Give to schools more control over social networks

As president of the PTA at the school of my children, I trust social networks to keep families informed above all, from sports and musical to important school updates. But I have also seen firsthand how it can be distracted or used to share comments that come into conflict with school values.

It is particularly difficult to create a healthy digital school culture when school leaders have little control over content elimination, such as confession accounts, fight accounts and supplant accounts. Confession accounts anonymously disseminated rumors about students, often related to personal relationships or issues. The fight accounts share videos of altercations of the students, sometimes encouraging violence. Supplant accounts perch as teachers, students or even the school itself, publishing content aimed at shame or deceive. These types of accounts can create a negative environment for students, personnel and administrators. Beyond the guidance of people, they feed the distractions that can cheat throughout the school, affecting students who are not even on social networks.

But this is also a personal problem for me. This year, my teenage son was attacked in a confession account. I informed the account in the application of social networks, but it was not eliminated. The school director also reported the account, like the other students who were mentioned. Unanswered.

If you have ever tried to inform a confession account, you know that this experience is not unique to me. And even if a publication is eventually eliminated, if the process takes too long, the damage has already been done. Taking measures on this type of account must happen quickly.

Taking measures

Like the CEO of ISTE+ASCDMy team and I spent our days helping schools to create incredible learning experiences for each student. We work with almost all the country's districts. One of our key initiatives, and one of my personal and professional passions is to help schools create healthy digital cultures while teaching students how to be honest digital citizens.

Driven by the frustration of my son's experience, I contacted schools on our network to see if they faced similar social networks challenges. The message was overwhelmingly clear: social networks are an excellent way to keep the students connected and their families committed and informed, but when the inappropriate content arises, it is harmful and harmful. School leaders are left with limited options to address the challenge and may feel helpless when informing positions or trying to eliminate inappropriate accounts.

Working together for schools

Last year, the ISTE+ASCD team and I communicated with Goal (The company behind <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>instagram) to share the concerns we hear from educators throughout the country. We emphasize the need to give school leaders more control over the content of social networks related to their school communities. We expected the idea to be fired, knowing how much elevator this would be. But the finish line was receptive and interested in exploring solutions. What began as a single conversation evolved to design a pilot program to give school leaders a more direct role in the management of content related to their communities.

In the last six months, a group of schools evaluated an instagram version that allowed the associated secondary and secondary leaders to identify and inform inappropriate or disruptive positions immediately. During the pilot, the reports of the school partners were prioritized for review, and the program schools received state updates and real -time notifications when measures had been taken in a report.

The pilot allowed schools to address inappropriate positions before causing significant damage or becoming important distractions for learning. Confession accounts could also be reported and eliminated. As part of the pilot, Item+ASCD worked with the participating schools to support them in the teaching of their students about the use of healthy social networks, including creation Better standards for digital behavior and using the new Digital citizenship lessons.

Climbing the solution

The pilot's results were notable, and schools reported a significant reduction in harmful content and improved digital culture. Justin Ponzio, director of Buchser Middle School, shared: “The association with instagram has been incredibly useful to keep our students already more safe online students. I had an internal track and faster responses to the reports of inappropriate online behaviors. As the main four -year -old, responsible for more than 700 students, I cannot emphasize enough as the importance of new ways of being insurance in this world. Trust more in schools and eliminate harmful positions. “

Based on the success of the pilot, instagram is now expanding the program to all intermediate and secondary schools throughout the country. I am very excited to share that, as of this month, any intermediate or secondary verified school can qualify to participate in the <a target="_blank" href="http://about.instagram.com/community/educators” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>instagram school association program. This program allows school leaders to use social networks to communicate with their school community while providing more control over potentially harmful content.

According to my experience as a father, I am really grateful for this program. The participating schools will receive a banner in their profile so that parents and students know that they are an associated verified instagram school. When combined with establishing effective digital use standards and teaching digital citizenship skills to students, this program empowers school leaders to create an edifying and attractive digital community.

A call for continuous change

While this is a significant step in the right direction, I am fully aware that social networks continue to present challenges for students, parents, teachers and school communities. It is essential that families create a healthy digital culture in their homes. In addition, other social media platforms have the opportunity to follow instagram's example and give schools the controls they need to address harmful content and accounts on their respective platforms. I hope Snapchat, Tiktok and other social media platforms join us to be a priority to provide schools better tools to protect students and maintain a positive environment.

For more information on how to join the instagram School Association program, visit <a target="_blank" href="https://about.instagram.com/community/educators” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>About.instagram.com/community/educators. To access Digital Citizenship Lessons Item+ASCD, visit iste.org/digital-citizenShip-nesons.