Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Safety For Students Online
With the number of our students using the internet what should we be doing as educators to help them make responsible choices? There are many websites available to students to help them realize what responsibilities they should choose and how to stay safe. One of my favorite sites is i-SAFE. It provides many resources that are free to educators and children. Check it out by clicking on the title of this post! (To use the best parts of this website you need to create an account but you can surf it for information without an account. The account is free!)
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4 comments:
Personally, I am glad that the majority of the Blog sites are blocked for the students. They have grown up creating these journals without any adult guidance and as a result feel that there are no boundaries when posting information. I know it is my job when using technology to create a safe environment for each student. At this time I do not feel like I have had enough practice to ensure that students are not posting information they shouldn't be.
There is a new law going into effect that will require every student grades 3-12 to recieve internet safety education every year. This will make the safety information more available for teachers as curriculum materials are developed. The i-SAFE program seems to be one step ahead in having materials for teachers available. The key aspect of this being successful to help students make good choices will be in teachers becoming more knowledgable in the areas of the internet. To do this we will all need to work together to share what resources are out there.
I definitely agree with Meg. But as opposed to what they are posting, I'm more concerned about what they are reading.
Many teenagers are now mostly interested in the "shock value" of information and pay the most attention to the most extreme stuff. It's scary. Even in class, students' interest piques only when there is a murder or when someone does something scandalous. From an English teacher's point of view, it's tough to get students interested in these "old books full of beauty" when there's video and blogs of backyard brawls on youtube.
But as for Meg's concern of what they post, just as Dave does with this blogspot and what I do with my band's myspace page, we can control what shows up and can see who posted the information. The students' comments go only so far as we allow.
Just as Dave and Richardson mentioned, students need to be educated on safety. Many see the internet as the new "place mom won't let me go outside after dark." It is a way for students to "get out of the house" while sitting in their bedrooms (even while being grounded!). It is our job as teachers to use this to our benefit. If we outlaw it, the students will only use it for outlaw purposes and see it as a way to break rules. If we apply it to education, our students will look at the internet as an educational tool.
I like the way your title links to the site. I am more concerned now with what sites students visit, but when I set up interactive units and lessons on the web I will be more concerned with what and how students post. The fact that your title linked to another site has me wondering how many ways there are for links to be concealed from the casual observer. I seldom click links just to see where they go - I usually am pursuing a concious thread. We will have to be vigilant (and contiuously educated) to provide and maintain the safe environment that Meg expects.
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