add value in schools, this move could be seen to stifle some of the growth that the teacher-student relationship has experienced over the last couple of decades. Certainly the dynamic between teachers and students has changed, becoming less formal and more open, over the past 10 or 15 years. Many parents and students see this as a good thing, allowing for a more enjoyable learning experience for both students and teachers, who can interact as people, rather than strictly by their roles. But there are pitfalls.According to an article in the New York Times, "...the guidelines reflect growing concerns nationwide about the potential for misuse or abuse in teachers’ electronic interaction with students. New York City’s guidelines are the latest official response to a number of episodes involving teachers accused of behaving inappropriately with students."

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Depending on how you see the student-teacher dynamic, and this may be a factor of age and culture, you may view this move as either heavy-handed or long overdue. Either way, it promises to stir up some controversy.According to the New York Times article:

The guidelines recognize that social media can offer educational benefits and do not ban teachers from using it. They do not address cellphones and text messaging between teachers and students, which, according to a review by The New York Times of dozens of Education Department investigations in the past five years, have been more widespread and problematic.

The guidelines, which forbid teachers to "friend" their students, e-mail or communicate with them through any personal medium, establishes an expectation that all contact between students and teachers should be on a professional level. Teachers are advised to set up separate personal and prosfessional accounts and set strict privacy settings to control access to their personal social media sites.It comes down to common sense, and it's expected that most teachers already understand that inappropriate offline behavior is also inappropriate online. But just to make sure, the guidelines advise teachers that their interactions with students on professional social networking services will be monitored and that administrators and officials should be given access to teachers' professional accounts. Training sessions on best practices will start this month.