עדות נופסת לקשיי הסתגלות לעידן האינטרנט

Back and forth the discussion went, until Oct. 3, when Dr. Farrell wrote an e-mail message to the district’s director of facilities, John Willabay. She vented a bit and then allowed: “Please go KILL these people….Please, please, please.”

Then she sent it – not just to him – but, accidentally, to an unknown number of others as well, including Terri Dubuke, a sixth-grade teacher who was one of the critics. Ms. Dubuke read it in shock and referred it to the teachers’ union, and the matter was discussed at a closed-door school board meeting on Oct. 17.

Of course, Dr. Farrell is not alone in sending an e-mail message that reaches an unintended audience. Judith Kallos, who has written four books on e-mail etiquette, said the informality and seeming spontaneity of online communication continue to seduce otherwise sensible people into making fools of themselves.

“Eighty percent of the press calls I get are about this sort of thing,” she said. “I’m constantly hearing from people with Ph.D.’s who get online and write like sixth graders.”

it was implied that all teachers were being urged by me and Learning and Teaching Scotland to sign up for Facebook and Bebo, becoming friends with their students to ‘spy’ or see what they are up to.

That’s not quite what I was saying … it’s not about getting into their space so much as learning from it. I’ve not really got an interest in “being friends” with a fifteen year old, and wonder how much I would learn that I wouldn’t pick up on in a healthy in-class relationship. Rather, I’d be asking questions about what it is that makes it tick, and what it is that makes it occasionally a dangerous or at least uncomfortable place to be.