07.08.06

debate: how much privacy do students have?

Posted in General at 12:45 am by Paloma Cruz

PBS’ TeacherSource posts the question Should Principals Be Allowed to Review Students’ Cell Phone Records?

The question centers around a recent change in policy at a Boston-area school district:

Principals claim right to search cell phones
– reported by Metro West Daily News

High school administrators under a new policy are claiming the right to snatch information stored in students’ cell phones when they search for drugs or stolen property at school.

The change clarifies the school’s search and seizure policy, adding cell phones to the list of places school officials can snoop if they suspect a student has contraband.

Federal law says school officials need only “reasonable suspicion” of the presence of drugs or stolen goods to conduct searches.

[snip]

What do you think? Add your voice.

07.05.06

Facebook tips for administrators

Posted in Resources at 10:26 pm by Paloma Cruz

From Fred Stutzman, How University Administrators Should Approach the Facebook: Ten Rules offers “some suggestions regarding how administrators should approach and understand the Facebook.”

Excerpted below:

  1. The Facebook isn’t going away.
  2. Almost all of your institution’s undergraduates are on the Facebook.
  3. Students are not being cautious regarding their private information in the Facebook.
  4. Students may do stupid things on the Facebook. Really stupid things. However, aren’t mistakes something we all make? The critical difference I concede is that anything they say or do can be copied from the Facebook and rebroadcast elsewhere.
  5. Students are using the Facebook any way they want to.
  6. Weird, interesting and touching things are happening in the virtual world the Facebook creates on our campuses.
  7. Your campus IT department doesn’t offer anything like the Facebook.
  8. Back to privacy and security. Why do the students feel so secure sharing their information publicly on this network? I believe the answer is they feel secure in the fact the Facebook represents a (virtual) walled garden.
  9. Since you can’t make Facebook go away, and even if you tried to, you couldn’t, you might as well accept it and deal with it.
  10. Finally, give up on prosecuting your students for the minor violations you find on the Facebook.

One more item to point out:

Additionally, I provide a list of constantly updated news stories on the Facebook at http://del.icio.us/fstutzman/facebook, which may also be subscribed to as an RSS feed.

How is your university handling Facebook?