*Activity 9:Legal contexts and digital identities
Introduction
The closest link to a policy or procedure regarding the use of social media in school is our current cybersafety procedure. This is a component of our school health and safety policy . The procedure does not currently specify the use or issue of the integration of social media within the teaching and learning environment at our school.
The policy states ‘The BOT of Waikowhai Primary places a high priority on providing the school with internet facilities and ICT devices/equipment which will benefit student learning outcomes, and the effective operation of the school.’
My previous blog posts have highlighted both positive and negative aspects of social media within the education context. There are two areas of the policy statement that I think could be supported by the use of social media.
Community communication
The first involves communication and the effective operation of our school. As stated before, our school has a variety of stakeholders with different backgrounds. In 2013 we surveyed our community and 86% of the respondents (not of the total school roll) reported they had access to internet at home. We have had a major focus on community engagement and the importance of a learning partnership between home and school. I think that this aspect could fall under the effect operation of the school and there is potential for the development of social media to further enhance the sharing between home and school.
Student learning outcomes
The second area of engagement relates to the benefit of student learning outcomes. The agency and awareness that come about from students blogging and identifying their learning journeys seem more relevant to me than the current portfolio system that we utilise in school. At enrollment students sign their cybersafety agreement and parents agree to photos being available online. This is the starting steps for the online blog environment. We are joining the ‘ako hiko’ cluster as of next year, part of the maniakalani program. This will involve access to the use of blogging and as a school we will definitely need to communicate openly with our whanau before we implement this.Students are familiar with social media. As I teach in a primary school and the facebook terms and twitter terms state that people under the age of 13 shouldn’t use these I would need to look at how I as a teacher could integrate these within the policy.
Planned implementation of policy
As an organisation we have recognised the importance of having relevant policy, especially around the use of blogging by students. At the beginning of next year we are looking to implement a 1:1 device environment. Our focus as a school over the next two terms will to be to consult with the stakeholders as well as other people further along the journey of implementation in our cluster to ensure we have robust policies and procedures in place.
References
Facebook (2015) Statement of Rights and Responsibilities retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms
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