Finding the right balance between acceptable use and what is unacceptable use in schools can be a difficult task for school administrators. That said, technologies designed for network security can help schools take advantage of these technologies while ensuring students aren't districted while in class.

Faced with both budget cutbacks and growing threats to students' online safety and computer system security, schools throughout the country are opting for free, reliable services for Web content filtering and digital security. One provider, OpenDNS, has announced that one in three schools in the United States is using one or more of its services.

Social media and social networking sites are here to stay, and with or without rules, kids are going to use them. These are four tips for educators on how to develop a technology policy that seizes on social networking as a learning tool and teaches children how to use it responsibly.

Part III - How do I communicate the value of social media as a learning tool to my organization?

Part III - These days, everyone knows that one of the hottest stories any newspaper can cover is that of its own demise. The collapse of print advertising and the downturn in sales, at the news stand and through subscriptions, has led to a frantic search for new ways to monetize content that's often available online for free.

Part III - Establishing a presence through social media can help a company "be the trusted source in your industry," said Mike Goodman, chief executive at e-Conversation Solutions, who spoke on social media marketing at a recent Illinois Small Business Week seminar sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration and Score. "It shortens your sales cycle and lowers your cost," he said.

Part III - The U.S. government and social media.

Part III - As digital natives--those who have grown up with the Internet--flood the workplace, your employees will expect to be part of the social Web and they'll have a lot to contribute.

Part III - Getting your entire company on-board with your social media strategy can help create an immediate impact in your social presence online. Instead of just one person trying to tackle creating a social brand, you can leverage all employees abilities and experience to make a bigger splash.

Part III - New/Social media in "learning" outside the classroom: Employees' social media use--both inside and outside the workplace--remains a double-edged sword for employers, however, promising both business opportunities and risks.

Part III: How do these problems relate to activities across different areas of life - not only in formal educational institutions per se, but also in informal contexts and activities of learning? Using fresh data from the Trendstream Global Web Index-a recurring survey of more than 50,000 users of social platforms in 18 markets-we mapped by country how people are sharing information about themselves online. We looked at five broadcast behaviors: blogging, managing a social-network profile, sharing photos, sharing videos, and microblogging.

Report published by the U.S. government's Online Safety and Technology Working Group (June 4, 2010). Addresses issues of online safety through educational efforts (by NGOs, schools, etc).

Despite Staples' libertarian attitude towards availability of print materials, many websites remain off-limits to students operating on the Staples network. These sites range from social networking sites such as Facebook to pornographic content.

According to the Nashville Scene, "Roughly 80 percent of Tennessee school districts, including Metro Nashville, use filtering software to bar students from viewing gay education and gay rights websites." What "scandalous" Web sites are Tennessee Public Schools barring their students from accessing? Sites like the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) to name a few.

Scaring children about the dangers of the Internet and blocking access to social-networking sites can do more harm than good, according to a report released Friday by a committee tasked by the U.S. government to explore online safety.

This report was published in July 2007 by the National School Boards Association, in conjunction with Verizon, Microsoft, and News Corporation. It is a 12 page report outlining the positives, gaps, expectations, and interests surrounding the use of social media in education.

The National School Boards Association (USA) in partnership with research firm Grunwald Associates LLC, and the support of Microsoft, Newscorp and Verizon has just published a data-rich survey dissecting social and education related activity patterns by American students. ...And the results are more than interesting.

Two school districts on opposite ends of the country have introduced Twitter to their arsenal of communication tools. Broward County Public School in Fort Lauderdale, Flordia and Anchorage School District in Anchorage, Alaska have both signed up for Twitter's social media messaging site to post updates, called "tweets", that are then sent out to parents, teachers, students and staff within the district. "This provides the district an additional method to deliver information expediently and directly to students, parents, and the community," said the Florida district. "Twitter supplements the district's current communications vehicles, which include parent link phone messages, e-mails, the district's Web site, BECON-TV, and the parent newsletter."

The mainstream media loves to report on sexting, cyberbullying, inappropriate relationships, and other social media pitfalls that frighten parents and send school administrators running scared. These fears cause schools to maintain their years-old internet polices: Block social media sites. No one gets hurt. But innovative teachers across the country, when allowed, have embraced social media applications like Twitter and Facebook. They're using them to communicate with their students, to share relevant news, and to ask and answer questions. They're using them to connect students to resources around the world and create authentic global classrooms. And they're using them to move beyond the typical classroom website where " ... the missing piece of the design is the lack of interaction for the user. Facebook forces interaction and active learning."

To use social media or not to use social media… that is the question facing many school districts across the country. *Should video sharing sites like YouTube be used in the classroom? *Should teachers use FaceBook or Twitter to communicate with their students during class and outside of the classroom? *How can sites like this improve how we educate our students?