Challenges of maintaining an ethical practice of social media in learning

 Social media is the communication through websites and other online platforms such as  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. that are used in large groups to share any information, develop society, in any sector. 

Social media offers innovative teaching in classrooms. it also includes other web-based media that intermediate between the teacher and students n, such as blogs like Blogspot, microblogs like Twitter, wikis, forums, video sharing, and image sharing.

It also includes virtual worlds(e.g second life) and helps in the teaching and learning process.

             Ethical concerns for teachers using social media in the classroom or in research

Ethical issue	Ethical questions
	Teaching with social media (adapted from Auld & Henderson, 2014)	Teacher as a researcher (adapted from Henderson et al., 2013)
Consent	Do we have the right to colonize or marginalize students’ out-of-school social networking practices in the classroom? Should we access students’ out-of-classroom virtual identities from their social media in a classroom context?	When and how should we seek informed consent in an environment that promotes socially mediated and co-constructed texts, a sense of privacy in the crowd, anonymity through avatars, and in which personal data are increasingly leaving the control of the individual?
Confidentiality (Traceability)	Should we be engaging students’ social networking in public performances of the curriculum?	The loss of confidentiality -  how can we de-identify participation in an increasingly networked, pervasive, and ultimately searchable data verse?
Boundaries	Am I prepared for the inhabitation of my social media by students as a reciprocal response to my teaching?	Am I prepared for the inhabitation of my social media by students as a reciprocal response to my research activity?
Recognizing and responding to illicit activity	How will I negotiate any illicit activity associated with the student’s use of social media?	What is the illicit activity that requires intervention when in a socially mediated environment?

By raising these issues we do not want to dissuade teachers from using social media. Rather we are hoping to construct a space in which teachers are empowered to engage with the dialogue and implications surrounding the ethical dilemmas they encounter in their changing professional practice. 

(notes: needs to be upgraded)