Making History

I have been thinking about education, online life, students and teachers, and ethics quite a bit reciently.  And I am probably going to go out on a bit of a limb here, and put forth a more radical version of what I think than maybe is true.  But I am reacting against what seems to me too much fear, too much separation between online life and real life, and the sense that if adults are too afraid or two overprotective of online stuff, then students will very rightly not feel that we get it, that we understand what is important, and what it all really means in their lives.

Before I set this out, I do want to start with some basic things.  I am not saying that students and teachers should not have privacy, or that students and teachers should not have separate lives, or that teachers do not need to be aware of issues of power in their interactions with students.  All of those things are important.  But they were important before the internet and they will continue to to be important regardless of what policies we do or don’t have about facebook, or email, or any electronic forum.

I feel that my online life is an extension of my life.  And it is not that different.  So the questions I want to ask about my interactions with students online are the SAME questions I want to ask about my interactions with students at Stanford Shopping Center, on University Ave, as members of the alumnae association, and in the larger community in which we all live.

So, if you don’t want me to be friends with students on facebook, what does that do to the fact I live in a neighborhood with two students living within blocks of me.   And I am friends with a parent who has a daughter in my class. Do I ignore that relationship?  Of course not.  I want to question my interactions with this student and this family to ask if I am being fair, if I am giving some advantage to the child because of the relationship.  Of course I don’t want to do that. But that does not mean I am not friends, or that I must cut off some part of my life.

So, what is my solution?  I am not sure, but for me the key is to be thoughtful about all relationships, and not assume that something electronic needs its own set of guidelines just because it is electronic.  I have an online presence.  That is a public version of me.  And I behave in that online space the same way I do in person. So if a student feels comfortable making me a “friend” in that space, I will accept that friendship.  Just like when I see a student on University Ave and she comes up to me to chat, recognizing that friendship, I am happy to see her, and I feel that I am doing a good job as a teacher and as a person, and that friendship is no different (or is it?) than one that a student initiates online.

It is something to keep thinking about.