Article #5 Moral Spaces in MySpace: Preservice Teachers' Perspectives about Ethical Issues in Social Networking

Foulger, T., Ewbank, A., Kay, A., Popp, S., & Carter, H. (2009). Moral Spaces in MySpace: Preservice Teachers' Perspectives about Ethical Issues in Social Networking. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 42(1), 1-28. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

Summary:              

                This article explores efforts to develop education intended for preservice and inservice educators to understand the usefulness of social networking in education and to contemplate the complex ethical issues magnified by the increase in social networking online. Educators are held to a higher standard of behavior than in most professions and the public nature of the virtual world has “challenged traditional ideas about privacy and ethical conduct” (Foulger et al., 2009, p.3). In this study, the researchers used a sample of 50 freshman undergraduates in the education program and had them take part in a pre-intervention survey in which they were confronted with a hypothetical situation in which a teacher looked at students’ personal pages and found illegal activities taking place. Afterwards, the participants were asked to read articles to gain a functional understanding of facebook and myspace, read articles that highlighted the use of social networking sites for educational purposes, read an opinion piece about benefits and pitfalls in social networking, and then read news stories about teachers reprimanded for their use and abuse of social networking sites. After this, the participants were given a post-intervention survey and their opinions and attitudes changed, showing that they had become more aware of the ethical issues and the appropriate role of teachers in social networking spaces.

Reaction:

                Because social networking online is a relatively new phenomenon, it is unclear how educators and future educators should manage this part of their lives. The line between the private life and the professional life becomes blurred and behaviors “unbecoming” to the teaching profession may become apparent when the personal life is exposed or taken out of context. These issues should be on the minds of all educators. Should educators be subject to strict codes of conduct that transcend out of the walls of the school? Should we police the students and make authorities aware of illegal or alarming behaviors we observe on their sites? Should we, as educators, engage with students outside of the classroom or is this overstepping our bounds and invading their privacy? In an age in which online social networking is so prevalent, questions like these need to be addressed and this article deals with this wonderfully, raising explicit moral dilemmas that are not outside of the realm of possibility.

                As a future educator, I have my own ideas about how to approach these kinds of issues. I have both a facebook and a myspace account, but make sure that it is only visible to those that I am “friended” to, utilizing the privacy controls provided. I don’t post photos of crazy behaviors that could become misconstrued (nor do I believe I engage in them, but that is in the eye of the beholder) and generally attempt to uphold myself to a high standard. The authors of this article agree that nothing is exclusively private when posted online; facebook and myspace are privately owned companies and users surrender their right to privacy by agreeing to their terms. Because of this, I believe we must always err on the side of caution and treat social networking sites as if they are public, even if privacy settings are strict. When we decide to enter the teaching profession, I think realities such as these become implicit, even if we reject them on a free speech basis. The issue, I understand, is not as clear for others who have not given this adequate consideration. To curtail confusion in the future, I believe this is an issue that school boards and teacher training programs need to address, not necessarily to provide a strict code of ethics or conduct, but to illuminate the issues and make educators and administrators aware of the waters they inhabit.