Talking about online safety is the first step to create a safe and friendly environment for students to learn and collaborate. As stated by Muthler (2015) “Schools can open conversations about online safety so that students learn to set personal boundaries and feel more comfortable reporting incidents like bullying and harassment.” As a teacher when starting out a new school year, you spend the beginning part of the year going over procedures and rules for classroom routines. Without that time students would not know what the expectations were and there would be chaos. The same should stand for students and learning to work online safely. If students are not taught procedures and rules for online collaborations then how are they expected to do the right thing? It is a teachers job to have conversations and set boundaries about internet safety with the students.
Resources for Online Safety
One great resource that is useful in learning about internet safety is called Student Safeline. This site talks about how to be safe on computers, social networks, and cell phones. Student Safeline also has contests that students can enter to show what they know about internet safety. This site also provides a number that students and parents can call if they feel unsafe online. Student Safeline (2015) states that students, “ may not realize that internet images are very difficult to recover, or that their peers can forward emails and texts faster than lightning.” (p. 1). The tip to teach students about the internet is that once they put something online, it always follows them. Students should be aware that just because they delete something from their page does not mean that it is removed from every aspect of the internet. To safeguard themselves they should be careful as to what they post online but also make sure that their accounts are set to private so that it is harder to access their information.
Another resource that can be useful to parents and teachers about online safety is a government site called Parent Link. There is a myriad of safety tips on this site, but one of the pages is about Cyber-safety. The main idea of this website is to educate parents on online resources that students have access to. This site can be a great tool for teachers as well. Parent link (2017) makes an excellent point about technology saying, “Whatever your views about online technology, it is important to realize it is very much part of children’s ‘real world’” (p.1). Teachers and parents can be oblivious to what their students are doing online. Many times students know more about technology than adults do. The fact that students know more about technology than adults is a sign that as educators we need to be knowledgeable about resources online and how they work so that we can monitor behavior and hold students accountable.
The last resource and in my opinion the most useful of all of the resources is called GCF Global LearnFree.org. This site provides online learning about internet safety. It is an online course for parents and educators to teach them how to keep their kids safe online. GCF’s training course (2015) provides information on teaching kids about internet safety, staying safe from online predators, cyber-bullying and cyber-harassment, using social networks safely, understanding file sharing networks, mobile device safety, and resources (p.1). Educators and parents can take the self-guided course to learn about the categories and how they can prevent problems for their students online. There is also a quiz that they can take when they are finished. One of the most useful aspects of this site is the fact that it gives parents and educators tips on how they can help students with specific problems online and it tells you to make sure that students are comfortable coming to you about issues online. Many times students have a gut feeling that something is wrong but they do not tell anyone, so they put themselves in a dangerous situation.
Artifact
The tool that I used this week is called Piktochart. I thought this tool was straightforward to use and a fun way to show information. My example was an info-graphic about ‘Ways to Stop Cyberbullying.’ When I decided to do an infographic, I went to a few other websites before Piktochart, and they were more difficult to use. Once I got to Piktochart, I found it user-friendly and I was able to quickly pick a template and move objects/add pictures and information. I wanted to get the point across in a simple way and using this tool helped me accomplish my goal.
Piktochart would be a great way to support students with diverse learning needs. For one, it is an excellent visual. Many students are visual learners. With Piktochart, you can add images that relate to words to help students not only read the information but see it too. The whole point of using this tool is to show information using graphics. Students would benefit from learning using pictures to help them understand a topic. You can also add graphs to help students better understand information. This website is an excellent tool for differentiation. It could also be useful for gifted students. The students could create their own Picktochart as an extension of their project. It would be a great way to have students create something creative and to take it a step further than just writing a paper or creating a poster. Students would be engaged and show what they know uniquely with a product that they would be proud of.
To me, there is no limit to where technology can take education. There are always new and innovative ways to create and display information using online tools. The next step for Web 2.0 is Web 3.0 which is taking all technology resources a step further. Students will have less complicated ways to access technology in schools and technology will be used as an everyday tool for students. One resource that gave me a greater understanding of Web 3.0 compared to Web 2.0 was from Power’s blog post about how Web 3.0 will affect education:
Challenges with the Future of Technology
Even though tools are growing and changing to a new environment for students to explore and create there can be many challenges that go along with a new way of learning. There will probably be a lot of push back from people in the community who do not see the benefit in using technology in schools. Many people at my school alone have mentioned that they do not want their students to use as much technology because for one, they don’t want their students to become addicted and two, they do not want their students to lose penmanship. If students are on devices or typing all of the time when doing assignments, they will be writing less. Handwriting can suffer from this.
Advantages of the Future of Technology
Challenges go along with anything that is new, but we have to overcome those obstacles to see the benefits. Technology is a great way to encourage students to explore and problem solve. Students will be able to collaborate with not just students in their classroom but all around the world to learn new information. They can use what they know to solve problems that are more complex. I also think a huge advantage of Web 3.0 is that not only can teachers communicate with students but students can communicate with teachers online. The two-way collaboration is vital in learning and understanding content.
Resources
ACT Government: Parent Link. (2017). Cyber Safety. Retrieved from https://www.parentlink.act.gov.au/parenting-resources/parenting-guides/adult-issues/cyber-safety
GCF LearnFree.org. (2015). Internet Safety for Kids. Retrieved from https://www.gcflearnfree.org/internetsafetyforkids/
Muthler, S. (2015). Online Safety: A Teacher’s Guide to Dealing with Cyberbullying, Sexting, and Student Privacy. Retrieved from http://www.edudemic.com/the-teachers-guide-to-keeping-students-safe-online/
Powers, K. (2014). What is Web 3.0 and How Might it Affect Education? Retrieved from https://ed4online.com/blog/what-web-30-and-how-might-it-affect-education
Student Safeline. (2015). SAFE Technology. Retrieved from http://studentsafeline.org/for-parents/safe-technology/