Are Teachers Afraid To Use Social Media And Technology?

The past month, I re-dedicated my personal/professional social media, blogging, and website efforts to focus on educational blogging and online collaboration with other education professionals. This experience has already proved to be so-rewarding, as I have engaged in discourse with teachers, instructional coaches, principals, superintendents, professors, consultants, think-tank researchers, and even homeschool parents. I have written, read, and collaborated about various educational topics--dropout prevention, charter schools, instructional supervision, teacher evaluations, unions, and countless other topics.

Put simply, it's been awesome. I can't believe I hadn't started earlier.

But that got me thinking--why didn't I launch my online presence much earlier? After all, I'm a self-proclaimed "tech geek" and have been actively using web 1.0 and 2.0 websites, social media platforms, and social bookmarking tools for a long, long time. And yet, I never fully entered as a contributing educational practitioner until a few weeks ago.

I believe the answer is that educators are groomed and socialized to fear the use of social media--in our personal and professional lives. Let's face it, the media has made no secret of the handful of foolish behaviors of our colleagues that have used social media inappropriately and illegally. Many others use social media without any common sense. Additionally, the media also reports tragic stories that occasionally involve social media tools, websites, teachers, and/or students.

This awful stories have inevitably constructed a huge stigma for use by educators. Some districts have approved "zero-tolerance" policies for even registering for social media sites like Facebook, etc.

And then there is the issue of time. Educators shoulder a tremendous burden of varying job duties, tying up one's day from start-to-finish. Many educators fear using social media websites and other ed. tech tools during personal plan time, team time, and/or before and after school. They fear their actions will be perceived by their instructors as not working diligently and effectively.

Ultimately, the aforementioned shed light on many of the potential factors that have likely been carved in my head, like so many other educators. I have likely been so afraid of unforeseen "collateral damage," just for registering and using various technological tools and social media sites.

But, I am afraid no longer.

I have committed myself to social media, blogging, and social bookmarking to begin collaborating with other professional educators located throughout the world. I intend to collaborate, contribute, and network to find ways to continuously improve my own professional practice, and the education system as a whole.

Perhaps if others realized the true potential of this technological power, they'd be less afraid. Or would they?