With the increasing use of social media in all age groups, it is necessary for school leaders to keep on top of current resources and practices for policy in their fields. Google and FaceBook have recognised some of their responsibility in assisting educators in creating ethical and responsible digital citizens and have created resources for School Leaders to assist them in this process. Unfortunately unless you yourself are cued into social media and contemporary forms of communication (blogs, twitter etc) you can miss some of the links to these resources.
In order to understand, you need to look, see and feel contemporary forms of communication. I joined FaceBook to watch what my children were doing. I joined Twitter to understand how it might be used. I have a LinkedIn account for the same reason. I don't post on these every 5 minutes as some avid users do, but I do have accounts, I have 'friended' and 'followed' and 'connected' through these means. I do see the messages, settings, updates and changes. I'm not as adept as my teenage digital natives, but I have some understanding of how it works, what it can be used for and some dangers of misuse. As a forward looking educator, can I recommend you do the same - my word I do...to do, is to understand to some level - far better than hiding your head in the sand and saying 'I don't have time'. Obviously...be careful who you 'friend'; explore the settings and tabs and don't say anything on them that you wouldn't stand up and say at a school assembly to staff, students and parents in any other public setting. I'm not suggesting you connect with students, staff or parents, nor am I suggesting you should teach with it/them. Having a look around though is very beneficial.
Can I recommend this blog...for those that are looking at social media policies in schools....follow the links to the resources written about.
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/08/facebook-and-youtube-offer-guidelines-to-help-schools-and-parents/#more-23078
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