Source: Online student-teacher friendships can be tricky - CNN.com

What do you think? Think it's a good idea for teacher to communicate with their students via networking sites (MySpace, Facebook, Bebo)?

For me, I would say no. I personally don't think a student should have that personal relationship with a teacher. Keeping it strictly business while keeping the drama with the kids parents. I may be old school and that could change. I just need to let this rest and have it sink more into my brain before I can comment more.

I disagree. I am very close to some of my teachers. Most I am not, but my autism teacher I am close to. I've seen here 5 days a week for 10 months a year for 4 years. She's helped me with everything from math to suicide attempts. Over the summer, we communicate less but still do communicate via email. I consider her my 2nd mother. She doesn't use social networking sites like Facebook, though - doesn't have time for it. However, I am in contact with a few older teachers of mine through Facebook. I even invited one over to my house, and she came, a year after she stopped teaching me. I don't mind the "just business" attitude, but some cases I disagree with it. I form life long bonds easily with people, and I won't stop that. I don't care if they are an 80 year old man or a past teacher, people are people. I find it difficult to come across descent people these days, and when I do I try to keep the bond with them for as long as I can.

That's a good I idea. My Mother and Father in laws are teachers teachers, i think i will pass along this idea to them.

I can see how this could be a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. For the teacher this means that the students can ask questions if they don't understand something on their home work, on the bad side for the kids it is kind of creepy that your teacher is on MySpace.

Teachers would do well to utilize this.

I think that a social group for classmates/teachers to openly communicate is fine. I think it's inappropriate for anyone high school age or younger to have a friendship or relationship with their students outside of the classroom. There's too much that can go wrong and too many accusations that could come about.

That is where the teacher should know her/his student well. Yes I could say that my autism teacher did bad stuff to me while in the private room or said something bad to me, but she knows that I could never do that to her or myself. I'd do anything I could to help her out with anything, as she has, many times, gone out of her way to help me.

I see this as being a little tricky. It's great that the teachers are available to communicate with students through something like MySpace, especially if the student isn't comfortable asking questions in class or staying after class.

It's not like having an external relationship with teachers is something new. I use to attend Sunday School that one of my elementary teachers taught. In fact, a lot of my teachers did things outside of school, that had nothing to do with school, that just happened to involve some students. That kind of relationship is ok.

However, there have been so many cases of teachers losing their jobs over things posted on their myspace or facebook pages. Like everything else, this form can be abused. I don't agree with using facebook, or myspace to do this, but I do agree with having some kind of external communication available. School supplied webpages could be a possible alternative.

It's a very fine line to walk, and by walking it teachers run the risk of losing control of their classes, but only then should the school intervene (if at all). Otherwise, I say let them have them.

The idea is really good, especially for the students who find it difficult to talk or ask questions in class or have difficulty understanding their assignments.
I'm not sure a teacher having an account on MySpace/FB is the right way to go though.
If it were possible to have something similar for the school students the question then arises, will the students use it? The only good thing about the MySpace account idea is that the students might feel more comfortable in their own "zone" to be able to communicate with their teacher.

Another possible solution to the Myspace/Facebook problem is to have a school email address. I know in my second school, everyone was given a school email address. On the school website, you could access your school email address and email any teacher (or student if you had their email address). I think colleges do an similar thing, but this was a middle school.

Or, the school could make the teachers' work email address more public. For me, I learned the trick to email a teacher in my area, thus I can email any teacher. I have often communicated with teachers over email. But if the school made it possible for students to locate their teachers' email addresses, that would be a "safer" way to communicate beyond school hours.

Teachers on networking sites is fine by me, as long as they don't abuse that power when they get back to school.