Hello fellow educators it’s me again. I was a bit troubled after our lecture on internet usage, particularly in terms of security. I just want to bring the point home again because the issue of securing our kids is a grave one indeed.
I remember looking at a documentary about a fourteen year-old girl who was abducted by an internet predator- a forty something year-old man who was posing on the internet as a sixteen-year old boy. She agreed to meet with him secretly after they had been e-mailing each other over along period of time. Her parents were unaware of such liaisons and only found out from her best friend after she disappeared while the police were conducting their investigation.
Though, this situation is not prevalent in the Caribbean, the reality is many of our students and children are out there using the technology, some without our knowledge or assistance and they are doing so fearlessly.
We have to teach the children the skills they need to navigate safely through the Web.
However our task is a bit paradoxical because even as we don’t want to hinder students’ learning experiences, we have to limit the freedom they have to surf.
Another important consideration is getting permission from the students’ parents before they start putting their responses to in-class activities ( e.g classroom blogs). Even though they may have been posting to social networking forums, such as facebook and twitter to name a few, we have a responsibility as educators to heighten their awareness of the perils of Web surfing as well as to mold them into socially responsible individuals.
5 comments:
You are absolutely right staying safe is very important. When students post things on the web it is available for outsiders to view. Therefore, it is important for teachers and parents to carefully review guidelines for safe and responsible usage of the internet. In an analysis of teen blogs by Huffaker (2006), it was discovered that adolescents tend to disclose a great deal of personal identifying information online. For instance, Scheidt, (2006) postulated that the blog can also be used by the adolescent as a sort of diary in which the anonymity allows them to deliver something very intimate. Hence, the need for responsible use of the Internet to be addressed directly and systematically in the classroom and at home, even as early as elementary school.
References used in Blog
Huffaker, D. (2006). Teen blogs exposed: The private lives of teens made public. Presented at the Americain Association for the advancement of Science (AAAS) in St. Louis, MO., February 16-19 Retrieved July 23, 2010, from:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-02/nu-sft021706.php
Scheidt, L. (2006). Adolescent diary weblogs and the unseen audience. In D. Buckingham & R. Willett (Eds.), Digital Generations: Children, Young People and New Media. London: Lawrence Erlbaum. Retrieved July 23, 2010, from: http://loisscheidt.com/linked/2006/Adolescent_Diary_Weblogs_and_the_Unseen_Audience.pdf
I quite agree. In my case, my concern is for social bullying. Perhaps we need to teach our kids to be less exhibitionistic and be more inhibitive of what info they put out there. Too often compromising photos, or sordid details of their private lives are aired in social networking. This whole issue is predatory on its own as there are peers waiting to sink each other as they go in search of what I call e dirt.
Regards
I totally agree, Jewel, we can never be too careful. There are too many predators out there and as I read your post, images from "Human Trafficking" came to mind. The idea of obtaining parental consent is noteworthy and very important. It is imperative that the students be taught about "Safety on the Internet" before we seek to enhance their learning through the use of Web 2.0 technology. Therefore, we need to strike a balance between facilitating students' learning via the internet and ensuring that the learning environment is a safe one.
I totally agree with everyone. Internet safety is so important. I want to share an iccident that happened with one of my friend. Her daughter was chatting on the Internet with a man. He eventually got her to reveal lots of personal information. She fell in love with him just by chatting and this leed to their first date. Her mothe found out that same day and jumped in her car racing to get to her daughter first.She got into a terrible accident and is paralized today. In addition, tagging here in our owm country led to a woman losing her life. So safety is of utmost importance then security and the list goes on.I always use these as examples in my classroom and at home, with mdaughter to re-iterate the importance of safety o the Internet.
This is such an important issue. As educators we must consider safety when implementing ICT in our schools. As the comments above suggest, our students are often exposed to predators, advertisements and misinformation when using the internet. According to Roblyer (2006) schools must also be aware that hacking and piracy are common practices which can affect the school’s internet security. They must therefore put safety measures in place. Schools with internet services should therefore install safety features such as firewalls and filtering software in order to prevent students accessing inappropriate sites and to protect their systems from invasion by pirates.
Despite significant measures which are put in place by careful school administrators, many students still become victims of internet abuses. I think teachers as well as parents must continue to coach youngsters on the dos and don’ts while using the internet. This form of support will help them make the right decisions when faced with tricky situations which they may become victim to.
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