Private settings in the social network 
      

Facebook gives us many opportunities to keep in touch with friends around the world. We post information, pictures, movies, etc. on the Internet, allowing others to follow our daily lives. What was regarded as private before is perhaps more open and liberated in the public domain in the "age of social networks" that we are living in today. The fact that facebook has over 600 million users, makes it easy to get in touch with people all over the world. 

Facebook has many settings that will secure your profile by letting you choose how public or private it can be. You can choose  to view the profile for everyone, just for friends or also include friends of friends. 

                                       Learn more about private settings here.  

   

 Watch the YouTube video about facebook privacy settings:

Facebook has in the development of the society network changed its privacy system, and private profiles were published, which upset many. Are those who fail to follow the changes of the private settings being used by facebook, so that facebook can make benefit out of their personal information? In some cases it may be perceived that way, but this is hardly the purpose of facebook. 

What YOU post on the Internet can be visible to the whole world!

Therefore we must be critical to what we put on the Internet.

Even if your profile is visible only to a group of people their profile can be less secure, or they can show others your profile. Thus it is possible that your information will be shown to a third part. Do you dare to take the chance to post information that is not meant for the public on your profile?

What you post on your profile is not necessary scary or lowering, and maybe the opportunity that facebook gives you are exactly why you text the information there. You may want to let others know that you will have concerts or are going to participate in an exciting competition. But if you put out something a little more private and just think that only your closest friends can see it, you should think an extra time before you publish it. You should think twice, before publishing it.

Professional life

Regarding my future career as a teacher and how I avail myself in social networking sites like Facebook, I think it is very important for me to have professionalism. In other words, I will set clear limits between the private and the public sphere. For example by not accepting my students as friends in social networks or by having a profile picture that can send wrong signals. 

What you post about yourself online, can actually affect your current or future professional life. Employers can be looking at your facebook account or find information about you by googling your name. They can find information that you don’t want others to see or read. This is something to think about! 

Read more here:  Employers Look At Facebook,Too 

So where exactly goes the private limit on facebook?  

This can vary from person to person, but I think that more and more people have become aware of their personal profiles online during the last years. 

Often media is focusing on images that are posted online. In my opinion, I think that pictures can help to “step” over the private line. Anyone can post photos of you and all you are told is that you have “been tagged” (if you even get tagged). And if you in that case have forgotten to adjust the most recent changes in privacy settings, everyone can be able to see you dancing on the table with the tie around your head.  Did anyone ask you for permission before publishing the photo?

If you get tagged on Facebook you are always in control of your tags. Only friends can tag you and you are notified when you get tagged. You can “untag” a picture, but it will still be on Facebook. 

Keep in mind that you will not be able to delete a photo if you did not upload it yourself (Statement of Rights and Responsibilities). 

If anyone want to post pictures of others, I think that they should ask if it's okay before they do it. Otherwise, they might at worst destroy other people's lives. You can off course ask your friends not to post the pictures of you, or make them delete them. But still it can be hard to tell this to your friends.  On the other hand, pictures can also be a very positive application. You can show your friends your girltrip to Praha and see the albums of your family and friends. Although I love pictures, it is important to remember the “picture policy”. Ask your friends if it’s okay before you post pictures of them on the web.

Facebook is a huge online community that provides many communication opportunities. I use facebook every day and read what other friends are doing and it keeps me updated on the events of our lives. It may not always be exciting to read about every commonplace experience, but I manage to keep in touch with several friends who live far away by using facebook. Therefore, it is both enjoyable and fun to watch, read, and send them messages.

I believe that we should be careful what we post about ourselves and others on the web, and it might be nice to check the settings on facebook once in a while. 

How private is YOUR facebook profile?

Educational use of blogs

Student statement:

"Blogging makes me write more and more often, and I see I'm getting better because I do it."

Blogging can be viewed as a digital copy of the old diary, but with many new opportunities. Bloggers often use the opportunity to publish what they have to say, in the form of images, texts, audios and videos. There are many services for blogging, and you can see some on the webpage: Web Free technology for teachers 


See how easy it is to create a blog 

Here are five reasons why schools should consider blogging. 
(This hyperlink takes you to the textsource).

1. They encourage higher order skills such as reflection and analysis but also encourage reading, writing and collaboration

2. Publishing commentary and entries can lead to peer learning, peer assessment and a sense of ownership, all of which are highly motivational

3. The technology involved is easy to use.

4. They easily support video, audio and other media and file types. Therefore blogs create a very dynamic learning experience and support various learning styles

5. Learning is extended to outside the school environment 

Creating a blog

In school context, blogging is a good way for various learning paths. It allows students to publish textwork, discuss each other's texts and point of view, communicate with teachers and others outside school. Read more about students text creation in the “Dokument om Elevtekster i digitale læringsomgivelser”.


The Swedish magazine “Dator i utbildingen” has an article on how the teacher Ruth Grutas Eiken use blogging in her teaching. She feels that students are challenged in a more active way through blogging.  
Read the article here:
"Verktyg för reflektion och textskapande i skolan" 
Read more about blog creation in the document:
"Å lage en design: Funksjon og form i eLogg". 

- This is an introduction in Norwegian,  its about how to use the blog in school

 
Blogging for everyone

A blog can be individual, set up for a limited group or for an entire class.  Most blogs have integrated tools for feedback, easy setup, automatic archiving, and effective methods to link content from various blogs to one another. This means that blogs are well suited to discuss and present academic content through the whole school year. At the same time blogging can make the students become more aware of the recipient groups.  

These communication solutions can be well suited for differentiated programs in schools, where participants can participate at various levels, and also have insight into what others students are doing. 


Blogging opportunities


In a class we can use blogging, among other things to create a newspaper where the students post text and photos of school activities. Blogging can also present student work in all subjects, and create literature circles where students and teachers can write about and discuss books.

  

        
The students can work more visible and also be responsible for their own personal opinions. When students know that the work they do will be visible to others, it could provide an extra motivation and    positive work on the student's text creation and writing pleasure. Readers can be both fellow students, teachers, parents and others who might be interested in the students work.

When students are using blogs it may well be combined with the wiki. Wiki can give their blog a flexible way to customize the online learning resources. Different parts can be easily linked together by hypertext links through a collective process. This also provides interesting possibilities for selecting of material and presentation of relevant learning materials.

See examples of school/class blogs here:

The Write Weblog  

Blog for 1IFC Bryne vgs07/08


I see blogging in school as a creative and exciting approach. 
Start using the magic tool in school :) 
 

Task 1 ITL 103

1) To develop reflection around socio-cultural and educational aspects of ICTs

2) To develop experience in using blog for the purpose of professional communication. Professional communication is understood here as communication around information related to the content of the module ITL 103