Examining Social Software in Teacher

Anyone on this site
This artilce made some really good points about the pros and cons to social networking. I find it very interesting that the teachers could look up their students and see what they have been up to. I have heard stories of this being used at the high school level for students and athletes. Players have been questioned and removed from teams for posting pictures while doing illegal things like drinking and using drugs. This would be a good tool to use at the college level of coaching where I am, but to my knowledge our school has not tried to crack down on underage drinking and drug use by looking students up online. It is so true that these sites could be beneficial to students, but that they don't know what good and bad things could come out of using the sites. It seems to me like these new social networking sites keep coming up and people continue to sign up with them without being educated about some of the negative things that could happen as a result of posting inapropriate pictures or posts. I think the parents should first and for most be in charge of educating their children, but at the same time who is educating the parents about the pros and cons of these sites? If we as teachers are going to use these sites to integrate technology and social networking into our classes then we need to make sure we are teachign the students about the good things that could come out of these sites, the negative aspects, and the safety issues. I know there are blockers that parents can put up, but I would say at this day in age most children can figure out ways to get around these blocks. This can result in children networking with child predators or other dangerous people. My biggest concern with promoting the social networking sites is keeping our students and athletes safe.