Social media field trips: using disruptive technologies without disrupting the system.
Abstract: This paper presents a discussion around the question of data protection, privacy, liability and the resultant policy that has developed both in public K-12 education and post secondary education in Canada. With no central regulation of online protection in Canada educators in some provinces face a digital divide caused by more restrictive policy of one province in contrast to another. To set the stage for the discussion I address the nature of social media and it’s use, institutional response to social media in schools with specific reference to the Canadian context. I then propose a potential solution in the form of a social media field trip and analyze three different types field trips I have conducted with graduate students against Moor’s (1999) just consequence theoretical framework. Finally, I present implications for practice and possibilities this model could offer K-12 educators to work within current policy, stay safe but still open the doors to social networking and the world