Monday, July 21, 2008

Re: verbage for Faculty Handbook

Right on, Joel! Set high expectations for professionalism and make the =
phone, email, Internet, faculty rooms open for appropriate use. Does =
that make them accessible for misuse? Yes, but too often if you set the =
bar low and build a bunch of rules around it, folks spend time and =
energy living up to only that expectation and finding ways around it. =
Deal with individual problems individually and let the rest grow with =
the potential professional use.

imo,

sherry

Sherry Ward
Director of Technology
Alexandria Country Day School
2400 Russell Road
Alexandria, VA 22301
703-837-1317 (direct) sward@acdsnet.org

-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for independent school educators =
[mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Backon, Joel
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2008 9:17 AM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: verbage for Faculty Handbook

Hi Lorri,

You ask a loaded question, but I will begin with a simple answer. We =
have
nothing specific in our Faculty Handbook under Professional Standards =
that
refers to social networking sites. However, it would be hard to uphold =
the
standards, and then practice unprofessional behavior on a social =
networking
site. Your question, between the lines, implies that there is a concern =
at
Hamden Hall that has prompted an administrative response that might be
codified. IMHO, I would advise against such a practice.

I have used social networking for thirty-two years (fifteen prior to =
being
in education) as a means of giving and receiving information from people =
I
trust. Most of these years, I lacked the power of the internet to make =
the
process easier. Still, I attribute my professional relationships, both =
close
and casual, established over the years, as most important to any
professional success I have experienced. In cyberspace, I belong to at =
least
ten social networking sites with varying levels of participation, but =
all
are important at certain moments. If these sites didn=B9t exist, I would =
spend
more time on the phone or writing letters, but I wouldn=B9t abandon the =
notion
that people, at their best, are collegial and help other people. For =
that
reason, I would be very circumspect about defining adult usage of social
networking sites where you could potentially inhibit collegiality and
professional development. Our professional standards are very clear =
about
the nature of faculty relationships with students; it is a more than
adequate guide for dealing with students on social networking sites as =
well.

Joel

--=20
Joel Backon
Director of Academic Technology / History
Choate Rosemary Hall
333 Christian St.
Wallingford, CT 06492
203-697-2514

On 7/20/08 9:35 PM, "Lorri Carroll" <lcarroll@hamdenhall.org> wrote:

> Hi All-
> Does anyone have any verbage they could share from their Faculty =
Handbook
> concerning social networking sites? We are thinking of adding =
something
> to our "Professionalism" area.
>=20
> Lorri Carroll
> Director of Technology
> Hamden Hall Country Day School
> 1108 Whitney Avenue
> Hamden, CT 06517
> lcarroll@hamdenhall.org
> work (203) 752-2606
> cell (203) 215-9833
>=20
> [ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
> Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, =
attribution,
> non-commercial, share-alike license.
> RSS Feed, http://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?RSS=3DISED-L
> <http://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?RSS&L=3DISED-L>
> <http://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?RSS&amp;L=3DISED-L> =20


[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, =
attribution, non-commercial, share-alike license.
RSS Feed, http://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?RSS&L=3DISED-L

[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, attribution, non-commercial, share-alike license.
RSS Feed, http://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?RSS&L=3DISED-L