Reflections on Week 6 Readings

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Managing multiple online persona is not an easy task. I tried hard to separate my professional and personal network. I use Path (it is so popular in Indonesia), Facebook, and Instagram for my personal network and I use LinkedIn, Slideshare, and Blog for my professional network.

I was the kind of person who was described in Dennen and Burner (2013a, p.1): enjoy free access to information about and contributed by other people and freely (not so true in my case, I tend to overthink everything) share about themselves in a social or personal context, but are reticent to be active contributors in an academic context. Even after this class, I still feel uncomfortable sharing something 'serious' in a professional/academic context. The fear of being judged, the fear of receiving harsh comments are some of the reasons. I was an online introvert while, considered by many, an extrovert in real life. I think I still feel that the contents I created might be consumed by what-so-called unintended audiences.

This week's reading discussed the use of Facebook in the classroom. I don't think I will ever use it when I am back teaching. For me, it is too complicated to draw a line between personal and professional network in this platform. I was particularly concerned with some holes in the privacy setting, such as difficulties to manage some content that others posted and tagged you in. It is unbearable to think that your students might be able to see some silly pictures from your last Friday night! And I think it is the same with them.

Dennen & Burner (2013b) stated that we have to be very careful in using Facebook or find alternative tools with less privacy and ethical concerns. What do you think? Have you ever considered using Facebook to support you in the classroom? If yes, why? What things you would do to to ensure privacy protection for both the students and the instructors?