Internet Safety

This past week we covered the issue of Internet safety. We can all agree that keeping children and teens safe online is no easy task. The lure of social networking sites and cyber interactions provide for many ways of accessing dangerous territory. And unfortunately the danger not only comes from strangers, but of other teens using online tools to bully each other. The number of youth committing suicide after having been harassed by their peers has become increasingly alarming. As technology becomes more accessible to teens, so do the tools for unsafe choices.

As educators we have the responsibility to keep ourselves informed of new ways to provide Internet safety to students. This week however, we found other strategies to assist with this endeavor. Some of these Internet safety tools come in the use of real life scenarios from Digizen videos, having older students tutor the younger ones in safe usage of the Web or teaching parents Internet safety skills. The importance and main goal is to keep the youth safe while teaching them the tools to be digital citizens.

As a parent and educator I share with my children, who are teens, every positive online tool I learn about. And I am constantly having discussions about being safe online. I am hoping the NYS curriculum will make Internet safety part of the technology standards. This would be a huge step forward in preparing our students for the future.

Teaching Cyber Ethics and Safety

This week the topic was teaching Cyber Ethics to students. In recent months we’ve seen the public consequences of politicians who have used social networking inappropriately. In addition we are also struggling with an epidemic of cyber bullying and other online safety issues. There is no doubt that students need help learning online etiquette. However, there doesn’t seem to be time enough to teach or cover these important issues. The Randy Hollandsworth article, Digital Citizenship in K-12: It takes a Village, focused on the necessity of a collaborative effort when it comes to cyber ethics. The issues of being safe online, cyber bullying awareness/prevention and social networking etiquette should not only be addressed by school administrators and teachers. It should also be addressed by parents and community members. Hollandsworth states that “it takes a village” and it certainly does.

We all need to create a “technology community” where our students will be equipped to handle the task of digital citizenship. In this place students will be not only be able to be better users of Web tools, but will also be safe. We have to make sure our students are well prepared for a career after high school and also be “guided towards a productive and safe technological society”). (Hollandsworth, 2011)

Web Evaluation & Effective Web Searching

This week’s topics reminded me of how I long to work with students in the K-12 setting. There is so much information that I have and continue to learn and I want to share it with the youth. At this point I am seriously thinking about volunteering in the schools.

The online resource of Diigo is a Web tool that can be very helpful for teachers and students. I recently began to fill up my account again and have found new websites and ideas for lesson plans and activities. In the many experiences I’ve had with teachers from various school districts, there have not been any teachers who use Diigo in the classroom. This is such a shame because it is not only a great resource but a way for students to keep potential research material organized.

And in keeping with the theme of organization, we also discussed the importance of Web evaluation. I spent time in a high school in the Greece school district whose librarian often gave the students the CRAP test tutorial. (Currency, Reliability, Authority, Purpose/Point of View). This method was used to help the students evaluate different websites. The tutorial helped the students realized that not all websites are reliable. As one class member pointed out in the discussion thread, about the white supremacist website under the disguise of a Martin Luther King site.

Many of our students in the schools often get inaccurate and incorrect information from fraudulent and non-fraudulent websites. Teens and children will search the Internet for information. It is important that we equip them with the skills to recognize fact from fiction while searching for information.

This was the first week of professional development course LIS706. I am eager to learn new things and see what is happening in the field of school media.

Such was the case when learning about the "bubble filters". I had always noticed something strange about the results of my searches and my children's searches on the Internet, but never did I imagined they're content was being filtered. The video was an eye opener for me. I began to imagine the many students whose search results were being "customized" according to what Google thought they wanted to see. To me this is not acceptable. And although I agree with many of my colleagues, that Google is convenient, there is no excuse for this type of filtering. We as educators need to find better search engines that yield current and relevant results.

And speaking of better, that is a state our K12 Cyberethics, safety and security curriculum should be in too. The numbers in this research need to be improved. Children are being exposed to the Internet at a much younger age and are not equipped to handle it. We have to be educationally prepared to teach our students proper Internet use. The world we live in has become a digital world and it is important to stay connected. Students should be able to participate (in order to enhance their learning) in that digital world by staying connected in a safe and ethical way.

Staying connected was one of the reasons why I took this course. I hope to incorporate teaching Internet use, ethics and safety in the classroom ideas, to my students when I begin to work in the schools. As for now, I will share what I learn with my children and nieces and nephews.