Internet Safety - Kids versus Teachers

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Erin McGuyer on February 17, 2009 at 9:13am

I am a 7th grade computer lab teacher and really want to redesign my digital citizenship unit. I want to make it more engaging and relevant to my students. I have enjoyed reading the discussions and would love to collaborate with another teacher to create a project based lesson centered around digital citizenship. Anybody interested or have any suggestions for me?

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Permalink Reply by digiduchess on February 20, 2009 at 7:18pm

Erin-
I would love to toss some ideas around with you about Digital Citizenship Unit. Contact me.

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Permalink Reply by William Kist on February 22, 2009 at 3:42pm

I would welcome the chance to hear more about your Digital Citizenship Unit for a book I'm writing. Please contact me at: wkist@kent.edu

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Permalink Reply by Ian Grove-Stephensen on February 22, 2009 at 9:16am

Research shows that it is the teachers who have got it wrong here, so the first job is for us to educate ourselves about where the real risks lie. Danah Boyd is required reading: try
* Internet Safety Technical Task Force Report
* doing the math on MySpace and registered sex offenders

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Permalink Reply by Kiwi Commons on March 18, 2009 at 2:03pm

This is an interesting approach to get teens interested in Internet safety. This article talks about an online safety resource created by Girl Scouts of USA and Microsoft, which allows girls to share online concerns and issues at a peer level and also parents can access the site to get updated on what's going on.

It's the same approach as digiduchess' digital citizenship blog - having the students participate in educating themselves.

Check out the article here:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Turns-to-Girl-Scouts-for-I...

The LMK website is here:
http://letmeknow.girlscouts.org/Media/Press-Releases/Release-1.aspx

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Permalink Reply by Brad Davis on March 18, 2009 at 3:31pm

The problem is that most of what kids do online or over text is not seen as dangerous or inappropriate by them or their peers. It is too much embedded in their culture - it is too normal to them- how can something that feels so natural be dangerous?

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Permalink Reply by digiduchess on March 18, 2009 at 6:20pm

All the more reason to open up the lines of communication with our students or children if you have them. The same rules of "Stranger Danger" apply here. You don't know who is dangerous or not etc.

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Permalink Reply by Kiwi Commons on March 19, 2009 at 8:41am

Good point. I don't think such an approach should be used in isolation. I think it's a good way of maintaining the interest of kids and getting them involved in a topic that might otherwise seem banal. There should always be some facilitating, monitoring, and feedback during the whole process, and also an educational lesson prior and in between. That's why a blog is such a great learning instrument for this topic. It's student-centered, yet the the teacher can facilitate the whole process by commenting and stirring up topics and ideas to be considered. Both parties are very involved in the education process. Also, it's open dialogue and gives the opportunity for students to carefully analyze the situation before the speak.

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Permalink Reply by digiduchess on March 19, 2009 at 3:20pm

Thank you for the kind words.

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Rita Oates on December 28, 2009 at 1:01pm

I highly recommend wiredsafety.org and its animated situations. They are great discussion starters.

I recommended them in a PTA meeting as a "homework assignment" for parents to view and discuss with their elementary school children. One nice feature was that the situations show how one could deal with various cyber-problems. Also the site has a call to action of mothers, so this isn't only a teacher-student issue.

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