Incorporating Digital Safety in the Classroom

          Criminality comes in different forms. It may be through physical abuse, sexual harassment, online identity theft, fraud, and etc. Perhaps, inappropriate digital use is one of the most prevalent crimes in this generation. The advancement of technology seems to be the first one to blame. Many people, young or old, have been victimized, and therefore, led to destruction of their reputation. Finkelhor, D. et al. (2000) state that, “one in five regular Internet users had received an unwanted sexual solicitation or approach in the last year” (p.15). Informing and educating students about digital safety prevents them from getting associated with online delinquencies. Furthermore, this will help them learn the proper way and process in dealing with this problem if ever they come across such circumstances.

          Almost all people in the world have at least one technological device, whether it be a laptop, computer, Ipad, Iphone, Android, and etc., they use every single day either for personal, business, school, and organization purposes. These five topics (cyber bullying, copyrights and fair use practice, phishing and pharming, sexting and textual harassment, and digital safety and privacy) surely fit a cohesive, educational unit because teachers and students incorporate and utilize technology in their classrooms and homes in many ways. Teachers give students projects that include technology in their presentations. Students give out their cellular phone numbers to their peers for communicating and accomplishing their projects or assignments. Most students use the Internet and browse several websites for gathering data such as images and written texts, shopping, entertainment, and research. Incorporating and discussing these topics in the class’s curriculum provides viable knowledge about the correct application of any information students see online. After listening to each group’s presentation, I would add Guam’s statistical report (if there is any) regarding the pervasiveness of these topics because it will be more relatable and meaningful for us. Probably, giving students a simple outline about the coverage of the presentation would be more convenient and suitable. There are a lot of information mentioned in each presentation, so an outline is beneficial for making annotations and other necessary notes. Furthermore, this outline could be a guideline and a future reference for the students when using the Internet.

         To teach students ways of being safe on the Internet, I will first direct them to Netsmartz. It is a valuable website that students could access for information about safety online usage. All grade levels, teachers, and parents will be able to use it by signing up for free. This is a good website for obtaining substantial information about the Internet. This website covers different issues such as cyberbullying, sexting, file sharing, and etc. To have creative and interactive activities for the students, they will be placed in groups and given a scenario formulated by the teacher to act out. Other students will then have to identify what actions are violating the rules governing each digital safety components. Another way is by posting different sentences and scenarios on the wall and let the students identify which are and are not considered as violations. Students may take the quizzes found on the Netsmartz website to test their knowledge about the topics discussed.

          In the beginning, we tried using the Join.me application as our communication tool to try something else besides Oovoo. We set a specific time and date for our online group chats. However, our connection was really bad during our conversation due to our Internet connections. My screen was lagging and freezing. We decided to switch back to Oovoo. But the same problem occurred. In this meeting, one of my group mates had a problem with her Internet connection. So it did not work out as well. In the end, we communicated using WhatsApp and through the Google Docs we had for this project. We called each other and assigned our individual parts. I think that Google hangouts is better to use because as long as students have a Gmail account, they will be able to access it easily. It has the same features as some of the web conferencing tool; and there is no need to download it.

          I believe that all the presentations about these topics are awesome and well developed. Having every group provide an outline for all the students in the classroom is the only thing that I would suggest. Each topic contains a lot of information, so giving an outline will enable students to easily process and grasp the information stated by the presenters. 

         Teaching digital safety in the classroom is definitely a critical lesson students must be informed about. As I mentioned in our presentation, the chance of creating an excellent work is diminished if students are not aware of the proper guidelines surrounding this topic. Advising these topics to students may prevent them from having low self-esteem. For instance, when someone tries to spread rumors that you are plagiarizing, you will be able to defend yourself with the enough knowledge you know about the policies surrounding the correct use of digital safety.  

References

Finkelhor, D. et al. (2000). Online victimization: Report on the nation’s youth. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 1-61.

www.netsmartz.org