Monday, February 20, 2012

Twitter to Connect Administrators with Parents?

I recently attended a webinar discussing the use of social media to connect administrators with parents. I admit, I have a variety of fears and concerns with this concept although I am sure it has mighty benefits as well. Whenever a new concept comes along, I must weigh the pros and cons.

Pros:
1. Immediate access to information between parents and administrators is a huge benefit. Tweeting to parents about delays in transportation, upcoming field trips, assembly announcements, etc can only be a good thing.
2. If our families are comfortable communicating with social media and this is they way they typically communicate with others, to communicate in any other way is destined to fail. If social media is the most affective, it needs to be utilized.
3. Using social media also puts the school in a positive light using 21st century technology. A school without a webpage at this point is viewed to be in the "dark-ages". How long will it be until a school without a facebook or twitter will be looked down upon?

Cons:
1. Opening up communication in such a public forum can lead to problems. The negative-nelly parents will be given full reign for their complaints in public. It mimics having an open mic outside the school for everyone to hear.
2. Some of our families are very anti-social media in their homes because of the amount of junk on these sites. I agree that there is junk present, but there are also ways to avoid the majority of it.
3. As with any technology endeavor, it requires a supportive IT department. I believe twitter is blocked on our computers at school right now so I'd have to completely sell the idea to the "powers that be" on the importance. Otherwise, I'd have to tweet from my smartphone.

I don't know where I stand right now on the topic, but it sure does have me thinking. What do you think?
As a parent, would you like updates from school via twitter?
As an educator, do you see value in such an endeavor? 
Please leave a comment below to let me know what you think.

2 comments:

  1. Twitter is an amazing resource both to communicate and to connect with others. Will there be issues? Perhaps - but I have seen good things from schools that have been willing to give Twitter & FB a try. I'm a firm believer that Twitter and even FB should be unblocked. Students (and parents) should be taught how to use these sites wisely. Before you know it, we will be texting our students to find out why they are taking so long to go to their lockers.

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  2. Our school uses a phone tree type system via Edline that calls parents and or faculty concerning closings and other major announcements. I think that a text or twitter type message may be less invasive and just as effective.
    The security measures that can be set up for these social media sites would all but eliminate the troublesome comments that might be possible! Love the new blog - keep up the great work!

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