A relatively new phenomenon is
the ability of students and professors
to connect on Facebook.com,
but students who think that they
can boost their grades or earn
brownie points may be mistaken.
Facebook has given people a
way to connect to others who
would otherwise have drifted out
of their lives. One can go on Facebook,
look up a classmate from
kindergarten, and send that person
a “friend request.”
This social networking power
can give people a way to initiate,
maintain, and/or re-establish relationships
that would have not
been possible just years ago, and
students have been using this tool
to reach out to their professors.
Professors who choose to accept
a student’s friendship request have
done so without interference from
their employing institutions, and
use the online service as a way to
enhance communications between
themselves and their students.
Bill Meiers, a part-time professor
in the Language & Literature
Department, said, “I think [Facebook]
is another way for me to
‘connect’ with a student or students
and when they occasionally
find out I’m on Facebook it makes
me look ‘cool.'”
Can this “friendship” cause a
conflict of interest between professors
and their students? This
question has fueled news stories
across the country about how professors
interact with students on
the popular social networking site.
A perception that professors
may not be able to grade impartially
if they “friend” students online
has become a question of
interest, but according to professors
who do “friend” students, this
is not an issue. Students can expect
equal treatment from Meiers,
who said, “I’m not the least bit
worried about conflict of interest
because I know I am going to
grade every student as fairly as I
can, both for their sake and for
mine.”
Allen Hoey, Language & Literature
professor, acknowledged
that a perception of favoritism or
impropriety could develop
amongst outsiders. “I suppose
anything can create different perceptions…
it’s possible to get involved
with students on
[Facebook] in a way that blurs the
responsibility we have as professors.”
Hoey continued, “I’ve had
friendships with students over the
course of my professional career,
and they always understood that
friendship didn’t translate into
special consideration. Or, if they
didn’t understand, they learned.”
Some professors who use Facebook
refuse to intiate friendships
with current students, but will accept
friendship requests from their
students. Hoey said, “I don’t want
to presume on the kind of access
they might want me to have, and I
don’t want to put them on the spot
in terms of a friend request. At
some point, it usually emerges
that I’m on [Facebook], so they
can choose to friend me if they
wish.”
If professors and students are
communicating via Facebook,
what value
does it hold
for the education
process?
Facebook can
help professors
and students
connect
on a more
human level,
as Hoey explained:
“I
think it can
give each a
better idea of
the personness
of the
other. I get a
glimpse into
their concerns
out of the classroom, their interests,
and they get a sense of [me]
when I’m not in class. I’ve never
really believed that much is
gained by maintaining an absolutely
formal… arm’s-length relationship.”
Meiers echoed this sentiment. “I
think the goal of education is to
make a connection with another
human being in the interests of
teaching them something and
helping them learn. So, while I
don’t spend any time on Facebook
(or any other social networking
site) on my own, I think of it as a
(small) ‘tool’ to help me in the
classroom.”
Students who choose to initiate
a Facebook “friendship” with a
professor may find it can give
them greater access to and respect
for their professors.
But in the end, Bucks professors
say, getting good grades is a matter
not of social networking but
something more old-fashioned:
Hard work.