Do you know anyone who divulges just about every detail of their lives to 350 of their closest “friends” on Facebook or a Twitter user who lets the world know where they are and what they are doing 24 hours a day? They post pictures, report their run times, list the restaurants they frequent, and announce their plans. If these people aren’t careful with their privacy settings, they might be letting the world know more than they intended. As parents and teachers, we need to set a good example of how to safely use these sites and we need to teach our students how to maintain their privacy while they stay socially connected online.
What place do these types of sites have in schools? Many teachers are finding sites like Twitter and Facebook to be useful for conversation and collaboration in the classroom. Unfortunately, these sites are often blocked in schools for student safety. Educators and administrators who support allowing access to these sites in schools argue that we have the responsibility of teaching students how to safely use the sites instead of avoiding the problem altogether. For educators in this camp, there are plenty of resources out there to assist you with teaching your students important safety and privacy concerns involved with posting information on the internet. Joann’s featured Gateway lessons from CyberSmart this week include creative ways to help you teach students about internet privacy and safety. Another resource I recommend looking into as you explore this topic is a comprehensive compilation of resources put together by fellow Twitter user Jerry Blumengarten (@cybraryman1), Cybrary Man's Educational Web Sites. He has many links to information, games, and activities related to cybersafety.
How can we help our students discover the long term impact of the things they post online? It is important for students to understand that some employers and colleges check out prospective students’ online profiles as part of the admission or hiring process. When talking to junior high and high school students, it’s a good idea to remind them of this and to teach them how to manage their “digital footprint.” One suggested activity is to allow students with social networking accounts to create a word cloud of status updates or tweets on a site like Wordle. Students and teachers need to know that just about anything they post online can be found later, and a word cloud of things they are posting can give them a good idea of what kind of online image they are creating of themselves. A good piece of advice I heard once is “Don’t post anything on the internet that you wouldn’t want your Grandma to read.” For activities and a better explanation of this topic, please check out Mr. Blumengarten’s digital footprint links. He also has a collection of cybersafety games to add a little fun.
For more information on privacy and safety in social networking, read this article from cnet news about privacy and security on Facebook and Twitter. Facebook also has a page dedicated to safety and a page for ideas about how to use Facebook in Education. You can find some good ideas and tips on these pages to safely and effectively integrate social networking into your curriculum. As always, remember to search The Gateway for more activities about student privacy. There are resources for many different age levels and subjects, and you can use the Standards Suggestion Tool to discover how these lessons can be aligned to your state standards.
~Peggy's Corner - 8/6/2010~
Showing posts with label Internet Safety. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Internet Safety. Show all posts
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Peekaboo, I C U !
You already have zero privacy. Get over it.
- Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun Microsystems (1999)
On a recent morning, I spent some time cooling my heels in purgatory – or, in more secular terms – the doctor’s waiting room. Tired of leafing through multiple issues of The American Journal of Orthopedics, I unabashedly eavesdropped on a pair of women sitting beside me. One of the women was complaining about her teenage daughter, who had apparently been grumbling to her parents about the “major” lack of privacy in their house. “So what?” mused the woman’s companion. “That’s entirely normal at her age.” “Yes,” retorted the first woman, “but we found out she’d been posting pictures of herself in her underwear on Facebook!”
While most of us roll our eyes at the ill-considered behavior demonstrated by the teen, the paradoxical attitude she displayed about privacy is one that is increasingly mirrored by society at large. On the one hand, the media is rife with citizen complaints about personal information stored in databases, residential images on Google Earth and Maps, cell phone tracking, and so on. Meanwhile, millions of people divulge their most personal details on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites. So, just what is the role of privacy in contemporary society, and how should we educate our students about it?
Privacy is a fundamental human right, and one that is vital to personal independence. Students often don’t realize how compromising their privacy now may come back to haunt them in the future. States, too, often fail to protect student privacy. A recent study found that states frequently collect more student data than is required, and often retain that data long after it should have been purged. In addition to test scores and grades, many systems retain student information such as Social Security numbers, health information, financial data, and disciplinary infractions for years after the student has graduated.
The safeguarding of one’s personal information by both individuals and larger entities is more important than ever, and with much higher risks at stake. Students need to understand that their personal privacy, both in-person and online, needs to be carefully guarded to protect both their safety and dignity.
My picks this week focus on individual privacy, and the difference between personal and private information. The resources below are all derived from CyberSmart!, which is now a part of Common Sense Media. Common Sense Media is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization that provides educators and parents with information and tools related to media and technology. I’ve relied on their film and video game reviews for years. CyberSmart! has long been a leader in promoting students’ personal safety and well-being in a digital world; this is a great pairing of two organizations whose mission is to protect kids in a wired world.
What’s Private?
Subjects: Safety, Writing
Grade: 2-3
In this lesson, students learn about how the Internet can foster collaboration among students worldwide. While co-writing a story online, students learn an important safety rule: Before sharing private information in cyberspace, they must get permission from a parent or teacher.
Private and Personal Information
Subjects: Safety, Technology
Grade: 6-8
Students learn they can converse and share ideas and opinions with others in cyberspace. They adopt a critical thinking process that empowers them to protect themselves and their families as they visit sites requesting private identity information.
Online Identity Theft
Subjects: Safety, Technology
Grade: 9-12
Students learn about the methods criminals use to steal identities online. They develop an identity theft prevention tip list and propose ways to communicate their tips to their families.
~Joann's Picks - 8/6/2010~
- Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun Microsystems (1999)
On a recent morning, I spent some time cooling my heels in purgatory – or, in more secular terms – the doctor’s waiting room. Tired of leafing through multiple issues of The American Journal of Orthopedics, I unabashedly eavesdropped on a pair of women sitting beside me. One of the women was complaining about her teenage daughter, who had apparently been grumbling to her parents about the “major” lack of privacy in their house. “So what?” mused the woman’s companion. “That’s entirely normal at her age.” “Yes,” retorted the first woman, “but we found out she’d been posting pictures of herself in her underwear on Facebook!”
While most of us roll our eyes at the ill-considered behavior demonstrated by the teen, the paradoxical attitude she displayed about privacy is one that is increasingly mirrored by society at large. On the one hand, the media is rife with citizen complaints about personal information stored in databases, residential images on Google Earth and Maps, cell phone tracking, and so on. Meanwhile, millions of people divulge their most personal details on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites. So, just what is the role of privacy in contemporary society, and how should we educate our students about it?
Privacy is a fundamental human right, and one that is vital to personal independence. Students often don’t realize how compromising their privacy now may come back to haunt them in the future. States, too, often fail to protect student privacy. A recent study found that states frequently collect more student data than is required, and often retain that data long after it should have been purged. In addition to test scores and grades, many systems retain student information such as Social Security numbers, health information, financial data, and disciplinary infractions for years after the student has graduated.
The safeguarding of one’s personal information by both individuals and larger entities is more important than ever, and with much higher risks at stake. Students need to understand that their personal privacy, both in-person and online, needs to be carefully guarded to protect both their safety and dignity.
My picks this week focus on individual privacy, and the difference between personal and private information. The resources below are all derived from CyberSmart!, which is now a part of Common Sense Media. Common Sense Media is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization that provides educators and parents with information and tools related to media and technology. I’ve relied on their film and video game reviews for years. CyberSmart! has long been a leader in promoting students’ personal safety and well-being in a digital world; this is a great pairing of two organizations whose mission is to protect kids in a wired world.
What’s Private?
Subjects: Safety, Writing
Grade: 2-3
In this lesson, students learn about how the Internet can foster collaboration among students worldwide. While co-writing a story online, students learn an important safety rule: Before sharing private information in cyberspace, they must get permission from a parent or teacher.
Private and Personal Information
Subjects: Safety, Technology
Grade: 6-8
Students learn they can converse and share ideas and opinions with others in cyberspace. They adopt a critical thinking process that empowers them to protect themselves and their families as they visit sites requesting private identity information.
Online Identity Theft
Subjects: Safety, Technology
Grade: 9-12
Students learn about the methods criminals use to steal identities online. They develop an identity theft prevention tip list and propose ways to communicate their tips to their families.
~Joann's Picks - 8/6/2010~
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Dazed and Confused
According to a recent CDC survey, one in five U.S. high school students say that they have taken prescription drugs without a doctor’s prescription. The survey also found that 72% of high schoolers had used alcohol in the past year, while 37% had used marijuana. Clearly, drugs and alcohol continue to be attractive to teens, despite various drug education programs and public service announcements to alert them to the dangers of such behavior.
Teens and adolescents are bombarded daily with lyrics, images, and information about drugs, some of it correct, much of it not. Music with drug references is nothing new, but the frequency with which drug and alcohol references appear in songs has increased dramatically over the past decade. Eminem’s latest release, Relapse, for example, is riddled with drug and alcohol references – and remains a favorite album with the middle- and high school crowd. Watch any televised sporting event, and kids are exposed to numerous ads glorifying drinking (ever see any alcohol ads featuring old, overweight, or unattractive people? Thought not). So, just how do parents and educators combat the slick allure of drugs and underage drinking when celebrities and other media types appear to revel in it?
Most experts agree that drug education has to start early with age-appropriate materials and discussions; the subject should also be consistently addressed throughout the K-12 years and into college. My picks this week focus on drug and education materials from a variety of sources for use in the classroom. The first two resources are provided by the American Council for Drug Education, a substance abuse education and prevention agency that develops educational programs and materials based on current scientific research on drug use and its impact on society. The third resource, “It’s My Life: Dangers of Drug Abuse” is a product of PBS, which offers high-quality TV programming and online content to tens of millions of people each day. As always, please check our Facebook and Twitter pages throughout the week, where we will post links to more drug education resources for a variety of ages.
People We Trust
Subjects: Safety
Grade: K-3
The goal of this lesson is to teach young children how to identify the appropriate persons from whom he or she can safely take medicine.
Peer Pressure
Subjects: Literature, Safety
Grade: 7-8
This lesson uses segments of Mark Twain’s novel Tom Sawyer to discuss and illustrate peer pressure. Students also learn to identify ways to cope with peer pressure to use alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.
It’s My Life: Dangers of Drug Abuse
Subjects: Health, Safety
Grade: 5-12
Studies have shown that experimentation with drugs often begins in early adolescence. In this lesson, students will understand that they will be faced with a variety of decisions regarding their health – some of them involving illicit substances. They will evaluate the health hazards of legal and illegal drugs, and explain the advantages of remaining drug-free. Students will also describe the short- and long-term health risks of using drugs.
~Joann's Picks - 7/31/2010~
Teens and adolescents are bombarded daily with lyrics, images, and information about drugs, some of it correct, much of it not. Music with drug references is nothing new, but the frequency with which drug and alcohol references appear in songs has increased dramatically over the past decade. Eminem’s latest release, Relapse, for example, is riddled with drug and alcohol references – and remains a favorite album with the middle- and high school crowd. Watch any televised sporting event, and kids are exposed to numerous ads glorifying drinking (ever see any alcohol ads featuring old, overweight, or unattractive people? Thought not). So, just how do parents and educators combat the slick allure of drugs and underage drinking when celebrities and other media types appear to revel in it?
Most experts agree that drug education has to start early with age-appropriate materials and discussions; the subject should also be consistently addressed throughout the K-12 years and into college. My picks this week focus on drug and education materials from a variety of sources for use in the classroom. The first two resources are provided by the American Council for Drug Education, a substance abuse education and prevention agency that develops educational programs and materials based on current scientific research on drug use and its impact on society. The third resource, “It’s My Life: Dangers of Drug Abuse” is a product of PBS, which offers high-quality TV programming and online content to tens of millions of people each day. As always, please check our Facebook and Twitter pages throughout the week, where we will post links to more drug education resources for a variety of ages.
People We Trust
Subjects: Safety
Grade: K-3
The goal of this lesson is to teach young children how to identify the appropriate persons from whom he or she can safely take medicine.
Peer Pressure
Subjects: Literature, Safety
Grade: 7-8
This lesson uses segments of Mark Twain’s novel Tom Sawyer to discuss and illustrate peer pressure. Students also learn to identify ways to cope with peer pressure to use alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.
It’s My Life: Dangers of Drug Abuse
Subjects: Health, Safety
Grade: 5-12
Studies have shown that experimentation with drugs often begins in early adolescence. In this lesson, students will understand that they will be faced with a variety of decisions regarding their health – some of them involving illicit substances. They will evaluate the health hazards of legal and illegal drugs, and explain the advantages of remaining drug-free. Students will also describe the short- and long-term health risks of using drugs.
~Joann's Picks - 7/31/2010~
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Meet the e-Thugs
Remember Nelson Muntz from “The Simpsons”? He’s the bully with the simian brow and Cro-Magnon build. In many ways, he represents the stereotypical bully in our collective consciousness – physically intimidating, not very bright, and a social outcast. Recent studies, however, have found that most bullies – boys and girls – are self-assured, often popular kids that crave power, and who will use just about any means to secure and flaunt it. The Internet and cell phones have become frequently used venues in which to conduct aggressive behavior, and many schools struggle with how to effectively combat online bullying.
CyberSmart! is one organization that “gets it.” While their mission is to promote 21st century skills to increase student engagement and prepare them to succeed in an increasingly digital-centric society, CyberSmart! also addresses the importance of students’ personal safety and emotional well-being. Instead of trumpeting the dangers of the Internet and pulling out tired platitudes to “ignore the teasing”, they’ve developed a series of lessons and activities for K-12 students that aim to educate and empower kids when facing both traditional and digital forms of aggression. Also impressive are the supporting materials for each lesson: Student activity sheets, letters to educators about cyberbullying, downloadable home connections with topics for parents to discuss with their kids, extension activities, and optional Web 2.0 tools to further supplement the lessons. Each lesson is also aligned to the National Educational Technology Standards for Students. Bullying is a huge problem that needs more attention, and the materials from CyberSmart! are a definite step in the right direction. Huzzahs all around!
Group Think
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-02-19.0598215240
Subjects: Bullying, Internet safety
Grade: 4-5
In this lesson, students learn how “mob mentality” can sometimes take over and drive certain situations. Afraid of upsetting the group’s balance (or becoming a target themselves), individuals suppress their own doubts or emotions, and “go along to get along.” Students here analyze the role of bystanders in bullying situations, and discuss how sometimes kids behave differently in groups than if they were alone.
Cyberbullying: Not a Pretty Picture
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-02-19.3492346448
Subjects: Bullying, Internet safety
Grade: 6-8
Bullying via computers and cell phones has escalated in recent years, with cell phones rapidly becoming the weapon of choice. In this lesson, students discuss scenarios in which a friendly relationship turns into a bullying one. They also identify and note abbreviations and other textual clues to help reduce cyberbullying.
Acceptable Social Networking?
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-02-21.7321797589
Subjects: Bullying, Internet safety
Grade: 9-12
MySpace might be dead, but social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are thriving. In this lesson, students consider situations where one student creates a fake online identity in order to seek revenge or harass another student. Students discuss ways to resolve such situations, and brainstorm tips to help other teens avoid similar situations.
~Joann's Picks~
CyberSmart! is one organization that “gets it.” While their mission is to promote 21st century skills to increase student engagement and prepare them to succeed in an increasingly digital-centric society, CyberSmart! also addresses the importance of students’ personal safety and emotional well-being. Instead of trumpeting the dangers of the Internet and pulling out tired platitudes to “ignore the teasing”, they’ve developed a series of lessons and activities for K-12 students that aim to educate and empower kids when facing both traditional and digital forms of aggression. Also impressive are the supporting materials for each lesson: Student activity sheets, letters to educators about cyberbullying, downloadable home connections with topics for parents to discuss with their kids, extension activities, and optional Web 2.0 tools to further supplement the lessons. Each lesson is also aligned to the National Educational Technology Standards for Students. Bullying is a huge problem that needs more attention, and the materials from CyberSmart! are a definite step in the right direction. Huzzahs all around!
Group Think
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-02-19.0598215240
Subjects: Bullying, Internet safety
Grade: 4-5
In this lesson, students learn how “mob mentality” can sometimes take over and drive certain situations. Afraid of upsetting the group’s balance (or becoming a target themselves), individuals suppress their own doubts or emotions, and “go along to get along.” Students here analyze the role of bystanders in bullying situations, and discuss how sometimes kids behave differently in groups than if they were alone.
Cyberbullying: Not a Pretty Picture
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-02-19.3492346448
Subjects: Bullying, Internet safety
Grade: 6-8
Bullying via computers and cell phones has escalated in recent years, with cell phones rapidly becoming the weapon of choice. In this lesson, students discuss scenarios in which a friendly relationship turns into a bullying one. They also identify and note abbreviations and other textual clues to help reduce cyberbullying.
Acceptable Social Networking?
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-02-21.7321797589
Subjects: Bullying, Internet safety
Grade: 9-12
MySpace might be dead, but social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are thriving. In this lesson, students consider situations where one student creates a fake online identity in order to seek revenge or harass another student. Students discuss ways to resolve such situations, and brainstorm tips to help other teens avoid similar situations.
~Joann's Picks~
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
