This week in my graduate course we discussed social media tools - Web 2.0 - that are useful in learning environments. My disclosure is that I typically don't use social media for personal use, and this makes it a bigger jump to think about using it for learning purposes. The irony is that I enrolled in this elective class because I am intrigued about using social media for learning environments.
The points I vacillate on are data security and time commitment. With data security I would need to ensure that learners' data, user profiles, etc. are protected. This isn't the same thing if it's higher education and the university is using an LMS. FERPA and a contract protect student data and how it's used. With free social media apps there's more risk to a learner's content. I'm still exploring these tools to determine if there are settings to protects our learner's identities and content. One thing that's important is to have learner's identities protected. I suggest first name and last initial, or an avatar, or some way of masking their legal name.
What are your thoughts on this?
I believe using a pseudonym, when students want to use it instead of their real name, is definitely beneficial in terms of privacy. It should also be noted that students have complete control what to share on their social media account. Educators shouldn't have students reveal any identifiable information, for instance, by including such components as assignment requirements. I think you made a great point in that using social media in educational settings raises privacy concerns, which educators made sure about proactively.
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