Mentor - Student Interactions Online

[Taylor]

I have a personal policy of not being 'friends' with any current 1529 students. However, I would not be against a FRC1529 page, moderated by team leaders, that students and others could use. That could allow access between adults and students without having 'friend' status. I've seen several teams use this ability well.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Jon,
Our policy actually is derived from scouting policy since several of us are former scout leaders and the lead teacher is an Eagle Scout. We adhere to the two adult, two student rule for the team and will close down if anyone needs to leave that would violate this minimum. We, of course, cannot transport students in our private vehicles, even with parent permission, for insurance rules in our district.

[JesseK]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Interesting twist now that many schools require students to have Facebook accounts and use such for posting school work, coordinating team research and generating homework assignments.

This is awful news Al. Facebook isn't just notorious for tracking every movement on the web, but those who mine Facebook's data could develop some pretty nasty algorithms that could get them a denied loan later:
If it's free on the internet then you're not the customer; rather, you're the product

I do use Facebook, randomly, though I have some pretty strict privacy settings. This county is so politically charged my personal policies are 'if I don't know your parents, then we can't be friends on Facebook until after you graduate'. Seems to work OK so far.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by JamesCH95

I unfreinded all of the students I had friended on Facebook after learning that at least one of our sponsoring school's policy forbids teachers and staff being facebook friends with students. I feel that, for better or worse, I should respect the policy of any schools that are involved with our team.

Luckily, I'm not a teacher.

Without Facebook, our team would NOT be able to do iterative design. We don't use Facebook to talk about our private lives, we use it for work. There's a difference. Not all technology is evil.

[pfreivald]

Well, Facebook is evil, but regardless, 1551 has a FB page that we use to communicate with parents and students. All communication is public and documented.

I don't allow students to call my cell phone, but they can text me -- this keeps a record of all student contact, and if anything inappropriate gets sent to me I can immediately report it to parents, admins, etc.

...not that this has ever happened, because my kids know that it would if they did, so they don't.

[JamesBrown]

It is interesting to see the diferent opinions on the topic. It is also interesting that a lot of the people who seem to be against a ban are older mentors. Not sure of the cause or significance but it is worth noting.

To throw in my $.02 I never add active students on Facebook, also my privacy settings are extremely strict. I made this decision based on what my friends and family who are teachers or otherwise work with students that age have done, I have had these settings since back when I was a camp counselor. Quite frankly students have no need to view my facebook profile, (I keep my profile work appropriate based on what I learned at RPI). Also students have no need to message me on Facebook and I have no need to message them that way. I regularly give students and their parents(on my team and others that need software and electrical help) my business card that includes my email and cell phone.

I agree with Don and others that banning inappropriate contact is the ideal, however that just isn't practical. I think it is very important to set out guidelines for what you can and can't talk about, i.e. when I was a counselor it was always considered inappropriate to discuss what happened over the weekend and/or any interaction between counselors that happens outside of camp. I do my best to keep the same policy with robotics students. While I may tell them that I went home to visit family or something simmilar I never share details. I will happily be friends with students once they are in college but it is important not to blur the line when they are in HS, especially since I am only 4 or 5 years older than the oldest students. These types of interactions are considered by many to be inappropriate but are for the most part harmless often happen with good intentions and can easily be prevented by a good policy with out bans. The real issue comes with more severe in appropriate interactions.

I think it is important to use any and all defenses to prevent truely inappropriate interactions and/or anything that could be interpreted in that way. I agree with Al that the scouting policy covers the bases and does it well. While I hated the policy as a scout (I can't even tell you how many times my dad and I had to sit around after meetings and events when I was SPL to wait for parents as not to break the 2 to 2 rule) it just makes sense, I know that it is easy to say well I know that person nothing is going to happen honestly you never really know the person 100% all the time when abuse is exposed people come out saying they never expected it. It is way easier to be safe than sorry.

As for some tips on how you can use social media appropriately, create team facebook and twitter accounts that can be accessed by multiple team leaders (students and or mentors). Keep all content appropriate and professional, ensure that students understand that as the public sees it anything on that account is the official opinion of the team. This will also allow the team to update members via social media without 1-1 interaction between leaders and students. Phones calls are more accepted by parents these days as they are more familiar. I am not against texting as it is a valuable tool but I think they should only be sent out as blasts, the same message goes to every one and only at appropriate times. If a school department has a strict phone policy ask to have a voice mail box set up for the team and have the messages forward to mentors, that way there is no direct contact but students can still quickly contact mentors.

[JamesBrown]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Luckily, I'm not a teacher.

Without Facebook, our team would NOT be able to do iterative design. We don't use Facebook to talk about our private lives, we use it for work. There's a difference. Not all technology is evil.

Do you find it necessary to friend the students to get this done? Could the same be achieved through a facebook group?

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by JamesBrown

Do you find it necessary to friend the students to get this done? Could the same be achieved through a facebook group?

Considering that Picone and I chat a few times a week, it's much easier to share information and get feedback if you're friends with one another. We also have an EWCP Facebook group that we use for collaboration, but it can get a bit cluttered when you're looking for a response from specific person.

Is it necessary to friend someone? Probably not, though it does make communicating a bit easier.

Also, on the subject of Facebook, depending on how savvy you are with the privacy settings you can make things as public or private as you want. If you were to create a group in your friends list called 'robotics students', 'work friends', 'family', etc you can target and block specific information with a few extra clicks.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by JamesBrown

Do you find it necessary to friend the students to get this done? Could the same be achieved through a facebook group?

We use a Facebook group, but I am also friends with my team's student leader and talk to him extensively about design. I don't seek students out on Facebook, but I won't reject a request - just put them on a limited profile and it's fine.

Just last night he and I collaborated on an iteration of Shaker's drivetrain. If we didn't have Facebook, what other kind of real time, text and image based communication platform could we have used to share CAD renders and ideas? Facebook might be a tool for some people to talk extensively about their personal lives, and I certainly make Facebook statuses about how much studying I have to do or how non-exciting it is to be in Wisconsin, but I really don't think THOSE details affect my relationship with students.

I keep anything that would negatively affect my relationship with a student off my public Facebook profile. Any information I wish to share that's less than appropriate for basically anyone to see, I do on Google Plus, which is an 18+ service which I do not add students to.

People are paranoid. Just because I have a Facebook profile doesn't mean I'm about to advocate to students that they all make the same life choices as me. And even if I did, come on, my students are smarter than to blindly follow the habits of a 19 year old college student.

[jwfoss]

Nearly all of team 2168s team communication takes place via our group on Facebook. It allows the students to quickly collaborate on awards, presentations, and share graphics. We found that our students do not respond to email, and Facebook just works. I am not friends with hardly any of our current students online, however I do use Facebook to check up on some of our graduates.

Being an employeed engineer (working for a government contractor) has me monitoring my online information anyways, so I personally am not concerned if a student or company looks at my profile.

[Akash Rastogi]

It is a little harder for those of us who transitioned from being students on teams (we are all friends with students on other teams) to being mentors.

Our team has a separate facebook group to which students can be added, along with a private team forum, and another facebook group for mentors only. There is also a google group we use because it seems a bit more professional. 3929 students don't add mentors on facebook or vice versa. As for phone calls and texts - students have our numbers but calling and texting is reserved for emergencies or when either the mentor or student is not at a computer and urgently needs information (about meeting time/location/transportation). We also make sure numbers are known so that students can call us when we travel to competitions for any emergencies.

We adhere to rules similar to what Al posted as well as all things listed here http://www.atomicrobotics.com/wp-con...lEnrolForm.pdf
We also have background checks done on all mentors.

Its a very touchy subject, so many people have different views.

[Peter Matteson]

Originally Posted by Taylor

I have a personal policy of not being 'friends' with any current 1529 students. However, I would not be against a FRC1529 page, moderated by team leaders, that students and others could use. That could allow access between adults and students without having 'friend' status. I've seen several teams use this ability well.

I have the same policy. I will not "friend" students until they graduate.

We do have team pages and alumni pages all of us can see but as mentioned those are public so there is not concern about it.

Also when it comes to e-mails we generally have 3 lists we use when sending stuff: All team members, Mentors and student leaders, Mentors only.

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Luckily, I'm not a teacher.

Without Facebook, our team would NOT be able to do iterative design. We don't use Facebook to talk about our private lives, we use it for work. There's a difference. Not all technology is evil.

Let me explain further. It is simply against policy at some of the schools that we're involved with for students and school employees to have social media interactions with students. I do not want my team, or its students/coaches, to put a high school in a difficult position. I don't think it would take long for funding to get cut, or students to be barred from participating in robotics, if we were found to be in violation of school policy. Actually, to the best of my knowledge, it is NH state policy that forbids this.

The state and the school districts have their own reasons for this policy, however paranoid they may be. I do not friend students because I will not permit something as trivial as Facebook or social media interactions to jeopardize our team because of the school's policy. I may not like the policy, I may not agree with the policy, but I'm not going to thumb my nose at the school because I'm not a teacher and my status as 'volunteer' might let me slip through some loophole in the policy.

Email groups, particularly google groups where you can share google docs and calendars are very effective for design collaboration and general team communications. I used google groups for many design projects in college and it is what we currently use for our team while our web team sets up SVN on our web server.

[Jon Stratis]

It seems to me that electronic interactions between students and mentors (like e-mail and facebook) can be beneficial to students in ways other than working on the robot. Most students graduate high school (and some even college) without really knowing how to communicate effectively and appropriately in a work environment. Having the experience of communicating with their mentors can help them develop these skills! further, it can help them to see what information, pictures, and such are appropriate (from a professional perspective) to have on Facebook - especially since prospective employers tend to look at these things. Keeping in touch with former students can also be great for both parties - you can help them get a job or internship, and you'll get an employee you know and can work with easily.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Peter Matteson

I have the same policy. I will not "friend" students until they graduate.

We do have team pages and alumni pages all of us can see but as mentioned those are public so there is not concern about it.

Also when it comes to e-mails we generally have 3 lists we use when sending stuff: All team members, Mentors and student leaders, Mentors only.

I will not seek out students* as friends on FB. I will also not deny the request for 90% of students. I put them on a list called 'FRC High School Students' where they are able to only see what I choose for them to see. It also avoids the issue of having to determine if a person requesting is a current HS student on a team I don't know. I used to go through the whole process of trying to find whether they were a student or what. It also avoids the awkward conversation of "why didn't you accept my friend request?" wherein I end up having to explain why (because somehow there is a huge difference between me at 18 and them at 17 a couple years ago).




* The exception to this is students in EWCP like Nick Lawrence.