How to Create Social Media Guidelines for Your School – Introduction to the School Community
Produced in collaboration with Facebook.
6. Introduction to the School Community
Now that all stakeholders have signed off on your policy or guidelines, it's time to roll it out to your greater community. Every member of your team should be tasked with talking to specific groups and/or schools. Take the time to educate your students, faculty, staff, parents, and community about what the document means to them. If you have been open and transparent from the beginning, this will be an easy step.
Questions for Reflection- How will you introduce the policy or guidelines to your community? Will you hold meetings at all schools? Send emails?
- Do any major themes emerge in your community's feedback?
- What will you do if the guidelines are not well received?
7. Review Periodically
Your new policy or guidelines should be a living document and should be revisited often. Social media products change. Your culture will change. Policies will change. Your team needs to look at your document at least annually to determine whether it is working and whether any adjustments need to be made.
Resources
The following are some resources on establishing social media policy and/or guidelines.
- Creating Social Media Guidelines (Edutopia): In this blog, I shared how one school in my district created a set of social media guidelines for students and teachers.
- 8 Social Media Strategies For Your Classroom (Getting Smart): A great overview of the various social media platforms, their strengths, and how to use them to engage students
Lastly, here's my Diigo collection of over 80 articles, blog posts, and resources on social media in education. Good luck! It can be a difficult journey, but it's well worth it.
STEVEN ANDERSON (@web20classroom on Twitter) is a district instructional technologist/independent educational consultant with the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools in Winston-Salem, NC. He also has a blog and travels nationally to speak about the use of social media in the classroom.