Kids at the Forum
I've been dealing with a pressing issue that I want to dump into this blog. A few weeks ago I was remotely monitoring a student downloading music (a big no no) when I saw them pop up a site called 'Xanga.' For my fellow ostriches Xanga is on online forum that markets to teenagers. I watched this student start to go through pages belonging to our junior high girls. Virtually every one of them had a picture, name, and a partial address. Some had cell phone number, and one even had a scan of their state ID card (definately not one of our gifted students.) When I looked into this I found hundreds of websites telling stories of predators using these things to find kids. I was shocked at both the enormity of the problem as well as my own ignorance. My question is this: How do we separate the legitimacy of things such as hybrid courses, discussion boards, and this blog with the issues of safety?Next week I'm teaching a course in internet safety. I've done it many time before dealing with pornography and identity theft, but this time I will be adding communication. I guess I'll have to take my picture and profile down. What's good for the goose definately isn't good for the goslets. Here's a great resource link if you have kids:
http://www.childsafetyfaq.com/
posted by Dallas Becker @ 11:32 PM
2 Comments:
Dallas, I also have to deal with kids trying to log onto xanga. It isn't the idea of an online journal for teens that I am opposed to,but the fact that the site doesn't seem to have any guidelines as to what can be posted. I asked our IT department to block the site due to pictures that were unacceptable for camp. Am I the only person that thinks that some censorship for kids under 17 is ok? I don't know what the rules would be, but since we have school guidelines, it is a no brainer here. Thanks for the blog.
OK, check out isafe.org for additional materials that might help.
You raise such a great questions here--very current and relevant! As we saw in the slideshow you shared on the Millenial generation, these kids lives are entertwined with technology and internet usage. I'm not sure there is a distinction between "legitimate" and other types of internet usage--perhaps this is a goal of internet safety discussions?
I always believe in making education relevant to the learner. Thus, if I were covering internet safety with kids, I'd sure be discussing instant messaging, myspace.com, and xanga, as aspects of that discussion. You might find the Pew Reports to be informative in terms of better understanding how and what technologies are being used by kids. Good luck! Would love to hear how it goes.
www.pewinternet.org
Post a Comment
<< Home