I just returned from the national middle school conference (AMLE12) in Portland, OR.
While there, I attended a wonderful session on Social Media for School Leaders by Howard Johnston and Ron Williamson. Their presentation showed a wonderful balance of the realities of today's viral communication and the school context.
The presentation addressed the role of social media in five areas:
- Social Media and Schools
- School Safety and Crisis Management
- Professional Growth
What they made clear is how important a tool social media is to schools and school leaders, and the enormous opportunity lost when schools shun social media. They raised the following questions suggesting why school leaders might want to pay attention to the potential of social media:
- Do you communicate with students, families and staff?
- Do you monitor community views about your school?
- Do your kids use social media?
- Do you need to stay on top of cutting-edge educational topics?
- Do you need to promote good news about your school in the community?
And they recommended a 5-step plan (in part, based on findings from the Pew Internet and American Life Project) related to social media and school safety:
- Learn about social media and how it works
- Recognize that most teens use it responsibly
- Don’t attempt to ban it
- Help students, families and staff know about how to manage social media
- Focus on responsible student use
Johnston and Williamson provided a great list of resources available to school leaders:
- You can access the presentation slides here.
- The presenters also have a terrific book on the topic.
- Hey have developed a collection of guides for school leaders.
- Here are 25 free online Social Media classes (I have the right link, but it seems to maybe not be working for me today…)