Norwegian professor says that teachers must be on Facebook to understand students

Legislators in Missouri, USA, recently passed a law that forbids teachers from socializing with students using social web sites. Meanwhile, Arne Krokan, a Norwegian professor specializing in technology and society, claims that teachers must be on Facebook if they are to truly understand the culture and social reality of the students that they work with. Recently, a course was held for 300 Norwegian teachers about social networking. It turned out that half of the participating teachers did not even have a Facebook account. I’m sure Missouri legislators would have been very happy with that. In Norway it was considered a disappointing reality in need of immediate attention. I’m inclined to agree with the Norwegians.

Read more here (link goes to tolerable Google translation).

A policy similar to the new legislation in Missouri has been under consideration in Virginia since last year.

The Missouri Teachers’ Association has filed a lawsuit challenging the Missouri legislation.

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