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Teaching literacy—reading and writing—is a core mission for schools, but today's young people increasingly "read" 3-D computer simulations and "write" via social networks such as Facebook. A growing chorus of experts say schools should add these forms of communication to their literacy mission as "technology literacy."

Live tweeting

"Live tweeting is not easy," Ekechai said, but "they capture the content of the lectures very, very well." Twitter also allows faculty members to post links to what they're reading. Students who "follow" a professor's tweets can get a look at the news stories that help inform their professor's lectures or connect with the experts their teachers are following.

Essential to field Ekechai and Menck see it as their responsibility to teach students about Twitter because social media knowledge is becoming essential to their future fields - communications, advertising, public relations and marketing.

Translation: teachers should NEVER ask a student to be their Friend on Facebook/MySpace but should accept Friend requests and proceed to interact in the same way as would be appropriate if the student approached the teacher after school

What do you think is the best advice for other teachers when it comes to interacting with students on social network sites? When should teachers interact with students outside of the classroom? What are appropriate protocols for doing so? How can teachers best protect themselves legally when interacting with students? How would you feel if you were told never to interact with a student outside of the classroom?