by Matthew Sitman
Stephen Winzenburg, a college professor, reports on how Facebook and Twitter have "led young people to publicly announce intimate personal details without thought of the consequences," creating some awkard classroom and office hours interactions with students:
Allison walked into my classroom apologizing for missing two weeks of classes by saying she had been in rehab for alcoholism. Stan's excuse, stated in front of the class, was that drugs he was taking for a psychological disorder had caused him to oversleep. Greg said he didn't have his assignment done because he had to go to court after being arrested for punching a guy in a bar fight. Carly texted me that she couldn't make it to class that day because she was in the hospital after having a miscarriage.
A new advisee, Amy, was in tears as she asked if she could shut my office door. It was her first semester, and she had always had a bright smile on her face in the classroom. But in my office, she told me her grades were suffering because she was having an affair with a local married TV reporter.
There is, however, a strange corollary to the oversharing – students' deep aversion to any perceived criticism from a professor:
The most baffling aspect for a faculty member to adjust to is that the same young people who now tell you everything have conversely become much more sensitive about what you say to them. An instructor may make an innocent comment, often in response to what is perceived to be open communication, only to have the student take offense.
The Dish 