For students, the Internet is exciting and a little overwhelming. Elementary students like mine, however, don’t really see all the possibilities and dangers that older kids and adults are aware of. Their focus is on concrete things close to home – even events in other parts of the country are sometimes too abstract for them to pay much attention. Even when they’re online at home unsupervised, most elementary-aged kids just want to play games. As they approach adolescence, though, they become more curious about the wider world, more worried about what other people think, and they start to push boundaries. When you add cell phone usage by kids, the options for accessing the internet expands exponentially. Recent tragic incidents of cyberbullying highlight some risks of social media; our neighborhood high school newspaper recently reported on the case of a neighborhood girl who briefly went missing after developing an online relationship with an unknown male. Richardson (2010) noted that Internet safety today needs to focus not just on protection from predators and stranger abduction, which is actually quite rare, but on children’s responsibility and digital citizenship. We need to instruct children about their digital identities, which can even help or hinder college applications and future employment.
One site that provides excellent resources for parents and teachers to teach about Internet safety is Common Sense Media. The real strength of this organization is not only that it offers games and lesson plans about internet safety, but it also discusses broader issues of media use, such as video games, movies and television. Lesson plans give teacher-librarians scaffolded activities to use to instruct students in digital literacy as well as safety, but many of the articles are aimed at parents, many of whom don’t monitor their children’s internet use as carefully as they should. I include Common Sense Media information on my website and in tweets and e-mails to parents.
Unfortunately, much of the policy focus on children’s use of the internet has been prescriptive and restrictive. Policy and software combine in an attempt to shelter students and prevent them from encountering anything from the Dark Side of the Internet. However, I believe this approach is shortsighted at best. However, there is benefit to using filtering software, especially in elementary school. Filtering software such as iBoss, which is used in my district, helps the district comply with Federal CIPA regulations. It prevents students from accessing sites that not only may have content that is inappropriate for school, but might also open the door for malicious software that could damage district networks. Before iBoss, we used iSafe, a subscription software solution that also offers a safe browser. Our district changes filtering software regularly. And occasionally, teacher librarians have to request that network administrators unblock certain legitimate terms or sites.
In order to protect his child from the Dark Side, one parent at my school signed the district’s “opt-out” policy, which prevents his child from using any school technology. Ironically, this also prevents the child from participating in district-mandated computer-adaptive testing as well as reading comprehension programs and electronic books used in the classroom. This is an extreme measure that the parent might not have considered fully in his concern for protecting his child. However, the flip side of that opt-out provision is our district’s acceptable use contract that all parents and students must sign in order to use school technology. Although most students sign the form without reading, it is the teacher-librarian’s responsibility to explain this policy to students at the beginning of the school year, and review it regularly to make sure they understand their responsibilities. I believe explaining policies and procedures is a basic component of Internet safety instruction. The most important job of education is to teach young people to think critically, and that requires experience and understanding as well as exposure. Young people need to be taught strategies and approaches that enable them to take responsibility for their own safety, just as we teach them to look left-right-left before crossing the street. Children will be more likely to take an active part in their own responsible computer use if they understand the reasons for the procedures, just like they line up quietly and move quickly during a fire drill. One teaching strategy in the media center is to “flip” instruction, challenging kids to locate resources and give each other tips for staying safe online. Another strategy is using video, such as that found at NetSmartz Workshop, to introduce discussion. While some safety sites are a bit wordy for kids, Netsmartz provides short age-specific videos that have catchy music and engaging stories. Videos cover a variety of topics including digital ethics, talking with adults, and keeping passwords private. Netsmartz also offers instructional materials that can be used by parents, teachers, scout leaders or anyone supervising students using the Internet.
The Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use headed by Nancy Willard provides resources for parents and teachers and focuses on cyberbullying. Handouts and teaching materials are available for schools and other organizations to use for instructing kids about responsible internet use. Many young people do not realize that as teens, some of the behavior they engage in online can get them in legal trouble, including being prosecuted as sex offenders. Willard’s book Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens: Helping Young People Learn to Use the Internet in a Safe and Responsible Manner (2007) provides very useful Internet parenting strategies and age-appropriate guidelines in an easy-to-read, inviting format. Willard also writes articles for Education World on cybersafety issues.
One of the most important safeguards for children is supervision – there is no substitute for a teacher or parent being actively involved in supervising elementary students using computers. At my school students’ technology use is actively supervised, starting with the arrangement of computers in the classroom, lab and library that allows everyone to see what is onscreen. We supervise them in the cafeteria and on the playground, so during technology use is just another area to supervise.
Ultimately, the best strategy for keeping kids safe is teaching them to rely on the software that’s in their head, instead of letting a computer program parent the kids.
References:
Morris, M. C. (2013, October 21). Missing girl sparks search - sex trafficking prevalent in Atlanta. Southerner, p. 1.
Netsmartz Workshop. (n.d.). Parents & Guardians. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Retrieved November 1, 2013, from http://www.netsmartz.org/Parents
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Willard, N. E. (2007). Cyber-safe kids, cyber-savvy teens: helping young people learn to use the Internet safely and responsibly. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
One site that provides excellent resources for parents and teachers to teach about Internet safety is Common Sense Media. The real strength of this organization is not only that it offers games and lesson plans about internet safety, but it also discusses broader issues of media use, such as video games, movies and television. Lesson plans give teacher-librarians scaffolded activities to use to instruct students in digital literacy as well as safety, but many of the articles are aimed at parents, many of whom don’t monitor their children’s internet use as carefully as they should. I include Common Sense Media information on my website and in tweets and e-mails to parents.
Unfortunately, much of the policy focus on children’s use of the internet has been prescriptive and restrictive. Policy and software combine in an attempt to shelter students and prevent them from encountering anything from the Dark Side of the Internet. However, I believe this approach is shortsighted at best. However, there is benefit to using filtering software, especially in elementary school. Filtering software such as iBoss, which is used in my district, helps the district comply with Federal CIPA regulations. It prevents students from accessing sites that not only may have content that is inappropriate for school, but might also open the door for malicious software that could damage district networks. Before iBoss, we used iSafe, a subscription software solution that also offers a safe browser. Our district changes filtering software regularly. And occasionally, teacher librarians have to request that network administrators unblock certain legitimate terms or sites.
In order to protect his child from the Dark Side, one parent at my school signed the district’s “opt-out” policy, which prevents his child from using any school technology. Ironically, this also prevents the child from participating in district-mandated computer-adaptive testing as well as reading comprehension programs and electronic books used in the classroom. This is an extreme measure that the parent might not have considered fully in his concern for protecting his child. However, the flip side of that opt-out provision is our district’s acceptable use contract that all parents and students must sign in order to use school technology. Although most students sign the form without reading, it is the teacher-librarian’s responsibility to explain this policy to students at the beginning of the school year, and review it regularly to make sure they understand their responsibilities. I believe explaining policies and procedures is a basic component of Internet safety instruction. The most important job of education is to teach young people to think critically, and that requires experience and understanding as well as exposure. Young people need to be taught strategies and approaches that enable them to take responsibility for their own safety, just as we teach them to look left-right-left before crossing the street. Children will be more likely to take an active part in their own responsible computer use if they understand the reasons for the procedures, just like they line up quietly and move quickly during a fire drill. One teaching strategy in the media center is to “flip” instruction, challenging kids to locate resources and give each other tips for staying safe online. Another strategy is using video, such as that found at NetSmartz Workshop, to introduce discussion. While some safety sites are a bit wordy for kids, Netsmartz provides short age-specific videos that have catchy music and engaging stories. Videos cover a variety of topics including digital ethics, talking with adults, and keeping passwords private. Netsmartz also offers instructional materials that can be used by parents, teachers, scout leaders or anyone supervising students using the Internet.
The Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use headed by Nancy Willard provides resources for parents and teachers and focuses on cyberbullying. Handouts and teaching materials are available for schools and other organizations to use for instructing kids about responsible internet use. Many young people do not realize that as teens, some of the behavior they engage in online can get them in legal trouble, including being prosecuted as sex offenders. Willard’s book Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens: Helping Young People Learn to Use the Internet in a Safe and Responsible Manner (2007) provides very useful Internet parenting strategies and age-appropriate guidelines in an easy-to-read, inviting format. Willard also writes articles for Education World on cybersafety issues.
One of the most important safeguards for children is supervision – there is no substitute for a teacher or parent being actively involved in supervising elementary students using computers. At my school students’ technology use is actively supervised, starting with the arrangement of computers in the classroom, lab and library that allows everyone to see what is onscreen. We supervise them in the cafeteria and on the playground, so during technology use is just another area to supervise.
Ultimately, the best strategy for keeping kids safe is teaching them to rely on the software that’s in their head, instead of letting a computer program parent the kids.
References:
Morris, M. C. (2013, October 21). Missing girl sparks search - sex trafficking prevalent in Atlanta. Southerner, p. 1.
Netsmartz Workshop. (n.d.). Parents & Guardians. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Retrieved November 1, 2013, from http://www.netsmartz.org/Parents
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Willard, N. E. (2007). Cyber-safe kids, cyber-savvy teens: helping young people learn to use the Internet safely and responsibly. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.