Facebook has been in the news a bit lately, probably due to the imminent start of the academic year. On Monday I read an article in Wired Campus entitled “When Professors Create Social Networks for Classes, Some Students See a ‘Creepy Treehouse.’” The term ‘creepy treehouse’ “…describes technological innovations by faculty members that makes students’ skin crawl.” The article talks about how some students are unhappy that professors are intruding where they don’t belong with Facebook and Twitter. Then today there was another article – “Facebook Goes Back to ‘Schools.'” The article talks about a new Facebook program called Schools.
- A new Facebook program aims to bring it back, allowing members to view their courses and chat with classmates and friends that have opted in to the program. The new wrinkle: the program is going to run through the universities, with information fed into Facebook by the registrar’s office once students give permission.
It will be interesting to see if this catches on, or if it is seen as a further invasion of student areas by academics.
RSM
Ancient History Ramblings 