We are approaching the end of an eventful year in education. Social media has knocked hard on the school door and schools are struggling with this. Many teachers do not feel comfortable with social media and are becoming restless. Where does the fear of social media come from among these teachers? Is it due to a lack of knowledge? A lack of time? Or simply negative media attention?
Why fear?
2011 was the year of the threatening tweets. Last year, @doodsbedreiging published more than 3700 death threats that were posted on Twitter. Students were arrested , schools were closed because of threatening tweets. Evelien van Zuidam already wrote it on Frankwatching : “Sending a threatening tweet is the same as threatening someone offline and therefore punishable if it meets the conditions of article 285 of the criminal code.” .
A taken seriously, but aren't we going too far? In the past, children would call 112 as a joke. The operator would answer the phone and decide whether the report should be taken seriously or whether it was a joke. There was an intensive communication campaign , in which citizens and especially children were explained the consequences of making a false report. There does not seem to be a policy for threatening tweets at the police, municipalities and schools. There is bulgaria phone number list apparently no one, such as the operator at 112, who can put the tweet in context and assess the value of the tweet.
We respond and expand
The police arrest the kids and then the press gets involved. For example, in the program Hart van Nederland we had to watch how a boy in Maassluis was arrested because he had posted a threat on Twitter . Why is this news? If I had made a false report with 112 as a joke, would I have been on TV? The media, with their attention to everything that can go wrong with social media, do give a distorted picture of reality. What does this do to teachers who only read or see doom and gloom about social media on television? The press does not pay attention to this. After all, they want to attract viewers, get clicks. With nice positive stories that is apparently a lot harder than with extremities.
We are going to agree on rules
Students are looking for boundaries, what is allowed and what is really not. Social media at schools often still seems like a game without boundaries, so we are going to agree on rules of the game that offer stability and clarity for all parties involved so that everyone knows what is expected of him or her. CNV Education and the Board of Governors have therefore drawn up a social media protocol that schools can use. Various edubloggers responded because they felt that here too the emphasis was mainly on the possible dangers and no mention was made of the opportunities for schools, as I also indicated in my blog from #rotschool to #topschool @socialmedia . Let schools follow Adidas' example, where employees are encouraged to tell the world about their work and their passion.