Problem?

Comic Book Strip created by Molly Neumeister

E-Sponsibility creates many problems in the career of teaching due to the opinions and outlooks on the difference between what is considered personal versus what is considered professional. Everyone has different opinions on what should and shouldn’t remain private, but regardless of what majority thinks, the people who believe what should abide private override the people who believe private things don’t necessarily have to be. Teachers are supposed to be looked at as professionals but it would be hard to do so if they are posting pictures and statuses that are not appropriate. We don’t usually witness doctors or businessmen posting pictures of themselves in bathing suits online, and if they did we might look at them differently, less qualified. Along with wearing a bathing suit it is acceptable to drink socially outside of your profession because you are not usually associated with your profession on the weekends, when you are spending time in your private lives. However, posting about your fun weekend drinking with your friends on the Internet switches that private outing you had into a public one. Although our Internet profiles are not all the time used directly in our profession, people who do associate us with our profession have access to it, making it directly correlate to our profession. Because of this, we must maintain our online behavior as professional and because many teachers forget this, E-Sponsibility becomes an issue. There is a reason why our private lives are called private; by sharing these private situations about our life over the Internet we are grouping our private lives with our professional lives which creates a major problem.

            Another conflict we see with the usage of the Internet amongst teachers is the fact that teachers are never off the job. What creates a problem with this is that since they are never off the job, they always have to be aware of how they are portraying themselves. It is so easy to portray ourselves in the wrong way over the Internet because things can be misread, pictures can be taken a different way than they are meant to be taken, etc. Postings and pictures over the Internet can be deceiving and because of this E-Sponsibility is an issue in education. As a teacher you are a role model for your students and you are always expected to set a good example both in and out of the classroom. As grown ups we do things in our lives that children don’t necessarily need to see, like having a romantic relationship for example. Having social media profiles enables the chance that our students or parents of our students might see these things that a typical role model wouldn’t be showing off to their followers. Teachers are held to higher standards and are expected to be good mentors at all times to their students; they run the risk of parents not wanting them to be mentors when they put themselves out on the Internet and are not careful about what they share. Also, kids tend to look at their teachers as being perfect human beings that never do anything wrong. We want students to always remain looking at their teachers in this way; therefore, teachers need to be responsible with their online behavior.

            Whenever anyone puts themselves on the Internet they must acknowledge the fact that they won’t necessarily always know who is looking and what their purpose is. This is another issue with E-Sponsibility because not all teachers understand this concept. As you can see in the video from my created Prezi below, there was a teacher who was fired because of her demeaning postings on her Facebook page. She admitted that it was her fault for getting caught because she thought her profile had been set to private where only her friends could see it. Just because an Internet profile has the ability to be set to private doesn’t necessarily mean it is actually private. Most people are slowly starting to realize that you are taking a risk when you put things on the Internet because there is a chance that anyone can eventually have access to it, through hacking and other technological tactics. This is something that teachers must be aware of because even when they think their online behavior is hidden, it doesn’t mean it will never be accessed. As teachers we must know that whatever we post on the Internet we need to be okay with anyone seeing due to the fact that we have no way of choosing who can and cannot see our Internet management for sure.

E-Sponsibility of Teachers on Prezi

Lastly, what is legal is not always acceptable. This is a problem with E-Sponsibility because many teachers believe that just because something is legal, they cannot get in trouble for it. This is entirely false. Former teacher, Ashley Payne, is a great example for all of us present and aspiring teachers to keep in mind that just because something is permissible doesn’t mean we can broadcast it to the world. Ashley Payne was a high school teacher who was fired for posting a picture of her holding alcohol on her Facebook page. A parent who saw it turned it in and complained, and Ashley Payne faced the consequences for her misjudgment. The video at the bottom of this page further explains this story. This is an example that just because we are able to drink alcohol at the age of 21 doesn’t mean that sharing it with our professional life is tolerated. Just because it is legal to smoke cigarettes and watch seductive videos at the age of 18 does not mean that teachers should be allowed to share that with their students. Things are legal in our world so that individuals can choose the way they want to live their life, whether that is bad or good, but professionals should share with the world that they chose not to participate in those things rather than show off that they did.

            The balance between our personal lives and our professional lives is a huge concept that teachers must understand in order to be a successful teacher. If they are Internet users and do not recognize this concept, they could eventually find themselves in big trouble. All of these issues with E-Sponsibility directly affect education. Not only does E-Sponsibility affect the teacher’s image and career, it affects the students as well. If a student finds that their teacher is posting inappropriate, crude remarks or photos on their social media profiles they could possibly think of their teacher negatively and in result, decide not to cooperate or follow the rules of that teacher. Also, if a student were to witness a teacher’s inappropriate online behavior there is a fear that that student might follow in their footsteps and either say the wrong things that that teacher posted or simply believe the bad behavior is appropriate. Students are constantly learning from their teachers, both from what they say and what they do. A huge part of learning for students is watching what their teachers do and mirroring or mimicking them. Due to the fact that students typically think their teachers are always right, if they see a teacher exhibiting bad behavior it is most likely that they will think that behavior is acceptable. There are many problems that result from teachers not being cautious about their E-Sponsibility, all which negatively affect both teachers and their students.

Video from YouTube

For more information, please visit:

•  Court Rules Against Ashley Payne in Facebook Case- A blog post written by Maureen Downey highlighting the details of Ashley Payne's case.
•  Teacher Fired for Inappropriate Behavior on Myspace Page- An article exhibiting a teacher who faced the consequences for not being aware of her E-Sponsibility.
• New Jersey Teacher Could be Fired for Comments on Facebook- Another example, in a blog post, of a teacher who did not understand the severity of E-Sponsibility.

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