Students, professors define use of Facebook

The professional boundaries between students and professors can often be tricky, especially when it comes to the rapidly growing social network.

Since its development, Facebook has expanded from its original intended goal of connecting college students to connecting nearly all age groups.

Students can search a professor’s name on Facebook to discover his or her personal page, but when is it appropriate for students and professors to be online “friends?”

Bill Hornaday, an associate instructor in the School of Journalism, said distinct regulations about fraternization with students should prevent such interaction when students are in the instructor’s class.

“As an instructor, you need to avoid showing a conflict of interest or even the possibility of a conflict of interest,” Hornaday said. “The whole instructor/student dynamic is to avoid any out of class relations while the student is in your course.”

Hornaday added that once a student is no longer under the professor’s instruction, being Facebook friends isn’t as conflicting, and that he is friends with two or three former students.

Eric Beuerlein, an associate instructor in the French department, said he also avoids being Facebook friends with students while they are in his class.

“It’s basically not a good decision because you want to avoid showing any sort of favoritism to students and being friends with some students on Facebook could be considered a form of favoritism,” Beuerlein said.

Not all professors take this approach, however. freshman Stephanie Strang said her speech professor encourages his students to be his Facebook friend throughout the course.

“He wants us to be able to have direct connection with him if we ever have questions or concerns about our speeches,” Strang said. “We don’t get a lot of personal time with our professor and speeches need a lot of assistance. It’s good to have the option – the more you can ask, the easier the class is.”

Strang added that she had another class in the fall that released updates for a class project strictly on Facebook and Twitter.

“I don’t think it’s a problem for students and professors to be friends on social networking sites,” Strang said. “I think most people just like to be up to date by using the newest technology.”