Cyber+Safety

  Cyber Safety & Ethics

__Annotated Bibliography__: Barrett, L. (2007). Not just ‘your space’: Educators urged to be careful on the internet. //Education Digest//, //73//(2), 9-11.  The article “Not Just ‘YourSpace’ Educators Urged to Be Careful on the Internet” emphasized the need for educators to exercise their first amendment rights with caution. In today’s world, all citizens are bombarded with technology to meet and greet friends, family, and long-lost acquaintances. Although these sites are meant to be entertaining and/or provide forms of harmless interaction, educators must comb their “sites” with a fine tooth comb in order to protect themselves from ruining their reputations within their school, district, and/or community. Barrett stressed the need for teachers to be aware of their words, photos, and videos posted on the web personally or through a friend’s site. To date, many institutions and employers are surfing the web to discover or uncover the ‘truths’ about their staff or potential new-hires.

Personally, I feel all of the information provided in the article is common sense. Of course teachers should be aware of the words and images they are sharing with the world whether their profiles are private or not. If teachers or teachers-in-training are sharing information that is embarrassing, inappropriate, or incriminating, then it is their own fault and should have to deal with the repercussions. Plus, as teachers we teach our students to stay safe on the web; therefore, we have to practice what we preach.

Collier, A. (2009). A better safety net: It’s time to get smart about online safety. //School Library Journal//, //55//(11), 36-38.  The article titled “A Better Safety New: It’s Time to Get Smart about Online Safety” highlighted a new, one size fits all approach to teaching online safety to children and young adults. Collier disputes the one size fits all approach of emphasizing fear in online users is the incorrect way to tackle an ever-growing societal concern for safety. Instead of promoting fear, the author stated the imperativeness of providing students with meaningful, online safety discuss that are pertinent for their specific age group. The author also argued that “not all youth are equally at risk online.” She proceeded to mention that the internet is not the problem, it is the lack of knowledge, education, and promotion of online safety implemented correctly in homes and educational settings.

I really enjoyed reading this article because it did not blame the internet for crimes committed online but rather exposed the inadequacies of our society and the desire for people to “blame” someone or something else for their problems, crimes committed, lack of education and/or lack of supervision/involvement. Instead, the author essentially “called out” society and asked them to “step up” and take responsibility for our youth and own well-being.

 Descy, D. Keeping kids safe online. //TechTrends//, //50//(5), 3-4.   The article “Keeping Kids Safe Online” discusses strategies that will promote safe internet use for their children through the use of nine specific steps. Step number one suggests that parents talk with their children about the positives and negatives of searching the web. Step number two urges parents to promote communication between children and parents regarding information they are looking at on the net. Suggestion three and four encourages parents to set parameters for safe internet use in the home and set up a second layer of filters just in case the first set do not work properly. Steps five, six, and set up social networking guidelines for children stressing the importance for children not to provide any personal information and/or limiting children’s access of social networking sites to specific hours when parental supervision is available. Step eight discusses keylogger programs that will help parents if they feel their children are sending inappropriate messages/information in cyber space. Finally, the article suggests that parents set down rules for internet surfing.

I thought this article was short, sweet, and to the point. The explanation of each step was just enough to get the author’s point across to concerned parents. As for the specific steps, I feel that they are common sense; however, some parents need everything clearly spelled out for them. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the parent to set down rules, clearly communicate with their children about what they are looking at on the web, and monitor everything their children view on the internet in order to keep them safe.



Panter, S. (2009). Teaching elementary students to be safe on the internet. //Library Media Connection//, //27//(6), 32-33. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> The article titled “Teaching Elementary Students to Be Safe of the Internet” discussed the impact of the newest law signed in hopes of keeping children safe on the computer, the Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act. As a result of the legislature, many schools throughout the country are mandated by law to educate their students on proper online behavior. An internet site for educators mentioned frequently throughout the piece was //CyberSmart!// 21st Century Skills for Education which refers to their website safety acronym SMART. SMART stands for “Safety and security online; Manners, bullying and ethics; Authentic learning and creativity; Research and information fluency; and Twenty-first century challenges.” The authors also mentioned the need for continuing education for students and parents regarding internet safety for students.

In my opinion, I would have liked to see the article provide the reader with more in-depth information regarding the acronym SMART and offer suggestions on how to implement the teaching of internet safety in the classroom on a regular basis. As educators, we are aware of the impact, both positive and negative, that the internet has on society and education. We are also aware that students are naïve when it comes to protecting themselves online. Any and all resources, lesson plans, suggestions, etc. are greatly welcomed by educators. Unfortunately, the authors failed to provide the reader with anything more than a website to view at his or her leisure.

<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Villano, M. (2008). What are we protecting them from? //T.H.E. Journal//, //35//(5), 48-54. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">The final article discusses the importance of web filters for students, but also urges readers to consider the potential harm that the implementation of such filters pose on administrators, teachers, parents, and the community. As a society, we are quick to focus on programs that will shelter our students from harmful information, photographs, predators, etc.; however, we may be overusing such filters. The authors suggest that filters are necessary but not very removed when needed. Specific examples are provided for the easy removal of filters by administrators, teachers, parents, and the community. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt;">According to Don Knezek from the International Society for Technology in Education, “Abstinence from technology is a losing battle. To not teach technology is neglecting the charge of universal education” (50). I thought this was an interesting quote because in our schools, it is nearly impossible to find any pertinent information when research because everything is blocked. In fact, it gets extremely frustrating when you are trying to teach students to compare and contrast websites and determine whether they are safe, valuable, and/or a good source of information when everything is restricted. I feel that there needs to be a balance. Students should not have carte blanche when using computers at home or school, but they should have access to good information. Personally, this is where parents need to step up and set boundaries for their children and stop relying on programs and educators to do their job. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;"> __Suggested Links__ : [|Cyber Smart!] [|Cyber Safety Statistics] [|Cyber Safety for Kids Brochure] [|Cyber Safety Tips for Teens] [|Cyber Savvy Teens] [|Earn Your Web License] [|iKeepSafe] [|Wired Kids] [|Stay Safe Online] [|Net Smartz] [|National Crime Conventions Council] [|FBI Guide to Internet Safety]