As PTA president of my children’s school, I rely on social media to keep my family informed of everything from sports and musicals to important school updates. But I also saw first-hand how it can be distracting or how it can be used to share comments that contradict the values of the school.
Creating a healthy digital school culture is particularly difficult when school leaders have little control over the deletion of content, such as confessed accounts, combat accounts, and spoofing accounts. Confessions often spread anonymous rumors about students related to relationships and personal issues. Fight accounts share videos of student altercations and sometimes promote violence. Impersonation accounts will pos for teachers, students, and even the school itself, and post content intended to be embarrassing and misleading. These types of accounts can create negative environments for students, staff, and administrators. Not only are they targeting individuals, they also promote distractions that can ripple across the school, and influence students who are not even social media.
But this is also a personal issue for me. This year, my teenage son was targeted by a confession account. I reported my account on the social media app but it was not deleted. The school’s principal, like other students mentioned, reported their accounts. no response.
If you’ve ever tried to report a confession account, you know that this experience is not unique to me. And even if the post is ultimately deleted, if the process takes too long, the damage is already done. You need to take action on these types of accounts.
Take action
As CEO of ISTE+ASCDmy team and I spend our days helping the school create amazing learning experiences for all students. We work with almost every district in the country. One of our key initiatives, and one of my personal and professional passions, is to help schools teach students how to become outstanding digital citizens while creating a healthy digital culture.
Inspired by my son’s frustration over his experience, I contacted the network school to see if they were facing similar social media challenges. The message was overwhelmingly clear. Social media is a great way to stitch together the student community, and to engage and inform families, but when inappropriate content emerges, it is hurtful and destructive. School leaders still have limited options to address challenges and can feel helpless when reporting posts or trying to delete inappropriate accounts.
Working together for school
Last year, I was with the ISTE+ASCD team and I. Meta (The company behind it Instagram) Share concerns we hear from educators across the country. We emphasized the need for school leaders to have more control over social media content related to the school community. We were hoping that this idea would get out of hand. However, Meta’s team was receptive and interested in exploring solutions. What began as a single conversation evolved into pilot programs design to give school leaders a more direct role in managing community-related content.
Over the past six months, school groups have tested versions of Instagram that allow partner middle and high school leaders to quickly identify and report inappropriate or destructive posts. During the pilot, reports from school partners were prioritized for reviews, and schools in the program received status updates and real-time notifications when reports were taken.
The pilot allowed the school to deal with inappropriate posts before causing serious harm or becoming a major distraction to learning. I was able to report and delete my confession account. As part of the pilot, ISTE+ASCD will work with participating schools to help students teach healthy social media use. Better norms of digital behavior And use a new one Digital Citizenship Lessons.
Scaling the solution
The pilot results are prominent, with schools reporting significant reductions in harmful content and improved digital culture. Justin Ponzio, principal of Buchser Middle School, said: “My partnership with Instagram has been extremely helpful in keeping my students and the community safer online. I had an internal track online and a faster response to four years of reporting inappropriate behavior. I will remove details and harmful posts.”
Based on the pilot’s success, Instagram is currently expanding its program to all middle and high schools across the country. Starting this month, validated junior and high schools will be eligible to participate. Instagram School Partnership Program. The program allows school leaders to use social media to communicate with the school community while providing more control over potentially harmful content.
Based on my experience as a parent, I am truly grateful for this program. Participating schools will receive banners in their profiles, so parents and students know that they are verified Instagram Partner Schools. When set up effective digital usage codes and combined with teaching students digital citizenship skills, the program allows school leaders to create an uplifting and engaging digital community.
Calling for continuous change
While this is an important step in the right direction, we are fully aware that social media continues to present challenges to students, parents, teachers and school communities. It is essential for families to create a Their home’s healthy digital culture. Additionally, other social media platforms have the opportunity to follow Instagram leads and provide schools with the schools they need to deal with harmful content and accounts on their respective platforms. We hope that Snapchat, Tiktok and other social media platforms will join us in making it a priority to provide schools with better tools to protect students and maintain a positive online environment.
For more information about participating in the Instagram School Partnership program, please visit about.instagram.com/community/educators. Visit ISTE+ASCD Digital Citizenship Lessons iste.org/digital-citizenship-lessons.
