There are many resources available for both parents and teachers to help them keep children safe online. On the eSchool News site I found a discussion of ways schools are currently teaching internet safety. Teachers, media specialists, and even administrators shared some of the ways their schools are addressing the dangers of the internet. Many teachers described their internet safety lessons as lessons in character. They teach their students about digital citizenship, privacy, permanence (thinking before you post), and “netiquette”. Several teachers shared various online games that teach internet safety such as Common Sense Media (CyberSmart!). Teachers also shared many ideas for projects that would allow the students to teach others about internet safety such as creating public service announcements on topics like cyber-bullying or teaching a lesson to a younger grade level.
eLearning Industry’s guide for keeping students safe online emphasizes teaching the students as well as their parents about internet safety. They make a good point that students are able to find proxy sites to get them around firewalls and filtering software, so teachers and parents must take the time to teach children about the dangers they might find instead of just trying to keep them off of certain websites. The author(s) share some ideas for resources to share with students such as this YouTube video.
The internet safety suggestions from Teaching Today are a little older, but still relevant. This site lists the different ways school systems use to try to keep students safe online. The most important of these is to have clear acceptable use policies in place both at the district/school level and in your classroom. Have both students and their parents read and sign that they understand the policies and the consequences for violating them.
eLearning Industry. Retrieved on March 23, 2014 from http://elearningindustry.com/the-teacher- guide-to-keeping-students-safe-online
eSchool News. Retrieved on March 23, 2014 from http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/11/11/
10-ways-schools-are-teaching-internet-safety/?
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for
Classrooms. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oak, California: Corwin.
Teaching Today. Retrieved on March 23, 2014 from
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/39