Digital Citizenship is an vital part of our society these days! It is important for teachers to teach and guide students to prepare them for our ever changing technological world. To me, the number one priority is safety. Kids of all ages, especially teenagers, need to know how dangerous the Internet can be. There are also many "rules" that need to be taught to older kids, from how to research, to checking sources, to plagiarizing.
Since I am a teacher of young children, I think the base I need to instill in my students is to only use the Internet with adult supervision. I really like the rules listed on CyberSmart that uses the acronym THINK. T = Tell mom and dad if something upsets you H = Hide your password I = interesting sites are fun, but ask mom and dad N = be nice to people K = keep personal info safe and never give your real name. I thought this was a simple but effective way to get the point across to young children.
I really like what you mentioned about the acronym THINK. I hadn't gotten to that stage in the training yet, but my greatest concerns were brought up in that point. It is our job as educators not to shy away from these online experiences because they could be unsafe, but rather to teach them the tools to be safe and an active member in any community - online or otherwise. I'm so glad that you pointed this out. It takes a lot of the apprehension out of the whole experience!
ReplyDeleteMs. Rogers, Totally agree with you. Internet can affect lives. That's why children must have supervision. This is something that really concerns me.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, I still remember when I was researching on internet and some adult pages popped-up (POP-UPs). Nowadays there are filters that can have control with pop-ups. That way, children are not exposed directly to those kinds of pages.
We teachers have to guide and redirect our students!