Web Safety

Define strategies that you will use in your classroom to keep your students safe when using the Web.

The story of Zach in the article Teaching Kids to be Web Literate by Alan November was a perfect example as to how misleading the Internet can be. What I liked most about the example of Zach is that he was in high school when he had this experience. I think that we often see only younger children as potential victims of the web, when in fact all of our students need to be taught how to assess the information they see on the Internet.

Alan November mentioned the importance of teaching kids to assess the validity of links found on web pages. He suggested that educators should show their students how to find the source of a link on a web page and map the links found on a web page. By doing this activity, students can evaluate the validity of the information that is being posted. One quick strategy that November mentioned was doing a simple search on the author of a posting. Through this search students can gather information about the background of the author and their intent for posting the information. Elizabeth E. Kirk outlined four specific ideas to keep in mind when viewing a web page. A user should identify the author, the publisher, the potential for bias and the date in which the information was posted. We must teach students how to view web-based information with a critical eye.

One of the safety tip articles found on the Connect Safely web page was, A Family's Tech First-Aid Kit by Anne Collier. She made an excellent point in her article that students need to become critical thinkers and they must use intelligent behavior when using the Internet. In this article Collier discusses how students can defend themselves against potential dangers by simply making good choices. Students need to think critically before they click, download or respond. Students need to be aware of both the positive results and the negative consequences of using the Internet.

The Surftificate activity at 4kids.org was a really fun experience. Though it may be just beyond my first grade students, I think it would be a very useful tool to use with 2-5th graders. I like the idea that students are reading about web safety and making a promise to be responsible users. I also like that the students have an actual certificate to serve as a reminder of their promises. This would be a great site for my first graders to read through with a parent to get them thinking about how to use the Internet.

How can you educate your students to be web-literate?
The Basic Safety Rules mentioned in Larry Magid’s article on the Safe Kids web page is a great resource for parents to use. I think that the rules are very clearly explained and they are very reasonable to enforce. One of the key points about using these Basic Safety Rules is that they open the communication lines between kids and parents. Instead of blocking access, parents need to talk with their children about how to use the Internet. In one of our in-service meetings at school, we discussed web safety in regards to our students. One of the best tips mentioned by one of the junior high teachers was taking computers out of the bedroom. By placing the computer in a more communal part of the house, parents can check in with their children as they use the Internet. Magid mentions in his article, What Parents Can Do About Online Safety (Connect Safely web page), that communication is the key component to keeping kids safe. Parents need to become educated about how to use the Internet and how to protect their children. I think it was a great suggestion on the Safe Kids page for parents to have their children teach them about the Internet. This would provide a great opportunity for a parent and child to talk about how to use the Internet in a safe and appropriate way.

How is information that you read on the Web different than information you read from published books?
The Internet offers students access to a wide variety of learning tools, resources and information. Through the use of the Internet, students can draw from an endless pool of information. The danger, however, is in deciding what information to use and what resources are reliable.

First, students must be taught how to organize the amount of information that they can now access from the web. They need to learn how to evaluate the results of a search and not just choose the first option listed. We must also teach them how to narrow a search to focus on a given topic. An example of this would be using the Advance Search tool on Google. When conducting research in a library, a student has the option of previewing a text and they can filter through their limited amount of options.

We must also teach our students how to evaluate the information that they gather in a search. In the traditional format of using a book for research, students could more safely rely on the validity of the information provided by the author. A published book represents work that has been researched, edited and approved for publication. When conducting research in a library, a student also has the option of previewing a text and they can filter through their limited amount of options.
Resources on the Internet, however, do not have to meet these standards to be posted. Students must therefore learn how to judge the reliable sources from the unreliable.