Students in New York served detention for remarks they made about a teacher on a Facebook group, three teens in Massachusetts were charged with identity theft for creating a fake Facebook page in a classmate’s name, and a professor in Pennsylvania was suspended over her Facebook posts. Even when social media is not in the classroom, it is being used outside of it to talk about what goes on inside of it.
Students need to be literate in these media. They should understand how meaning is created through these media, how to evaluate Online sources, and how to create digital content themselves.
Students should know what it means to be a citizen of an Online community, as well as the ethical and issues of having a digital identity.
What are your thoughts?
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I agree with the message and I think that its important to educate students, especially young kid, before they pick up bad habits. But I think most of your examples really show the importance of educating lawmakers, and policy creators. Punishing students for badmouthing a class on Facebook sounds like censorship and is definitely not the approach I would take to teach better use of social media. We need to educate our educators!
@isaacson: We need education all around. Media literacy for educators, legislators, and students wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Every technology has a good side and a bad side. Social bookmarking sites like facebook are gaining huge popularity - however, people are losing their ability to deal with others in the direct way. They are hiding behind their computers often having a virtual identity. This gives the users a fake confidence that promotes irresponsible behavior .. that they can do anything on the net. Education alone can not eliminate this problem. Severe punishments for net based crimes would deter people in the future from being irresponsible on the net.