I joined Facebook in college so I was never presented with the decision of accepting or rejecting friend requests from my teachers until after I graduated. Today teacher-student interaction on social media outlets, especially Facebook seems to be an issue concerning schools around the country.  Morgan highlighted this issue back in April and still today, no agreement has been reached.

Recently the governor of Missouri passed a law making it illegal for state teachers to ‘friend’ their students. This law was enforced to avoid unsuitable relationships in the classroom. The Missouri state law which prevents student-teacher connection is not just limited to Facebook but to all social media outlets. Still some argue that denying social media sites to teachers will hinder 21^st Century learning and that schools should be using these media outlets to their advantage.

Some schools in Ohio actually passed a policy stating that teachers and students may interact to discuss school related issues using social media outlets. These schools believe sites like Facebook will provide students another chance to post questions, concerns or comments relating to their education while obeying school guidelines and obtaining parental permissions before joining these networks.

With over 800 million active users on Facebook, I do not think this discussion will dissipate quickly…

What do you think, should teachers be friends with students on Facebook and other social media outlets?

image via birgerking