The Education Council has a useful website about teachers & social media. As the digital world becomes more accessible, more schools are engaging with social media to connect with students, whanau and wider communities.
The following guidelines are taken from the teachers & social media website:
Commitment to Learners
At our school, we use blogs as our digital portfolio for students in the senior school. We have a cybersmart curriculum and through this, our students are taught how to post positive, thoughtful and helpful comments. Students are essentially taught “blog etiquette” and about their digital footprint. To promote and foster positive relationships online, commenting begins on blogs within the classroom, then extends to school blogs, cluster blogs and then further afield.
However, this does not mean that cybersafety is taught only to students in the senior school. In fact, all students are taught how to be cybersafe as all students can access the internet.
Students need to be respectful and know that if they wouldn’t say something in person, then they don’t say it online. At our school, students are aware that inappropriate cyber use has consequences, just as it would if they exhibited inappropriate behaviour happened in the school playground.
All students who use chromebooks agree to the Ako Hiko Kawa of Care. This agreement occurs between the student, their parent/guardian and the school, to ensure the best care and responsibility is exercised.
All students who use chromebooks agree to the Ako Hiko Kawa of Care. This agreement occurs between the student, their parent/guardian and the school, to ensure the best care and responsibility is exercised.
- Ako Hiko Kawa of Care (2015)
Commitment to Parents/Guardians and Family/Whānau
Many students can access social media outside of school. So how can we ensure our students are being safe?
One of the goals from the Ako Hiko Strategic Plan is to ensure that our cluster engages with Whanau/ Aiga for input, and about the impact of teaching and learning with digital learning technologies on our vision, learning and digital citizenship, including being cybersmart. The cybersmart process needs to be planned and our community needs to understand it.
Taking that into consideration, my school's strategic plan explicitly states that a cybersmart policy will be developed and that home/school partnerships will be utilised so that being cybersmart extends from school to home.
Parents need to be asking themselves questions when considering cybersafety:
- What sites are the best for my children?
- How much time should my child spend on the internet?
- Relationships - knowing my kids friends
- Where should my child access the internet? (ie a physical space)
- Do I know what my child has subscribed to?
- Do I know what is legal and illegal online?
Parents whose children take home a chromebook at school need to attend a workshop and also sign the Kawa of Care.
- Ako Hiko Kawa of Care (2015)
Commitment to Society
The vision that New Zealand has for its students is to develop lifelong learners who are confident, connected and actively involved. However, it is vital that we as teachers model positive and respectful interactions when using social media. You only have to look at recent media events to see how easily social media can impact on individuals.
Commitment to the Profession
- What is the purpose of posting this on social media?
- Am I familiar with the Cyber Smart curriculum for our students?
- What sites are the best for my students?
- What are the school policies?
- Where are the school policies located? Can I access them in a hurry?
While social media is a great tool for sharing learning and networking, teachers need to remember to have regular conversations about what is being posted online and the reason why. If it's not positive and respectful, it's not worth posting!
References:
Ako Hiko Cluster. (2015) Ako Hiko Kawa of Care.
Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand. (2015). Teacher and Social Media. Retrieved from http://www.teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/
Haydon, R. & Percy, E. (2015, May 7) May Road School: Community Engagement with Blogging [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://mrscommunityengagement.blogspot.co.nz/2015/05/home-school-partnerships-nag-1-annual.html
May Road School. (2015). Strategic Plan 2015-2017
Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum Online. Retrieved from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum/Vision
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