Never mind the technology, where’s the learning?

According to the Telegraph, Argyll and Bute have banned teachers for using social networking sites after a teacher was “caught” using Twitter, “to grumble about pupils, colleagues and parents”. The BBC reporting of the story is less sensationalist (and I suspect more accurate) but it still raises some important questions.

Argyll and Bute block social networking sites and a council spokeswoman is reported as saying: “Social networking sites are blocked in all schools as policy. This has always been the case and applies to all council staff and not just teaching staff”, implying that use of social networking sites from council owned equipment is not allowed. The teacher is thought to have tweeted using her mobile phone and therefore not used school equipment, but the so called ‘policy’ seems unclear and whether it applies to use in general (which would raise even more serious issues about the ability of an employer to control actions of employees). Andrew Brown, former Education Support Officer for ICT in the LA, tweeted, “I take it that means all teachers in A&B now shouldn’t be using twitter? Do they all know that? I’ve seen others tweet already today.” Andrew, now Development Manager for Glow, is an advocate of both Twitter and blogging, only saying in February on his blog:

“Were I in school just now, I would definitely be encouraging people to use twitter. Could this make the school perform better? Would this make me able to support my students more effectively? Would I worry about ‘following’ my students?

“Is it all just about vanity? I hope not. I would like to think that growing a personal learning network helps me better myself, and better the work I do for others.”

clearly not the view held by those that the Telegraph chose to quote. The angry parent who said, “She is paid a lot of money to do her job and it is unbelievable that she sitting talking about them on a computer rather than teaching.” and Gordon Chalmers, the local councillor who stated: “I do not pay my council tax so that staff can waste time on these sites.”

Then, there is an issue about what might be said in relation to one’s work openly and perhaps honestly, and what might not. Statements said in the pub (or even in work time in the staff-room) and overheard are just as open to interpretation as those posted on the web, but would they be reported by a national newspaper? Even if you agreed that what she had posted was ‘revealing sensitive information’ (which is doubtful in this case) use of a technology in itself does not make the statement or action better or worse, it just makes it more widely available. So unless what is stated is legally unacceptable, and challenged as such, then we should be defending an individual’s right to blog or tweet about about anything they wish.

It all seems a long way from the proactive use of twitter at Hogeschool Rotterdam, where feeds from teachers’ tweets are displayed live on the information displays in corridors and open areas, whatever they might say.

Image credits: yum9me and Peter Robbemond

Tags: blogging, twitter, teacher, Argyll Bute, hogeschool,