[classicman]

networks like Facebook and MySpace easily blur the student-teacher relationship because of the personal information made available on profiles.

“I think that students and teachers have different personas in the classroom than outside of it, and the two should not necessarily be mixed,” says Heather Steed, a recent graduate of Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla. As a student herself, Steed never added instructors on a social network until she completed their class.

“There needs to be a certain distance between teachers and students in order to maintain respect,” adds Rabbi Avi Schwartz, an educator at Magen David Yeshiva in Brooklyn, N.Y. “A teacher needs to be a role model, mentor, and advice giver – not a ‘friend.’” When a high school student gains access into a teacher’s network of friends and acquaintances and is able to view their family photos, for instance, the student-teacher dynamic is altered. “Friending students provides more information than you are willing to provide in an educational setting,” says Patrick Sweeney, an adjunct professor of history and government in Houston, Texas.

A new Missouri law is making it illegal for teachers to correspond privately with students via social media. For instance, Facebook chat between a student and their teacher would be considered illegal while a wall post would be fair game. What's Trending Live raised the question: Are private student/teacher interactions online all bad?

In Missouri, lawmakers banned teachers from having private conversations with students over Internet sites after 87 Missouri teachers had lost their licenses between 2001 and 2005 because of sexual misconduct, some of which involved exchanging explicit online messages with students.

Many teachers there are protesting the new restrictions, complaining the law will hurt their ability to keep in touch with students.

But here in Dayton, the teachers’ union president welcomes the district’s updated social media policy.