Just wondering... · Nov 17, 09:48 AM
Recently I had the opportunity to hear one of my learned colleagues explain why teachers shouldn’t use email to communicate with students and parents. He cited many reasons, including the fact that an email could be forwarded, shared, posted, blogged about and/or published as a full page ad in the Globe and Mail.
At the time I didn’t say anything because there wasn’t really anything to refute. Everything he was saying was true. But, I got thinking (my loyal three readers are surely thinking to themselves: uh-oh). Did future presidents swear off using the telephone after tapes of Nixon’s telephone conversations got him impeached? Did early cave men stop using fire because they got burnt a few times? I mean, are the people making these arguments filling their cars up with apple juice? We all know gasoline is flammable…just pour it in the car, not on your clothes.
There is absolutely a place for teacher’s use of email. I also believe that a great deal of caution is warranted because it can be fraught with complications but teachers should not be barred from using this tool by their unions or their employers. Come on people, we have done this before, fire..telephone…gasoline..all means to an end that have associated risks that need to be managed. That is the message people need to be sending, instead of barring them from a tool with so much potential.
— Sean Heuchert
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It’s a bit like going to work. Going to work is fraught with danger. Think of how much higher the chances are of someone being charged with harassment in the workplace when they’re actually at work than when they’re at home/unemployed? My advice? Don’t say anything to the students or parents unless there is at least one video camera present, don’t write anything to the students or parents without approval of the board office legal department. No legal department? Threaten strike action unless unsafe working conditions are resolved.
— Kevin · Nov 18, 04:28 PM · #