Technology+Report

 In today’s society our students utilizes technology throughout their educational careers. Privacy and safety are top priorities when it comes to students and the internet. About 50% of children have their own computers. Two-thirds of parents have failed to set up parental control protections. Cyber predators are lurking out there and our students, if left uninformed about how critical there safety is on the internet can fall in the hands into the wrong person. For an example, myspace currently has 130 million users and of that 130 million, 90,000 predators were removed from myspace. Internet safety for students is important and kids should learn all they can about it. There are many websites with parent and educator resources for teaching Internet safety. The websites for many state police departments contain tips, articles, links and other information about internet safety for children. An organization called Enough is Enough, founded in 1994, has a website with a wealth of information on dangers, safety and resources. Another site, iKeep Safe, has a personalized message for residents of each state as well as a section of safe games and activities for children. “Beyond safety, middle level students must learn about conducting themselves responsibly while online.” A big rule of thumb while interacting with other on the internet is to use a “pen name” it is less likely for a person to tell the sex/gender of a person, thus likely for a cyber predator to target a student. “Teachers should acquaint themselves with new tools that allow students to visit protected sites as much a possible while monitoring browsing history and follow the acceptable use policy regarding the steps students should take after accidentally accessing an inappropriate site.” People fail to realize that the use of the Internet as part of an educational program is a privilege, not a right.

Keeping students safe while online cannot be left to the filters and firewalls placed on the network. Teachers need to know about potential online safety concerns and how to identify them while students are working. This allows teachers to be able to stop a potential problem before it happens.

www.Internet safety.net blog Wednesday, February 4, 2009 [] (2009) Teaching Online Safety Halle Adleman (2004) Guidelines and Resources for Internet Safety in Schools produced by the Virginia Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology. (2008) Implementing Effective Classroom Internet Safety by Tammy Andrews