Scenario: Mr. Hutchinson wants to keep his students' parents aware of classroom activities. He remembers hearing about using Twitter posts at a technology conference. After doing some research, Mr. Hutchinson finds both positive and negative viewpoints related to using Twitter in the classroom. He believes that for what he wants to do- inform parents of their child's daily work- these posts would be appropriate. Before setting one up, however, he consults with the principal and technology support person to see if there are any legal issues. Both say that what he wants to do is perfectly okay. Mr. Hutchinson then sets up a professional Twitter account and informs his students and parents about where to find the information. Is social media a good way to share information? (Ribble, 2014)
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| Eileen Wacker. (CC) 2016. |
In this scenario Mr. Hutchinson took the proper steps in order to ensure that utilizing Twitter to connect with his students' parents was a viable option. This scenario is an example of an appropriate use of technology as Mr. Hutchinson consulted with the principal and technology support person in order to validate his decision and protect others information. In addition, he also contacted the parents to ensure that they would be comfortable using Twitter as a form of communication. Twitter is a beneficial online tool because it respects the digital right to privacy as you can set your Twitter page to private, therefore people have to request to view your posts. Moreover, it makes communicating easier because the teacher can reach out to all of the parents at once and receive responses quickly.
The article on
StaySafeOnline provides in depth information about how to protect your children online and it discusses privacy settings. I would recommend that Mr. Hutchinson sends out an agreement form to all of the parents that discusses private Twitter accounts to ensure the safety of their information. Also, Mr. Hutchinson should post a chart in the classroom that describes the Do's and Don'ts of the internet in order to inform his students on proper technology use as stated by
Education World. It is also important that Mr. Hutchinson constantly monitors the online conversations to ensure that they are educational and not disrespecting any of the digital rights and responsibilities of others. Therefore, as I indicated, there are multiple steps that Mr. Hutchinson should have taken in order to protect the privacy of the students and parents in an online context.
I am interested to read your thoughts and opinions on this scenario. Do you think that Mr. Hutchinson uses Twitter in an appropriate way? Is Twitter a good form of communication between teachers and students' parents? Feel free to discuss the scenario in the comment section.
Hi Andrea,
ReplyDeleteI also think that Mr. Hutchinson went about this situation properly, as he consulted both the parents and teachers. I do think Twitter can be used this way, as we are also using Twitter to help promote our blogs, but would be interested with the age group of his students and what he plans. Do you think if they were a group of young students, it would make a difference of the implementation of Twitter?
In regards to Twitter being a good form of communication, I would say it could be used, but I do not know how effective it could be.
Nicole
Hello Andrea,
ReplyDeleteGreat discussion post on scenario #14. I completely agree that Mr. Hutchinson took the right steps with setting up his professional Twitter account. By asking the parents and principle for permission, he was making sure things were ok before setting up the account. The article you posted titled StaySafeOnline gives good insight that would be handy for every parent to read and discuss with their child about internet security.
Regards,
Andy
Hi Andrea,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you say Mr. Hutchinson is using technology appropriately as he followed the proper protocol to execute his idea of using Twitter to communicate with the parents of students. However, I do think that students these days are more experienced with using Twitter than parents. It may be helpful to send a simple tutorial or a sheet with helpful tips to the parents who may be new to the Twitter world! I personally feel that Twitter would be more effective to communicate with students than with parents, but maybe a blog might work better when communicating with parents. That way the parents wouldn't have to make an account or anything, and would just have to type in the url! Great post!
- Sahithya
Hi all!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your input on my blog post, you all had very good contributions and it was interesting to see other perspectives on the scenario. Nicole, in regards to your question I think that with a younger group of students it would be a different case because Mr. Hutchinson should restrict the communication to only the parents and not include the students in order to protect their privacy and for safety reasons. Also, in regards to your comment Sahithya, I agree that it would also be beneficial for Mr. Hutchinson to make a blog in order to communicate with the parents. However, Twitter allows you to address each parent individually in the direct messages so that may offer a different form of communication.
Thanks for the input and take care,
Andrea
It is great to see so many replies! Thank you everyone for your ongoing discussion.
ReplyDeleteSheila
Andrea,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I definitely agree that Mr. Hutchinson acted appropriately by consulting with the proper people to ensure the legality of it. Twitter is a great tool for sharing and discussing. I think this course is a perfect example of how Twitter can be beneficial. However, I think Twitter is more appropriate for the class to use rather than parents. I like the concept of sharing information with parents using technology but I am not sure that Twitter would be the most appropriate or effective channel. I know my parents aren't as up to date with technology as I'm sure other parents aren't either.
Brooke