1. Facebook, has never really had that much usefulness to me. I had around 200 “friends,” but about 180 where people that I didn’t talk to in high school. I ended up using the hide button so I didn’t have to see their inane scores in games and tales of binge drinking.
2. I kept my Facebook account for this long to keep in touch with family. Well, now I live close to family, so I can just go see them. I still want to share pictures and videos, but I can easily do that with my Flickr, Picasa, and Vimeo accounts.
3. I don’t really care about games whose sole purpose is wasting time. While many enjoy them, they really are just a nuisance to me.
4. All of the above have been true for three years. I only now decided to delete my account because of Facebook’s cavalier attitude to privacy. They have recently hired a high-profile privacy lawyer for protection. They regularly change their settings without notice or easy to understand explanations. I can figure it out, but my parents and grandparents are completely clueless about Facebook’s privacy settings. I use other services that share my data. Twitter, for example, is completely public. I started using it knowing that and I did not share anything that I did not want to be public. Facebook started as a personal service and they are now trying to make money off of our data by sharing it with advertisers whether we want to participate or not. Of course, we can change out privacy settings, but they become ever more convoluted and they’re always in flux. Making money is not a bad thing for a business. I just do not feel that they have gone about it ethically.
5. I had planned on making a Facebook Fan page for my class next year, but I feel that my combination of WordPress MU and Moodle will be far superior to what Facebook has to offer educationally.

Facebook has an ambitious goal of literally changing the entire fabric of the web. If they succeed, I may very well have to create a Facebook account several years from now. If you still use Facebook, there is nothing wrong with that. Just be aware of how they are using your data and manipulating users, and make an informed decision. CEO Mark Zuckerberg supposedly even called his users stupid for trusting him with their data.

One area that I’ve been giving some thought about is what I how I would setup an online space for students using a social network or course management system (also know as Virtual Learning Environment or VLE, or Learning Management System or LMS). I have some expertise in using course management system having studied its use intensely in post-graduate work and using it in my class for two years before I became a library media specialist. I have some ideas, but this post is fairly exploratory in nature and I would appreciate your feedback in the comments to help me decide. I know that I have time, but it’s in my nature to make plans.

The Frontrunner

Moodle had been my first love with educational technology and really helped me to rethink my teaching style as a new teacher. It is a full-featured course management system that I use to run blended and online classes. Next year it would be blended and function as an extension of the classroom. It is open-source, which means it is completely free and extensible. In addition, it integrates easily with the open-source e-portfolio software Mahara, which is a plus. Moodle has a plethora of course formats and activities; since it is built on a foundation of social constructivism, all the activities involve students discovering or building knowledge and learning from each other. My main concern is that Moodle is becoming too plain for students used to Facebook. While Moodle is getting a face lift this summer with 2.0, it still lacks the social aspect of some of the other options I’m considering. If I do end up going with Moodle, I’ll definitely be watching @lasic’s presentation, “Forums: the Heart of Moodle.”

The Obvious Choice

I’m referring to Facebook when I say the obvious choice. I think of it as obvious for two reasons. First, it is nearly ubiquitous with over 300 million users. At least 2/3 of my students are on Facebook. So, I would not have to deal with maintaining logins and passwords as most would already have one. I would set myself up a second, professional Facebook account as I use mine for friends and family and setup a fan page for the class. Second, students are much more likely to check school work on a site that they already check everyday than if they have to go to another site. In addition, there are some educational apps and forums that @rrmurry showed me that have some real potential. I would have to work on how to optimize the experience for students.

Short and Sweet

I have been on Twitter for about 11 months, I believe. It has been one of the best learning experiences of my life. I would like to give the students the same experience. However, I know that there may be concerns among parents or administrators with Twitter being completely public. Edmodo also allows for microblogging with extra educational features such as polls, assignments, and grades. For class microblogging though, I really like StatusNet. StatusNet is open-source and the most widely known installation is Identi.ca. I can customize to my class, keep it as private as I want, and authenticate the users through a common database with Moodle so I can use both and have students only need to remember one username and password.

The Forgotten Child

Ning is an interesting and powerful platform that allows you to have your own private social network. It has the social aspect down and is appealing to students. My main issue is that there doesn’t seem to be anything that Ning can do that Moodle cannot do better with more features. Now, I have not used Ning, so it is likely that I am missing something. If so, please let me know in the comments. Ning’s appearance and feel is better than Moodle’s, but if that is the most important thing, then I would go with Facebook.

What do you think? What are you using or planning to use? I know that there are other options I have forgotten, so please let me know what choice or combination you think would work best with students in the comments.

So, What’s the Catch?

There is no catch. Social networking is a real boon to both students and teachers. However, there are some real risks. These risks can be minimized through proper instruction and implementation, but before any students start using social networks in your class it is wise to be aware of them. By recognizing the risks, you can take steps to minimize them so that students can focus on learning.

First, many social networks are blocked at school. My district blocks Twitter, Facbook, MySpace, YouTube, and only recently unblocked Ning after intense pushback from teachers. Teachers are often erroneously left out of the decision-making process when it comes to which sites to block and which to allow. Recently, I have spoken to administrators and technology directors about why they choose to block social networks; I have also asked teachers what the most common responses are when they want to use social networks with their students. Some of the answers I received are below:

• Social networks are of no educational value.
• Teachers and/or students do not have time to learn social networking skills.
• Social networks promote bad writing skills.
• Social networking sites are filled with viruses and can hurt your computer.
• Students will be too distracted.
• Students will find inappropriate and/or dangerous things online.

Unfortunately, I have fought these same battles repeatedly in several schools. It seems the same excuses are prevalent regardless of country or socioeconomic status. Since these fears are so widespread, I would like to take a minute to look into their validity and whether or not they schools are really fulfilling their obligation to protect students by blocking social networks.

The first issue is that social networks have no educational value. This was addressed in both the introduction to this chapter and the first chapter of the book. The educational value of any social network is determined by how a person chooses to utilize it. A student could get on Facebook to ask a question about a sporting event or about how to do the homework. To dismiss all social networks as being devoid of educational content is simply short-sighted.

The second issue is the idea that teachers and students do not have time to learn social networks. This is a fallacious excuse. While more is crammed into curricula than ever before, everyone makes times for those things that they find important and meaningful. Furthermore, students already have the skills. They just need to be taught how to safely use the skills they already have. Therefore, in most cases where people claim to not have time, they really need to be convinced that it is worth their time. Even in a packed curriculum, spending time up front to train students and/or teachers will pay dividends when students are able to become more invested in the learning process.

The third issue is that social networking sites promote poor writing skills. There may be some truth to this. The reality is that the trend started before social networks and would continue without them. Text messages were popular before social networks and limit messages to 160 characters. This limitation necessitated clever abbreviations to many. Twitter, Facebook, and other sites acclimate students to the idea of writing short posts. Whether or not social networks are allowed in schools, students will still use cell-phones and social networks outside of schools. Allowing the use of social networks in school can actually help remedy this issue depending on how it is implemented. When I have utilized social networking with my students, I explain that proper grammar, punctuation, etc… is expected in all school writing.  Most comply easily; some will lapse over time, but you as the teacher just constantly reinforce the expectation and maintain high standards for you students. It is also wise to teach the students about context. It is not wrong to talk to friends using the local colloquia. Having said that, students need to be able to differentiate between contexts and choose which form of language is best in which context. This is a skill that will benefit them in many situations.

Among IT people, it is a common belief that social networks are riddled with viruses and malware that can harm your computer. Twitter and Facebook are often cited as examples. There is a grain of truth to this rumor as there are to many. This presents us with another teachable moment about Internet safety and as we constantly reinforce online safety it should not escalate into a problem. Almost all viruses and malware that are downloaded on social networks come from clicking on links. These links originate with someone. For example, someone online may write a post such as, “If you like watching baseball, click here! http://bit.ly/12323” There are a couple of things worth noting in this common example. First, the post catches the attention of a student interested in baseball. It could easily be about any subject a student might be interested in though. Second, the link was shortened. There are any number of services that shorten URLs (A URL is a web address, such as http://jasontbedell.com). The main reason these services exist is to make long URLs short enough to fit inside a message post. So, if you go to the URL in the example, it should take you to Google. However, it could take you anywhere.

The lesson here is threefold. First, never click on links from strangers. This is especially true if it is not about what you are working on for class. Second, never click on a shortened URL (This could look like http://bit.ly, http://tinyurl.com, http://ow.ly, http://goo.gl, and many others.) unless you are absolutely sure of the source. Many of the social networks that will be discussed here are closed social networks, This means that the only people who are going to be a part of the social network are members of your classes. This should all but eliminate the problem. If you choose to use a public social network like Facebook or Twitter, it just requires training your students on when they should click on a link. Third, never agree if the computer asks you to download something. Most schools have their computers setup so that students cannot download or install anything, which protects the computer. If not, we must continue to stress the importance of not agreeing to do anything we are not sure of. This may seem redundant, but continual repetition and reinforcement will help keep the students safe and the computers working.

The fifth issue is that students will be too distracted. In colleges and universities, where it is common for students to have laptops, many professors are squandering resources by not allowing students to use the tools they have to their greatest potential. Recently, a professor staged a demonstration in his class where he took a student’s (non-functioning) laptop, dipped it in nitrous oxide, and then smashed it. While the tool is different, the idea is the same. He did not want his students distracted.

The problem with this line of thinking is that it includes the assumption that without laptops or social networking, the students would all be sitting in rapt attention. I love seeing classrooms where every student is engaged, but that engagement does not come from taking away things that can make class more interesting. My first reaction to the professor after watching the video was that if the students are not paying attention, then maybe the professor is not interesting enough. However, that first reaction is not fair to all teachers. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try or how good a lesson, there will be a distracted student. It matters little whether this student is distracted by daydreams, tapping a pencil, or checking a post online. If the student is not engaged, often that means s/he is not learning.

Today, however, students are better able to multitask than ever before. While there is value in dedicating oneself solely to a task, expecting that of children for 6-8 hours a day is simply unrealistic. Anytime there are computers in the room, students will multitask. It is their nature. This gives us another chance to teach an important lesson: prioritization. Students must be able to rank tasks in order of importance. If your student thinks that the dance is more important than molecular biology, then we need to find a way to demonstrate the importance of the content area to that student.

Furthermore, let me explain how I function when I take graduate courses or attend conferences. I nearly always have my laptop. If not, I have a BlackBerry, an iPod Touch, or a notebook (rare). If the speaker is interesting, I am taking notes. If s/he is interesting, I am also posting questions and quotes to Twitter to get feedback from other teachers. If I find the speaker practically useful, I am simultaneously looking up links and resources on the topic being spoken about to further my own understanding. If the speaker is not interesting or I do not care about what the speaker is talking about, I start to drift to computer activities that are less related. If all I have is a notebook, I start to brainstorm ideas on unrelated projects, make to do lists, etc… As a teacher not too far removed from where the students are, I’ve learned to prioritize. If what I am doing or listening to has a lt value to me, I give it my full attention. Otherwise, how much attention I give the activity or speaker is directly proportional to how important it is to me. The kids need to learn these prioritization tools just as we need to continue to learn ways to make sure our class is a priority for them.

The sixth issue is the most difficult to eradicate. The Internet is slightly organized chaos. In that chaos, there are dangerous and inappropriate websites, information, and people. This is simple fact. The Internet has opened up the floodgates of information and no one can dictate the kind of information that is now available. If you have students use Facebook, Twitter, or Ning, there are groups of people that students, students’ parents, and/or administrators may find objectionable.

This is not, in and of itself, a reason to disallow social networks in our schools. When students are on the job, they will have the Internet open to them. They will have to deal with temptation and inappropriate content. If we do not teach the students how to best respond, then we are doing them a disservice. We need to help students understand the contexts in which to use social networks; we must help them learn to navigate the Internet safely; and we definitely need to explain what to do when they accidentally come across objectionable material, because that will happen at some point. These are not hard lessons. It just requires that we spend time up front having honest discussions with students and reinforce those principles throughout the duration of the school year.

This has been an excerpt from my new book, Techniques for Effective Technology Integration.

I am seeking honest feedback. If there is anything I need to improve on, change, forgot, or need to include, please let me know. Don’t worry about hurting my feelings; I wouldn’t have posted it for everyone if I was cared about that.

Here is the chapter as a Word document and as a pdf file. Below it is embedded with Scribd.

Chapter 3

Students are people, just like teachers, and are susceptible to the same whims. Unfortunately, we do not always have a say in what we can teach. In the last week, I have co-taught lessons in physics (work and power, acceleration), biology (kingdoms), the Cuban Revolution, Realist poets, and totalitarian leaders in World War II. No matter how wonderful the student, I highly doubt that many students will be intrinsically motivated to learn about all of these disparate subjects even though there were a handful of students who came in the library for science, history, and English in the span of a week.

Part of our duty as educators is to find a way to make the material we have to teach interesting to students so that they want to learn about it. There are many methods and no one method will work in every situation with every student. However, I discovered a lesson by Angela Cunningham (@kyteacher) that I thought would work well in many subjects. The idea is historical Facebook pages. Her original idea can be found here.

Facebook is blocked here, as it is in many schools. However, close to 90% of students at my school have either a Facebook or a MySpace page; many have both. The hope is that by tying biographical research to something that they like to do, they will get more invested in the assignment than they would if it was a simple biography research paper.

I modified Angela’s lesson some. She used Google Sites; my teachers are familiar with Microsoft Publisher, so I designed my template there. It is actually fairly simple to do. I just took screenshots of Facebook at home, added them to Publisher, and added spaces for students to add information and pictures. Here is a picture of what my template looks like: http://jasontbedell.com/Facebook.pdf.

There are some basic requirements that we tailor to each specific class.

1. A profile picture
2. You need status updates that reflect what was going on in [place] during [time period]
3. At least 6 people the historical figure would be friends with in the “Friends Online” section
4. Basic biographical info in the “Information” section
5. At least 3 Facebook-style groups that your figure would belong to.
6. Suggestions of 3 people in that your figure might have something in common with in “Suggestions.” (For example, an English teacher asked people who wrote in a similar style and a history teacher asked for people with similar political views.)
7. At least 2 advertisements of products from the time period in the “Sponsored” sections.
8. At least 1 important event going on at the time in the “Events” section.
9. Language can also be modified. The English teacher required period appropriate language and the Spanish teacher is considering having her Spanish 4 class do it in Spanish.

In the last week, I have done this project with a Spanish teacher, a world history teacher, and an English teacher. The history teacher focused on totalitarian leaders during World War II – see details here. The English teacher focused on Realist authors – see details here. The Spanish teacher focused on Cuban revolutionary figures – see details here. Next week, an English teacher wants to do it with English Romantic poets and a US history teacher wants to do it with important figures from the 1960s.

In all 3 classes that have done a variant of the project, the students were interested, engaged, and produced good work. One of the teachers actually made a point to stop by to tell me that she heard the kids saying “This is cool” and enthusiastically showing the students who had been absent how to work on the project. The teachers were all enthusiastic and that carried over to the students. The students were interested and enthusiastic; the students’ hard work and interest then refreshed the teachers and classroom morale went up, at least for a little while. I only have access to 2 examples (They were turned into their classroom teachers, not to me.) at the moment. Here is one on Emily Dickinson and one on Fidel Castro.

There are several aspects of this lesson that I think are worth noting. Obviously, it is important that students like it, at least so far. However, there are also some important educational points. Compared to a normal report, this type of assignment is almost impossible to plagiarize. It forces students to try to understand what would have been important enough to the person that they are studying to write about. They need to make important connections between their historical figure and larger world during that time period. If anything, research may be more intensive than during a normal report. They have to have an understanding of not only the person that they are studying, but the time period, the culture, the place, the language, and other important figures from the time period.

If you want to try it out, click here for the Microsoft Publisher temple.

Here is a video on how to use the Publisher template. You may have to turn up the volume.

Historical Facebook Pages from Jason Bedell on Vimeo.

How do you get students interested? Please leave some ideas in the comments.

I’d like to share what I gain from using Twitter and other social networks (Facebook, Google Wave, LinkedIn, this blog, Library Thing, Delicious, and others), then I will be extrapolating my own experiences and knowledge to the broader topic of whether or not social networks should be blocked in schools. First, I am continually meeting new contacts that amaze and inspire me to do better. Just this last week, I have been speaking with a very interesting special education teacher in New York City, an educational technology professional from Australia, an elementary school teacher from California, and more. The diversity, experience, and skills of the people I meet online are astounding and it is an honor to be able to learn from many of them. Second, I am able to get outside of my limited box in Tennessee, USA. About half of the people I follow on Twitter are from outside the US – there are a wealth of excellent teachers all over. At the moment, I speak with many from Australia, Canada, and Europe and am looking to make more contacts from all locations. Third, this personal learning network keeps me on the forefront of educational technology and pedagogical techniques. I saved the searches #edchat and #edtech (click for public tweets) and these continually developing and updating conversations are tremendously helpful. Fourth, I become more productive because I want to give back to the community that I take so much from. Fifth, teachers are natural helpers and sharers; social networks allow us to increase these gifts. The people on the networks I follow have had universal goodwill towards each other; they do not always agree, but they are willing to help each other and share ideas and resources. Sixth, there is timely feedback on ideas. For example, after I wrote a blog on podcasting, I posted it to Twitter. Within an hour, I had 6 people reading it on the blog and someone sending me a follow-up message on Twitter. There is no waiting a week for a teacher to have time to look at my work and hopefully give me some constructive feedback; it is authentic and often almost instantaneous.

Despite the advantages that are listed above, almost all social networks are blocked in my school district. The only one that is allowed is LinkedIn. There is nothing wrong with LinkedIn; it is a social network for professionals. I am a member of as well, although I haven’t been on in a few weeks. It is the one social network that students will not be interested in using because none of their peers are using. It is safe. Furthermore, some of the central office staff use it, including the director, which shows that they see some value in social networks. Repeated attempts to get some social networks unblocked or for the district to install their own open-source alternatives (such as Moodle, Mahara, StatusNet, etc…) fell on deaf ears. For several years, I have been running my own Moodle server for myself and any teacher who wants to run a course there. (It is mostly for my staff, but if you need hosting for a course or two, email me.) I have also dabbled in using Mahara for social networking, blogging, and eportfolios. A colleague, scottac87, has had to run StatusNet microblogging tool on his own server. Unfortunately, teachers who are less technical or were not aware of these tools, just did not have a way to add it to their classes. I help everyone I can at my school, but there are about 40 schools in my district. Hopefully this post and, even more so, the groundswell that is building among the teachers and students will cause the district to rethink their position on this topic. I’ll not say that I am without bias, but I will do my best to treat the topic fairly and look at both sides of the issue in the rest of this post.

Although I am sure that I will miss something, below are the advantages to social networking as I see them. I will be discussing them in a broader context as they apply to middle and high school students.

Pros

1. Networking and contacts – Students network and make contacts on their own whether we allow them to or not. Almost all of my students have both a Facebook and a MySpace account. Some even have Twitter and Google Wave accounts. Even without this, they exchange phone calls, text messages, and emails almost without thinking. It is a part of human nature to be in relationship. We can either encourage this and be a constructive part of their relationship building, which can help them in this process, or we can be a hindrance to it. Not allowing social networks, restricting student conversations, forcing the students to interact only on our terms when we see fit, all show that we as educators are far more concerned with our own agenda than with what students want and need.
2. International acculturation – As I mentioned above, social networks are ideal methods to connect with others across the globe. I live in a military town, so it sometimes seems like no one was born here. However, I still have a large number of students who have never left the town that they were born in. Social networks make it easy for teachers to meet other teachers around the world and for those teachers to help their respective students connect. This experience is really beneficial to students and helps to broaden their world view.
3. Increased productivity – I have seen this so many times over the last few years. When students are working together on a common goal (not just an assignment they were forced to cooperate for, but something they buy into and want to do), they will work harder to accomplish that goal. None of the students participating will want to let down the other students. Social networks allow them to communicate, collaborate, and keep each other up to date. A few weeks ago, I saw a student sharing notes (not cheating) and communicating a homework assignment on Facebook. The social network, instead of distracting, actually helped a student to get his work done properly and on time.
4. Increased openness and interdependence – Our school Moodle forums attest to the fact that boundaries that exist in person do not always exist online. Students feel more comfortable to be honest. When social networks are properly leveraged, the students’ honesty is rewarded with trust and cooperation. Students learn to value each other and to help each other.
5. Authentic, timely feedback – Unfortunately, many teachers still wait anywhere from 1 to several weeks to return work. Any waiting more than 2 or 3 days, and the feedback is no longer useful or relevant to the student. Social networks allow students to give each other feedback, sometimes even instantly. That feedback becomes a lifeline for students; it helps them learn and grow. Teachers who understand the value of good feedback can learn from this and participate by giving authentic, timely feedback via social networks as well.
6. Current information – Students often seem to live in the now, even if it sometimes makes it difficult for history teachers (past) and guidance counselors (future). Social networks tap into this. Twitter is a real-time search engine; Facebook has a “Live Feed.” Social networks help students to learn about the most current information on whatever topic they are interested in. Whether there interests lie in Aristotelian philosophy or their friend’s taste in clothing, we should still be giving them the skills to find the most recent information in the best way we can. To eliminate social networks entirely is to limit the students.
7. Teach students responsible Internet use – This has always been an important issue for me. IT staff are not meant to be the morality police. Granted, I understand the need to block pornography and sites that promote illegal activity; however, the goal of education is to help students learn not to shield students from experiences. We need to teach the students how to use the Internet responsibly and how to react when they come across something undesirable. Social networks can help in this regard because each community of users set its own norms and keeps its members accountable to them. Students learn how to interact responsibly in a community and contribute back to it thoughtfully.

I promised to treat the topic of social networks honestly and as impartially as possible. There are some disadvantages that need to be understood fully before social networks are implemented.

Cons

1. Distraction – Most administrators experience with social network involves students going to proxy servers to bypass the school’s firewall to message about topics unrelated to the content that they are supposed to be studying. There is a large risk of distraction when students are given free reign on social networks or poor assignments. This can be avoided by careful planning. When students want to do the work, they are much less likely to be distracted. Furthermore, when the teacher designs how the lesson around how the students will properly interact with the social network and make clear the expectations and the consequences for not meeting the expectations.
2. Inappropriate Content – There are two basic types of social networks: those that you run and those that you don’t. If you or your school installs StatusNet, a Twitter clone, they can monitor and moderate it. It is installed on the school’s (or teacher’s) servers, so they ultimately have control over all aspects. Social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace are much larger and beyond the control of a school district. Facebook has more users than most countries have people. The school or teacher has to teach the students about what is and is not appropriate online. There is the risk that a student may find something inappropriate. In fact, someone probably will over the course of a year, but that is not a great concern if the students are equipped with how to handle those situations.
3. Danger – There have been cases of young people meeting someone online and then meeting them in person only to be hurt, kidnapped, etc… While I do not desire to detail all of the crimes that have been committed on chat rooms and social networks, it is a real danger. It can be minimized by teaching students how to interact with others online and teaching them about safety. When students are properly informed, social networks in school are, in my opinion, much less dangerous than having a student walk to the bus stop alone in the dark.

There are many potential reasons that school may block social networks. My district has not given an official statement, so I can only speculate. These are what I believe are the most likely reasons. I am not listing fear, as that is too nebulous a term for what I believe most school districts have to consider.

1. Worry over the above listed cons – The cons that I mentioned are real and many school districts do not feel equipped to handle them. Students need to be taught how to use social networks safely and responsibly, but many school districts do not believe that they have enough qualified personnel to instruct the students thoroughly.
2. Worry over loss of control – When a school chooses to let students use a social network, particularly an established social network (as opposed to installing one locally), they are willingly giving up a modicum of control. Schools are designed to control students. I would posit that giving the students more freedom (with appropriate guidance and observation) is a good thing. It helps students to become self-motivated and engaged.
3. Traditional school mindset is to contain students – The way that many schools work, in my limited experience, is to try to control students from all aspects. We determine when the can sit, stand, talk, eat, walk, etc… To purposely give some freedom to students would be to break a very established paradigm and it is difficult to do with the inertia in the educational institution.
4. Lack of understanding – Many administrators do not seem to understand what social networks are and what power they have. They see them only as tools of distraction, not as something productive.
5. Misunderstanding teen psyche – Teens thrive in relationship; they need to know that people care about them. Many administrators are realizing this as more and more research proves it, but it is not translating from research to practice quickly enough. Social networks should not be the only means of relationship between students and teachers, but it should be an extension of that relationship.

I am sure that I have missed much in the advantages, disadvantages, and reasons for blocking social networks. I am very passionate about this issue, so I would appreciate any comments. The issue basically is very simple. Students are going to use social networks whether we let them or not. As the current crop of teachers become younger and more tech savvy, they are going to use social networks as well. Do we harness the power of this tool and teach the students how to use it safely, or do we ignore it and keep students in the boxes we so often try to put them in? While ignoring social networks and blocking them seems like the safe choice, it is dangerous and borderline negligent. If we keep blocking all social networks, especially without giving students as alternative, then someone is going to get hurt because we did not prepare them for what they would face online.