In Florida, a young woman has taken her former high school to court over an issue for free speech or cyberbullying, depending on which side of the issue you’re on.

You can read the full article, but it goes something like this: an irritated high school senior starts a Facebook page that’s a venue for fellow student to vent about a particular English teacher. A few days later, the post was removed and life went one… until two months later the student was suspended for “cyberbullying” and had a blemished placed on her record. Now the student wants to suspension removed from her record, so she’s in court.

Redefining our “life”

Many students (and teachers) are under the false impression that their personal and academic/professional lives are separate things. What’s more, they also believe that their real and virtual lives are separate things. In fact, they all mix and influence each other, as the case mentioned above demonstrates.

Have you ever Googled your own name? Try it. It’ll be like taking a walk down memory lane of your online life. You’ll see your various social network profiles, any projects you’ve been involved in within the last few years, blog posts, etc. If you can type it in, so can your students!

Be careful with what you give out

In creating our online image via all those great social networking sites, we start giving out little nuggets of info here and there. Soon they may accumulate to a mountain of info.

All this is fine and dandy until the day one of your students decided they want to “friend” you. Hmm… do you ignore them and pretend it didn’t happen? Didn’t you want to be a “cool teacher” who is up with all the new social trends and have a relaxed demeanor in and outside the classroom.

So, you click “accept”. Soon, all your other students want to friend you… and you accept. Now what? They can see you family photos, see the comments you make to your friends from high school and college (not always appropriate for the classroom, of course).

Now you find yourself censoring everything you put up. Now this whole social networking thing isn’t so much fun anymore. Sure, you can part stuff as “private” but it’s just not the same.

The stuff you have no control over

Perhaps far more dangerous is not what you will put up about yourself, but what others will. This little video is one of my favorites, it explains everything:

Remember those pictures of you dressed like a woman in that college party? They are up for grabs now.

The flip side of the coin

Then again, if your students have access to your Facebook profile, you have access to theirs, don’t you? Enjoy the power