The BBC is reporting that Keele University (in Europe) is having a spot of trouble with students being critical of university faculty and staff on Facebook and Myspace. So much trouble in fact that they are revamping their policies regarding sites of that nature, and threatening legal action against certain students for defamation and harassment.
And now Ladies and Gentlemen, it gets real.
I dont know the specifics of the Keele incident. But for the purposes of this post, I'm not sure they matter (assuming of course we're not talking about death threats or something of that magnitude).
Facebook and Myspace are infectious. This isnt news to anyone in academia or anywhere else. Rumor has it that the Amish are even working on an electricity free version (Disclaimer - That rumor may or may not have been started by me, and it may or may not be totally made up). Those two sites are the ultimate example of social networking applications. You might love them. You might hate them. But they are outrageously popular, and have redefined the way online communities are viewed. In the paraphrased words of our Director - figuring out how to channel the countless hours students spend on facebook into something that could be used to teach is the million dollar question for many educators today.
Though Keele in particular may not be trying to use tools like facebook specifically to teach, this scenario got me thinking about a documentary I saw when I was an undergrad, titled Merchants of Cool. The basic idea behind the documentary is that the youth of America are constantly defining and redefining "cool", while big business is perpetually struggling not only to tangibly grasp the ever changing definition, but to then sell it back to said youth (hence the title, "Merchants of Cool").
I am not formally trained in the arts of education, so obviously my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt. But I'm a firm believer that the best way to be an effective teacher is to speak the language of your students. You win when you find a way to bring your message to their world, in terms they can understand, through mediums that they use, with a "so what factor" that matters to them.
Many times, that may mean that you as an educator must become a merchant of cool in your own right, or at least an Ambassador to the land of Coolsville. You might not get invited to their weekend keg parties for learning how to harness their cell phones for class, using gaming to bring content to life, or facebook to build the class community - but once you've learned to speak the language of cool, at least you can rest assured that students will hear the message you are trying to deliver to them.
The catch to all of this, and what brings us back to the Keele story, is that when you dabble in the cool trade, you may not always like what you see. You use facebook for class? You might build an amazing class community. But you might also find plenty of idle chat on things that have nothing to do with education, or come across pictures of students doing things you would consider unsavory. This is only natural to expect, because facebook is not designed to be an educational place. It is designed to be a social one. It is popular because it is a social one. It is cool because it is a social one. It is what it is and as an educator, your job is not to change it, or judge it, or restrict it.... your job is to harness it. Mess with the formula, and you might kill the cool. Or maybe you'll just get your passport to Coolsville revoked. Either way you lose.
I'm not hating on Keele, because Im sure there is more to their situation than meets the eye. But for other educators, seeking to use "whats cool" to answer the million dollar question - I bid thee a word of caution. Always remember that you are a guest when you drive the educational bus to Coolsville. Remember that it exists, that it is loved, and that you want to be a part of it for reasons that have nothing to do with you at all. And remember that if you refuse play or accept the game by the rules that the game (and not you) define, then you might very well not be invited back.
I wrote a post on using different services for different communities. The problem is when all the community interaction starts occurring in a place where people outside the community can easily discover it.