Rather than reading or watching, per se, I opted to listen to a couple of podcasts concerning internet safety (together, they totaled 60 minutes). Both are from the Internet Safety Podcast with Dr. Charles Knutson from BYU. The first interview was with Marsali Hancock, President of iKeepSafe. The second interview was with Nancy Willard, director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use. Here is the hyper link for both of these podcasts: http://www.internetsafetyproject.org/podcasts/.
1. The podcasts I listened to focused very much on internet (and cell phone, in the case of the second podcast) safety for children and teens. Interestingly, both Hancock and Willard stressed the importance of parental involvement. Parents need to know what technologies their children are using, what they are using them for, and they need to interact with their children positively regarding technology.
2. As a future parent, I will definitely take an active role in monitoring what my children do on the internet and with their cell phones, but I will make sure to do so positively and openly. The second podcast discussed the trend of sexting, and I feel that adolescents and teens should be warned of the dangers of sending scandalous photos and videos via texting, and they need to be aware that their parents and teachers are aware of it. As a teacher, just like as a parent, I want to have open discussions with my students on these topics so that I can best inform them how to keep themselves safe.
3. I am definitely going to talk to my little brother and sister about the permanence of everything they put on the internet. I will also warn them about the serious security threats that arise when they download various files in a peer to peer environment. I might mention some of the five top threats to teens that Hancock mentioned in her interview, which include giving out too much information, encountering pornography, violence/hate, bullying, and receiving unwanted sexual comments.
4. Cyber bullying is a serious issue, and like all problems with internet safety and security, it is best addressed through the involvement of concerned, caring, and positive parents. Parents (and teachers, when the internet is being used in or for school) need to closely monitor their children and teens and be aware of how they interact with others online. Also, it is important to be completely open and upfront on the issue. Parents must educate their children on the potential dangers of cyber bullying before their children have already encountered it.
5. Through the podcasts I found a few great sites: internetsafetyproject.org, ikeepsafe.org, and cyberbully.org. There are also many other resources that Brother West posted on the class site. Really, there is great information and resources on internet safety all over the place, and much of this material is incredibly intriguing to students, particularly because it is so relevant to them.
6. As a teacher, pretty much all internet safety issues that teenagers struggle with will come up if students are given access to the internet in class. Cyber bullying, pornography, illegal downloading, malicious viruses, and many other major issues can be stumbled across or pursued in a matter of seconds. The first step, I believe, is education. As a teacher, I will need to let my students know what issues are out there and how to avoid incidentally falling into them. The second step that I'll take is laying down specific rules for internet use (many schools have forms that students must sign for this, but I will go over them again). I will explicitly tell them that deviating from appropriate sites will not be tolerated in the slightest. The third, and perhaps most important step, is close monitoring, accompanied by positivity.
7. There is no reason for students to have the internet at their fingertips every day in an English class. Their access, in the first place, should be limited and occasional. The rest of the leverage comes from what I already discussed: proper education, setting up guidelines and boundaries, and careful monitoring.
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