Social Networking Sites are a widely used tool to which 61% of adults engage in, thus making it a popular platform to interact over. As depicted in the graph below, a majority of those that use Social Networking Sites are between the ages of 16-24, thus making the use of social media in education a popular option amongst education providers.
Statistics on the different age groups that engaged in Social Networking in Great Britain during 2015.
The presentation below highlights the issues that can arise from using social media in education.
The Issue of Digital Footprints
Amidst these issues, particular attention should be drawn to the digital footprint issues that arise when using social media in education. As highlighted by Henderson et al, when students are asked to engage in social media interactions via an educational setting, they are being asked to publish information onto public and/or semi public platforms.[1]
If young students are encouraged to use social media for educational purposes, but are not properly trained to use it outside of this context, inappropriate use could be damaging to their reputation and future prospects.[2] This is even more of a prevalent issue with reports showing that there is an increased amount of recruiters that check social media before hiring candidates. Furthermore, with many unaware of the longevity of information placed online, as briefly mentioned within Topic 3, there have been various occasions where people have fallen foul to posts made in the past which have come back to haunt them. Thus if social media is used in education, particularly if the students are young, awareness would need to be raised with regards to how content which is uploaded online can be copied, altered and reposted by anyone which makes it very difficult to take said content back.
Although using social media for education can help students to develop an online profile, it also encourages students to use social media more often which can result in them sharing more information about their lives online. Subsequently, Henderson et al submit that whilst encouraging students to use social media for educational purposes is innovative and can be a useful learning tool, it also requires students to put their identities out into the permanent arena of cyberspace.
However is our digital footprint really that much of a big deal? What are your thoughts with regards to the ethical issues surrounding the use of media for educational purposes?
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REFERENCES
[1] Michael Henderson, Glen Auld and Nicola Johnson, ‘Ethics of Teaching with Social Media’ < http://acec2014.acce.edu.au/sites/2014/files/attachments/HendersonAuldJohnson_EthicalDilemmas_ACEC_2014_0.pdf> accessed 23rd April 2016.
[2] ChildNet, “Young People and Social Media” < http://www.childnet.com/ufiles/young-people-and-social-networking-a.pdf > accessed 22nd April 2016.
Office of National Statistics, Internet Access- Households and Individuals:2015 < http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/householdcharacteristics/homeinternetandsocialmediausage/bulletins/internetaccesshouseholdsandindividuals/2015-08-06 > accessed 20th April 2016.
Recruitment Grapevine, “55% of employers reject candidates after social media search” < http://www.recruitmentgrapevine.com/article/2014-09-23-55-of-employers-reject-candidates-after-social-media-search > accessed 23rd April 2016.
Topic 3 Post <https://kemigrace.wordpress.com/2016/03/13/developing-an-authentic-online-professional-profile/ > accessed 23rd April 2016.
New York Times Magazine, “How one stupid tweet blew up Justine Sacco’s life” < http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html?module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Magazine&action=keypress®ion=FixedLeft&pgtype=article&_r=3 > accessed 20th April 2016.
Legal Cheek, “Offensive tweets of Bedford law grad working for Mayoral hopeful come back to haunt him” <http://www.legalcheek.com/2016/03/offensive-tweets-of-bedford-law-grad-working-for-sadiq-khan-come-back-to-haunt-him/ > accessed 23rd April 2016.
Presentation created by myself using https://www.haikudeck.com/presentations/FVtQ8KMYbc
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