Internet Safety

  Internet Safety is a topic that is important to children of all ages.  I think we focus internet safety primarily for younger kids 14 or younger.  But the reality is once they reach a certain age, and using the computer and internet becomes of an independent activity those children are just at just as much risk as the younger children.  

  Once students get into high school using the computer or internet usually is not monitored by an adult.  From then on students have a lot more access to internet sites.  Students curiosity can sometimes get the better of them as they search for things that lead them into other things.  Students also have peer pressure from their friends to do certain things which can be carried over onto the computer.  A group of teens may sit down in a chat room and find another person to talk to and while they may be having a good time leading this person on and it is a big joke, one of those teens may go back again and really get to know this stranger.

  While most computers at school are blocked of these potentially dangerous sites, computers at home are not.  Along with students, parents need to also understand the dangers of the internet, and something that's becoming popular now is cyber-bullying.  Parents need to monitor their students use on the computer and regularly check the history of different internet sites visited.  If able to, they can block certain websites and keep their students clear of certain dangers.

  As I watched the videos I was happy that there were videos aimed at different levels of students.  The first video with the words and questions is a video aimed at an older audience, and the last two videos were aimed at a younger one.  I don't think that students would take the first video seriously enough at an older age.  I loved the animated video rap, I think elementary students would love to watch that, and you could play it a few times for them to listen to, and finally to enjoy, and maybe even learn the words to.  The third video I felt was a little dated, but had a good message.  Pictures weren't clear and the audio wasn't anything exciting to keep the students interested.  My biggest problem with these videos was the fact they were posted on YouTube.  If you were a teacher and wanted to show these in your class as a lesson, or an introduction to computer use, many teachers could not access these at their own school computer.  Many school computers have sites blocked, YouTube being one of them (and for good reason).  While it is a good place to post videos and educational bits, it also has free range to MANY other things.  So my point is that having it posted on YouTube could be a problem for teachers because they don't have easy access to it.

  I know at the school I am an aide at we have 2 nights a year about internet safety and cyber-bullying for students and their parents to attend.  Our media specialist, administrators, and teachers attend the night and talk about the dangers of the internet and how to avoid, or report anything that may happen.  We also use this time to introduce safe websites that we use at the school that they could bookmark at home for their own family.

  Internet safety has to be a partnership between the school and parents.  If this is done, then there will be a better chance for safety in the home and at others homes.