We can minimize risk and keep kids reasonably safe by monitoring their actions and by having an internet service provider that provides security designed for schools, but we can't eradicate the danger posed by surfing and working online. Whenever, anyone is on the internet and regardless of security tools, there is unknown risk lurking.
Certainly, it is an obligation and moral duty of schools and educators to keep children safe; and for this reason, educators understandably worry about giving students internet access. Their concerns include students not using their internet time wisely, students viewing something objectionable, or students not staying focused. But, possibly, their biggest concern is that they will be held accountable for a student's poor choices or worse yet blamed for breached security. This is a fair concern. But, if school districts use effective security tools and have internet use policies that parents and students sign and teachers follow, then that risk is minimal.
My K-8 students are given internet access, but their actions are monitored. When they are on the internet, there is always a purpose. I let my students as young as 5 use the internet, but I certainly do not allow them to surf. My primary students can go only to the sites that I direct them to. Grade 4 and older students are allowed to do searches, but I am monitoring their experience. I am always in the background. If students are looking for resources, they are allowed to search for sites, but they can't bookmark or write down the address until they tell me why they think the link would be useful to their research. If I agree, they may write down the address and a brief description of what the link provides. They also copy address and paste it into their work folder. I have found the act of writing the address in a journal and writing a brief description useful for several reasons: 1) causes student to be more reflective 2) prevents "over collecting bookmarks 3) safeguards research (other students use the computers) 4) reinforces and encourages appropriate way to do research 5) having the bookmarks/research in notebook provides them a place to write their thoughts about the topic throughout the day (sometimes they decide to take a different angle in the middle of the project). Older students are allowed to surf, but their surfing is monitored. Students know that we do check their history and we will enforce our School's AUP. Only one student in 8 years has violated this policy. Students DON'T want their privileges taken away.
My students are given limited access to forums. In other words I closely monitor and direct their conversations. I wouldn't be opposed to letting my students have more control in the future, but I believe the use of social media within an academic setting requires a particular set of skills that my students don't yet have. Of course, many know how to chat, but just chatting without purpose is not appropriate in school. The use of social media in school must always have an instructional purpose. My students need much more guidance in the how and why to use social media. If they had better skills, or were more sophisticated in their understanding of the how and why, I would give them more control. I know of many young students who have these skills. My niece is 10 and writes 2 blogs, has published poetry online, chats on several groups her parents have approved, and texts on her phone. She can use her phone at school. But, her parents understand the importance of carefully monitoring her actions and know how to keep her safe by downloading the security updates that provide maximum protection. Not only are they careful to maintain the security tools, they regularly check her computer history. So, my concern with giving young children free access to internet and all the tools that tap into the internet out-of-school, is that "way too many" parents do not understand their responsibilites in regards to monitoring their children's computer use; and "way too many" children are unsupervised. If parents are incapable of enacting the vigilance needed, then children should not use these devices outside of school.
Internet access and education is essential to ALL Americans that's why libraries offer it. Schools that do not provide internet education or allow students to use social media within a monitored and instructional environment will stunt academic growth in terms of preparing students for future jobs and responsibilities. Using online social media is almost as integral to American culture as internet access---among teens, possibly, more widespread than other age groups. Teens chat, text, tweet, and network via online communities. So, the question of allowing or not allowing, teaching or not teaching, children to use the internet and online social media seems a bit nonsensical. Teens (and many preteens and younger as well) already use these tools; but they need instruction. The questions we should be addressing are how can we minimize risk to our children and how can we teach them to use these tools in ever-more sophisticated ways for learning, producing, and publishing.
Certainly, it is an obligation and moral duty of schools and educators to keep children safe; and for this reason, educators understandably worry about giving students internet access. Their concerns include students not using their internet time wisely, students viewing something objectionable, or students not staying focused. But, possibly, their biggest concern is that they will be held accountable for a student's poor choices or worse yet blamed for breached security. This is a fair concern. But, if school districts use effective security tools and have internet use policies that parents and students sign and teachers follow, then that risk is minimal.
My K-8 students are given internet access, but their actions are monitored. When they are on the internet, there is always a purpose. I let my students as young as 5 use the internet, but I certainly do not allow them to surf. My primary students can go only to the sites that I direct them to. Grade 4 and older students are allowed to do searches, but I am monitoring their experience. I am always in the background. If students are looking for resources, they are allowed to search for sites, but they can't bookmark or write down the address until they tell me why they think the link would be useful to their research. If I agree, they may write down the address and a brief description of what the link provides. They also copy address and paste it into their work folder. I have found the act of writing the address in a journal and writing a brief description useful for several reasons: 1) causes student to be more reflective 2) prevents "over collecting bookmarks 3) safeguards research (other students use the computers) 4) reinforces and encourages appropriate way to do research 5) having the bookmarks/research in notebook provides them a place to write their thoughts about the topic throughout the day (sometimes they decide to take a different angle in the middle of the project). Older students are allowed to surf, but their surfing is monitored. Students know that we do check their history and we will enforce our School's AUP. Only one student in 8 years has violated this policy. Students DON'T want their privileges taken away.
My students are given limited access to forums. In other words I closely monitor and direct their conversations. I wouldn't be opposed to letting my students have more control in the future, but I believe the use of social media within an academic setting requires a particular set of skills that my students don't yet have. Of course, many know how to chat, but just chatting without purpose is not appropriate in school. The use of social media in school must always have an instructional purpose. My students need much more guidance in the how and why to use social media. If they had better skills, or were more sophisticated in their understanding of the how and why, I would give them more control. I know of many young students who have these skills. My niece is 10 and writes 2 blogs, has published poetry online, chats on several groups her parents have approved, and texts on her phone. She can use her phone at school. But, her parents understand the importance of carefully monitoring her actions and know how to keep her safe by downloading the security updates that provide maximum protection. Not only are they careful to maintain the security tools, they regularly check her computer history. So, my concern with giving young children free access to internet and all the tools that tap into the internet out-of-school, is that "way too many" parents do not understand their responsibilites in regards to monitoring their children's computer use; and "way too many" children are unsupervised. If parents are incapable of enacting the vigilance needed, then children should not use these devices outside of school.
Internet access and education is essential to ALL Americans that's why libraries offer it. Schools that do not provide internet education or allow students to use social media within a monitored and instructional environment will stunt academic growth in terms of preparing students for future jobs and responsibilities. Using online social media is almost as integral to American culture as internet access---among teens, possibly, more widespread than other age groups. Teens chat, text, tweet, and network via online communities. So, the question of allowing or not allowing, teaching or not teaching, children to use the internet and online social media seems a bit nonsensical. Teens (and many preteens and younger as well) already use these tools; but they need instruction. The questions we should be addressing are how can we minimize risk to our children and how can we teach them to use these tools in ever-more sophisticated ways for learning, producing, and publishing.
I think it may harm some children to not provide them internet access and opportunities to use social media. Kids that do not have access to internet and social media may feel disenfranchised; and be at-risk of not fitting in, not finding a job, or worse yet vicitmized by hidden internet dangers. Schools simply must supply, teach, and use the tools of 21st century workplace settings. Internet tools and skills have become integral to our society’s functioning, so it is a school responsibility to teach all children to use these tools. The internet and social media tools are required in some workplace settings, and their required use will likely expand rapidly. My daughter works for a company that regularly schedules meetings with co-workers in other parts of the world via internet regularly. They meet in real-time via the internet. Parents and educators should be asking themselves when, where, how, and why students should be taught to use these tools---rather than asking should we use them.
Schools simply must do the best they can to prepare students for the work force and 21st century challenges and this means providing internet instruction and many opportunities to use social media as a part of their academic instruction. Schools, of course, control internet access and make the determination to allow social media and mobile devices; but if society requires their use, why would schools want to ban them? Maybe the "real" problem facing our schools is deciding whether or not to break with the past---deciding whether or not to cut the tether to 20th century principles and models of behavior. I surely understand why this is difficult for some schools. This is in some ways an honorable way to behave and make decisions. Traditionally, schools have addressed their prime responsibility of ensuring student safety and preparing students for adulthood by tapping into the wisdom of previous generations and then shaping that information into decisions that reflect the voices of current leaders. Earlier societies valued inherited wisdom because it was reliable and had stood the test of time; and it's easier to get group consensus when an idea posed does not ask for too much change. Communities and people in general have difficulty accepting change---that too is understandable. When we have no idea what our actions will bring about, it's rather scary to put them into action. Actions that are familiar and reflective of past positive results are much more easily endorsed by a community. But past actions won't prepare children for the future.
Maybe some schools continue to rely on past solutions to help with future decisions because, historically, these solutions were germane to problems the schools faced; but, this is seldom the case today. For most 21st century problems, looking to the past will result in outdated, ineffective, and staid policy. Operating, traditionally, just won't work in the 21st century because change is occurring at unprecedented rates. I don’t mean to imply we should forget about the past. On the contrary, recent technological developments compared to 20th century ideas and solutions offer an interesting, intriguing, and inspiring discussion; but 20th century solutions will not prepare our students for 21st century demands. Clearly, it is understandable why school communities are inclined to cling to the past. The past seems more predictable and orderly. In earlier times, the wisdom and experiences of past generations was confidently used to create to keep our children safe and prepare them for adult challenges. This inherited collective wisdom provided authoritative “black and white” solutions. But, today's students don’t want to be led or protected with black and white authoritative solutions.
Effective and pertinent 21st century schools do not look for guidance in the vestiges of old 20th century thinking, but, rather, to the "new" thinking spawned by internet capabilities. It's true that technology has caused problems that we have yet to solve, but there is no going back. Technology has opened up a Pandora's Box. It has awakened society to problems previously not seen and caused problems we don't not want. But, this "Box" has also unveiled opportunities, endless possibilities, and new ways in which to find solutions. The box cannot be closed or undone. It could be ignored, but that would mean going backward, while most of the world is moving forward rapidly. In just one generation we have acquired the ability for the masses to reach out to other world communities in ways that were unheard of just one generation back. That means our students live in a world vastly different from the world in which their parents lived. The peers of our students will be able to 1) collaborate with citizens all over the world to solve our planet’s mega-problems, such as global warming, extremism, excessive population growth, nuclear weapons, destruction of ocean habitats, starvation, pollution, and worldwide unemployment; 2) devise "new" ways of thinking and problem solving by using ever-more sophisticated technologies; 3) use the internet to access ideas from all over the world in order to generate solutions to daily and common problems; 4) tackle world problems by using information provided by our planet’s best-trained scientists and strategic planners on a regular basis.
Maybe some schools continue to rely on past solutions to help with future decisions because, historically, these solutions were germane to problems the schools faced; but, this is seldom the case today. For most 21st century problems, looking to the past will result in outdated, ineffective, and staid policy. Operating, traditionally, just won't work in the 21st century because change is occurring at unprecedented rates. I don’t mean to imply we should forget about the past. On the contrary, recent technological developments compared to 20th century ideas and solutions offer an interesting, intriguing, and inspiring discussion; but 20th century solutions will not prepare our students for 21st century demands. Clearly, it is understandable why school communities are inclined to cling to the past. The past seems more predictable and orderly. In earlier times, the wisdom and experiences of past generations was confidently used to create to keep our children safe and prepare them for adult challenges. This inherited collective wisdom provided authoritative “black and white” solutions. But, today's students don’t want to be led or protected with black and white authoritative solutions.
Effective and pertinent 21st century schools do not look for guidance in the vestiges of old 20th century thinking, but, rather, to the "new" thinking spawned by internet capabilities. It's true that technology has caused problems that we have yet to solve, but there is no going back. Technology has opened up a Pandora's Box. It has awakened society to problems previously not seen and caused problems we don't not want. But, this "Box" has also unveiled opportunities, endless possibilities, and new ways in which to find solutions. The box cannot be closed or undone. It could be ignored, but that would mean going backward, while most of the world is moving forward rapidly. In just one generation we have acquired the ability for the masses to reach out to other world communities in ways that were unheard of just one generation back. That means our students live in a world vastly different from the world in which their parents lived. The peers of our students will be able to 1) collaborate with citizens all over the world to solve our planet’s mega-problems, such as global warming, extremism, excessive population growth, nuclear weapons, destruction of ocean habitats, starvation, pollution, and worldwide unemployment; 2) devise "new" ways of thinking and problem solving by using ever-more sophisticated technologies; 3) use the internet to access ideas from all over the world in order to generate solutions to daily and common problems; 4) tackle world problems by using information provided by our planet’s best-trained scientists and strategic planners on a regular basis.
Keeping our children safe and preparing them for the future should be a primary concern of our nation’s schools, but, so too, should preparing them for their future. The ways in which schools carry out this mission today must be reflective and responsive to 21st century technologies and challenges. Schools CAN provide students access to the internet, allow them to collaborate with others online, and keep them safe. The following statements might help schools that have not yet made the decision to provide students access to the internet and social media:
- School policy regularly updated will reflect the latest technical and security information from experts.
- Security tools monitored by the best available technical and security experts will provide maximum protection.
- The probability of students interacting with objectionable sites can be minimized through the creation of safe-use policies and the enforcement of these standards of behavior.
- Teaching students how to be savvy users of information taken from the internet will likely transfer to other academic research settings.
- Providing students internet education and instruction on how to use online social media sites to collaborate and solve “real” problems will prepare them for 21st workplace environments.
- Using the internet for research and instructing students on how to find reliable sources of information may make them more aware of the false statements published and unsubstantiated claims made by people, politicians, groups, and organizations.
- Requiring students to use internet to justify their opinions may make them more astute in their problem solving methods and better informed of their biases.
Can we keep our children safe on the internet? We cannot eliminate all internet danger that is why we have to have school internet policy, guidelines and warnings for parents, laws that govern what children can and cannot sign up for, and many levels of security; but, yes, we can keep our children safe, if we provide internet education, monitor their internet activities, enforce internet use policies, and use the most uptodate security software available.
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