Internet Safety

Safety is a common component or unit in many health curricula.  While classroom discussions on this topic have traditionally included safety at home, at school, on the playground, and in the streets, increasingly it should also include safety in cyberspace.  Students need to be taught guidelines for remaining safe while interacting with others online.

There is no sense pretending that we can deal with the situation simply by limiting students' access to the Internet and other communication technologies; that horse left the barn some time ago.  Rather than deluding ourselves that we can keep our kids "retro-safe,"  we need to give them to tools to stay safe in an ever-evolving online world which is - and which will continue to be - an integral part of their lives.

As parents and teachers, we sometimes feel that we are not up to this task.  When I give Internet Safety presentations to parents, I often receive comments like, "My kids are way ahead of me when it comes to computers."  The subtext to this is a sense of futility that parents will never be able to catch up to their children's  technological savvy.  And they're probably right.  But that doesn't negate the need for parents to remain involved with, and informed of, what their children are doing while online. The solution doesn't lie in knowing more than your child; it resides in consistent and persistent communication with the child  about his/her online activities.

Fortunately, there are a number of very good web sites dedicated to helping parents and teachers guide young people in their Internet exploration.  Here are a few recommendations from the Elearning team:

• bewebaware.ca:   This is a great Canadian site for parents.  In addition to documenting the most common risks to youth, it also provides parent with age-appropriate safety tips for kids.  Not sure if your seven-year-old should be using instant messaging (Googletalk, MSN Messenger)?  Bewebaware.ca provides guidelines for what's appropriate for various age groups.  The site also provides suggestions for positive online family activities.
• cybersmart.org:  This is a great web site for teachers.  Cybersmart.org provides an entire Internet Safety Curriculum for K-12.  Lessons incorporate a mix of online activities and classroom discussion topics, and include student worksheets, teacher guides, and "Home Connection" sheets to keep parents informed of what the students are studying and to help them follow up at home.  Lesson material can be browsed either by topic then grade level, or by grade level, then topic.
• The Media Awareness Network - Educational Games:  These games are an engaging way to introduce students to the importance of keeping personal information off the net and of proper netiquette.  Warning:  Flash is required, and with a larger class the games sometimes take some time to load.  What  works best is to have students log in and start loading the game, then have them do some other small activity until the game is fully loaded.  Headphones will help everyone maintain his/her sanity.

These links are also available on Chinoowiki.

At parent information sessions on Internet Safety, we often get asked about filtering software.  Within Elearning, we have taken a fairly consistent stance against site blocking in schools.  If you are interested in knowing why, you can read this document.  I would also argue against using filtering software in the home as well, primarily because I believe it's important for parents to remain involved in their child's Internet behaviour.  Installing filtering software can instill a false sense of security.  There is a tendency for parents to presume that the filtering software will "take care" of any safety issues.  But filtering software does nothing to prevent a child from divulging personal information on the Internet and engaging in other risky behaviours.  Only parental supervision can accomplish that.

Essentially, that's the key to Internet safety, whether at home or at school - having an adult actively interested and engaged with the child as he explores the online world.