What are some of the issues you have faced with your students on Internet Safety and Copyright violations? How are you teaching your students to address these issues?
I currently teach third Grade and monitor their usage very closely. Some are just learning to search the Internet. But there are some who are pros at searching to find what interests them.
Every year, my parents and students sign usage forms that are included in our Rules and Regulations handbook. They are to tear out the agreement pages and send them both back signed by the parent and the student.
Internet safety is more of a concern than Copyright violations. When some of my students receive “free time”, they immediately go to a known game site. At times, there will be different windows that will pop up to request information or to have them install various things. They each know to never click on any windows that pop up. We cannot set the pop up blocker due to WVWrites. They don’t intentionally wander onto bad sites, but if they are talking and not paying attention, they can mistakenly click on a bad site.
An issue that we have faced school-wide at the middle and high school level is cyber bullying. As stated in the Microsoft safety article, this problem often continues due to the generational gap between today’s children and their parents/teachers. Cyber bullying was not something that most adults faced as children and therefore it is often overlooked as a pressing concern. In the rural community where I teach, many adults are just learning how to use internet communication and cannot understand how their children can be facing such harsh bullying, often from people they don’t even know. Last year we took on a school-wide initiative to inform the parents/guardians of our students about cyber bullying, how it happens, and how it can be prevented. I truly believe that parents are the first line of defense against these harmful acts. We needed to start by teaching parents how to block/control the “cyber lives” of their children. Of course, it is impossible to expect every parent to take the time to learn and use these systems. We have also banned the use of cell phones and any other electronic device that can be used to contact other students during school hours. All social networking sites are blocked on our internet which prevents the bullying during school hours. Unfortunately, almost every incident occurs after school and I am not sure what measures we can take as teachers beyond informing the parents. I often ask my students to research or write about scientific information and copyright issues are a large part of that. At the beginning of every year I do a presentation for the students on plagiarism and how to appropriately cite a source. Of course, this alone does not prevent them from trying to “copy and paste” information or take pictures from a site with no credit given. At the bottom of every research project outline I include a “reminder” about where/how to cite sources. Students are constantly reminded that plagiarism results in a “0” for that assignment. A few students always earn this grade at first but then everyone learns from it!
I totally agree with you Helen about safety being more of a concern than copyright, at least for me - especially for my younger students.
Students love to explore, but teaching them how to explore the internet is important to me, how to do safe searches and such.
I start working more about copyright with my older students because they tend to want to find the easy way out and just copy and paste information instead of reading information and developing their own opinions and compiling their own work.
Although I love the internet and that I can find just about anything at the drop of the hat.
I do have my fears with students and their safety on the internet. I think teaching internet safety is important at all ages, but teaching students young and modeling proper internet safety may follow a student throughout life. The following quote caught my eye in the reading:
“Parents need to understand that when you’re giving kids a computer or smartphone screen, you’re opening them up to an entire world,But, if you’re teaching them how to behave and engage and be kind and respectful and be responsible for their actions in this world, then that will carry over into their digital world if you make the link that the two are the same.” - Laura Banks from the article "Helping Keep Children Safe online"
Cyber bullying also scares me for our youth because I know people who have been bullied online and it affects everyone differently.
Copyright laws I often find difficult to understand because it isn't friendly language for most people. I loved the sites that broke copyright down into kid friendly terms - it also made it make more sense to me.
I teach first grade so my main concern is with safety, not copyright. I have specific sites that my students can use and that's it. They will often laugh at a picture on the screen when I pull up Weather Bug or a site that I put up on the smartboard. But I really have not had any issues thus far in 3 years of teaching first grade. Unfortunately it is really easy to get sidetracked to other inappropriate sites so you have to be super careful.
I took a cyber safety course last year and throughout it, I created a blog addressing various issues found under the umbrella of cyber safety. I would like to present this blog to my classes and discuss the various issues. Some of the issues that would be addressed are: cyber intrusions; spam and scams; copyright, fair use, and illegal downloading; social networking; and rights, risks, and responsibilities. Within each page of the blog are various examples, resources, and information about each area. I also have a quiz at the end as a form of assessment. I would like to include all of this in a mini-workshop at the intro of my lesson on alternative energy sources. Also included in this blog is an overview of my school's AUP and the link to the WVDE's AUP.
I do not have a current internet safety plan since I am not currently in a classroom. If I were teaching I would monitor student's activity on the internet. I would preview sites to make sure they were appropriate before asking students to explore them. I would use the interactive sites to introduse and help explain the copyright violations.
Issues at my school are usually with the more tech savvy students who have found out how to bypass the filtering process. This allows them to acces their social networking sites, email and game sites that are normally blocked. Other issues have been in the form of malicious attacks on our network, shutting down computers and labs. The savvy students share with the not so savvy students and then they know enough to cause alot of trouble. Cyberbullying is another issue that usually starts at home and ends up being a problem at school. We have a class scheduled with the state police teaching it the semester. I think active monitoring of computer usage is the best method of insuring student safety, after of course some sort of trainig prior to use. TechSteps has a good program to teach internet safety. However, it is not foolproof or totally safe. I think the students should be prepared for these times and a teacher should cover how these situations will be handled when they arise.
I agree with Stacey in that there is a generation gap between students with their teachers and parents regarding internet usage. Somehow there needs to be more information for parents and grandparents so they are aware and understand the dangers of cyberbullying, posting personal information, photos and even clicking on links that don't appear suspicious.
My current plan for addressing internet safety and copyright issues involves several areas of focus. First, I try to reinforce the school’s AUP and review its expectations when needed. Second, I try to help my students make good choices by discussing potential risks, how to identify and avoid them, and most importantly, how to ask for help when problems arise.
I’ve already encountered plagiarism and copyright issues in the classroom this year. Even though we’ve discussed it and they’re aware of the consequences, it still happens. This is an area that I definitely need to put more emphasis on and find ways to relate the message on a more personal level. I’ve already picked up several great ideas from our class discussion so far this week!
Stacey, I agree with your thoughts on cyber bullying. Just this year, our school also banned the use of cell phones or other electronic devices during the school day. Although it has greatly cut down on a lot of the issues we faced last year, there's still so much that goes on outside of the school day that we have no control over.
I currently do not have a classroom but if I did teach a Kindergarten class, prior to learning about these wonderful resources, I probably would have a filter on the computers that the students use and closely monitor their usage. I do not think I would have much trouble with copyright but would reinforce the idea that you can not take credit for someone else's work whether it is someone in your class or someone who showed their work online.
As I read down the blogs I liked the quote that Tina Picked up on: “Parents need to understand that when you’re giving kids a computer or smartphone screen, you’re opening them up to an entire world,But, if you’re teaching them how to behave and engage and be kind and respectful and be responsible for their actions in this world, then that will carry over into their digital world if you make the link that the two are the same.” - Laura Banks from the article "Helping Keep Children Safe online"
My thoughts are that we need to really think along the lines of values and character traits. We need to know what is there that can injure and hurt our children and warn and protect them.Things that are wrong are just that. Yes there are new ways to harm,lie,steal,hurt and create havoc with in the social system we live. The use of technology is just the new means of doing all that. Making fun of the weaker slower boy at the bus stop has just moved up to doing it on a social site. A false rumor about someones character.Promoting a product that is not what it should be and selling it is dishonest. Do not go in the old abandoned building it is unsafe.You just now have your license so drive slow. You boys are not allowed in the pool hall they serve beer in there. ( Yes, 16 years old ,and the name of it was the Idle Hour, go figure that one!)As we use technology in the classroom and life we have to also teach values use a moral guide as to work in society. We need not take away the technology but make consequences for those whom are unwilling to obey the rules as set by society.
On another note a really good read on bullying is The Wounded Spirit by Frank Peretti If you teach in high or middle school give it a look.
Discuss your present plan for student safety on the Internet and for teaching students responsibility for safety and copyright issues.
When using the internet, I usually use my class set of netbooks. To make sure students are where they need to be, students have to sit facing the back of the room so that I can see what is on their computer screens from my desk. Also, when working on a project, students are assigned a netbook and are required to use that computer for the duration of the project. The one thing I haven't done that was a suggestion in one of the articles, is regularly check the history on the netbooks. This is something that I will start doing at the beginning of each class. Students and parents sign an AUP at the beginning of the year and this information is included in the student info section Grade Quick. I have this info selected to view so that I know who can and can't use the internet.
As far as copyright issues go, I require students to cite their sources for any project that we do. I also, like some of the others have mentioned, have students who want to copy and paste, sometimes their entire project. I have given students zeros for this and I have gotten the argument...well, I cited my sources....as if citing equals being able to copy everything. I try to address this issue with each project and discuss the consequences but you still get those who think they are going to get away with it or who just don't care whether or not they receive poor grade.
I have had to deal with both safety and copywrite infringment as teacher and mom.
As far as safety--that is scariest. When my girl was small a predator called our house and asked for her. She was probably 9 (she gave her phone number and city on an internet game) and a man (he sounded about (50 to 60) called and was talking to her on the telephone. I was a maniac and called the police but was offered very little assistance (they told me I was at fault). We thought we disciplined the children and explained the dangers. A year later a teenage boy called our house from Georgia. At that point we took our daughter off all technology. I still worry. The internet is a dangerous place. At this point most of us are financially tied up online through shopping, billing, and banking. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable. I feel that in a way we are putting all of our eggs in one basket and it could wind up destroying us.
My students steal "words" from the Internet. They steal phrases/sentences/ideas/paragraphs and some of them don't get it. They think that if they change a comma or one word it is original work. We explain the rules. I have actually showed my students on the whiteboard the way English teachers look up phrases and identify plagiarism. I tell them stealing in this way comes with serious consequences.
Our schools require signed forms warning of consequences for illegal use of the internet.
When we are in the lab we sit in the middle of the room or the back of the room so that we can see all of the monitors at once because to tell you the truth we just don't trust them(with regard to getting on certain sites). Rose
Discuss your present plan for student safety on the Internet and for teaching students responsibility for safety and copyright issues.
My current plan as a substitute teacher is to walk around and monitor student online activity, reminding them to be on "approved" websites and not social sites or games (except educational game websites). I do make students (generally this is high school students) turn off their computers or monitors if they are not cooperating. Most stay on task (or at least when I walk near). I am hopeful the filters the schools have in place at least block out pornographic websites, which I consider the "worst case" scenario. Thank goodness I haven't seen any examples of this.
As far as copyright issues, I remind students if they are working on research to give credit to the author and website. Now I have some additional resources to assist them in citing works, such as: http://www.easybib.com/ it will hopefully encourage more compliance with copyright responsibility.
My school’s present plan for student safety on the Internet involves the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), Internet filtering, monitoring software, mentoring lessons, and individual teachers’ lessons.
Before any student obtains a user account at our school, they and their parents must sign the AUP, which is modeled on WVDE Policy 2460. Freshmen mentoring (homeroom) teachers review this with student on the first day of school. When students violate the AUP, they lose their account privileges for a specific period of time, which varies depending on the offense and the number of violations.
Our district technology department also filters our Internet, blocking many of the sites that violate the AUP such as social networking and chat sites. A few teachers in our school have AB Tutor software, which allows the teacher to see the monitor of every student computer in the computer labs. This software allows the monitoring teacher to send messages to the students, to close their windows, and to shut down a student’s computer. The teacher can also see the students’ usernames so that disciplinary action can be taken when necessary.
At least once a year, mentoring (homeroom) teachers discuss cyber bullying with students, and we also have a district-wide harassment policy that’s strictly enforced and includes cyber bullying—even when not committed on campus. Other individual teachers also work with students on Internet safety issues, but this is really of their own choosing. When I work with students in the computer lab on research skills, I usually talk a bit about reading alerts and messages, being cautious of downloading, determining the owner of a site and/or the reliability of a site, and understanding where links send users. Students get really lost by blindly clicking links.
We don’t really have too many issues with students trying to access social networking sites from their computers because they use their phones to do this. They know that we cannot filter the Internet access on their phones. Our biggest issues with computers involve students bringing infected files to school on their memory sticks and students slowing down the network by playing online games that use too much bandwidth. They’re not permitted to do this, but unfortunately some teachers don’t monitor students in the lab or don’t care if students play games.
As far as copyright is concerned, our teachers are much more involved. When students violate our plagiarism policy, they receive a zero on the assignment plus three days of after-school detention for the first offense. Multiple offenses incur higher levels of discipline. Some teachers do allow students to re-do plagiarized assignments if the student hasn’t had prior offenses.
Although the English department spends more time than others on teaching students how to avoid plagiarism and how to document sources properly, most teachers do require student to cite their sources for any projects. When I work with students on research projects, we always discuss proper documentation. On my library web site, I have information on how to document a variety of sources, and I’ve also created a guide to using digital images. This is where we have the most problems, as students and even some teachers don’t enforce proper use of images found online. Students think that they can use any image they find online for any reason. They do not care that the owners of some images have clearly stated that their images are not available for re-use or that they may only be used if attributed. We also have problems with students understanding the true meaning of plagiarism. They cite sources, but they still plagiarize because they copy the information nearly verbatim, changing only one or two words. They don’t properly paraphrase or summarize.
I’d like to see our students use the TechSteps Internet safety lessons. Right now, no one is responsible for teaching them.
I'm not currently employed, but if I were working as a school counselor I would definitely conduct classroom guidance lessons on Internet safety. These sessions would focus on appropriate vs. inappropriate conduct, contact, and content. Of course, cyberbullying would be a large focus of the lessons. I would also host an evening session for parents and provide them with information on what they can do to protect their children while online. When using social networking sites for example, parents should remind their kids that once they post information online, they can't take it back. They can also use privacy settings to restrict who can access and post on their child's profile, and they should review their child's friends list. Parents and teachers should use security software and update it regularly, and they should also regularly check out sites that kids visit.
As far as copyright issues, I think the interactive activities included in this week's session would be great to use with students.
As a 7th grade teacher, copyright is more of an issue for me in the day-to-day, but I definitely worry about my kids online. While I do not shy them away from social media, I have certainly seen the downsides of it. The best way I control the situation in the classroom is to make sure I am constantly monitoring. I can usually catch a kid within a minute or two of getting on an inappropriate site, and then that interaction trickles down to the rest of the class. The school's network shuts out 99% of the really bad websites. I also warn them about online predators and that posting something online is often permanent.
For copyright, I teach it like any other lesson through modeling. I cite teaching books that I am reading which spawned lesson ideas. I also talk about the practical strategy of using a good quote to take up space on an essay they don't feel like writing. Show me the college student that hasn't benefited from knowing how to cite their sources. :-)
Our school has a student use policy that must be signed at the beginning of each year by student and guardian. Other than that, my students are only allowed to go to the sites that we are using for the current activity. Because I teach math, there is no browsing where the student is free to go to different web sites. As far as copyright goes; it's not really an issue for me. We don't do research projects in math class, so I have not yet had to deal with this.
Our school's current student user policy is reviewed and discussed each year at open house and the first week of school. Our teachers and especially our librarian does a great job making sure each student has an acceptable user policy signed by the student and parent prior to logging onto the computer/ internet.
The librarian meets with each class in the library at the beginning of the school to review and discuss acceptable internet usage and behavior.
The English department goes more in-depth with copyright information. Each english teacher will review this information with their students.
It seems that encouraging students to respect copyrighted material and to be careful about what they publish on the Web must be an ongoing lesson. Our students and parents annually sign the county’s “Acceptable Use Policy”. Our media specialists will continually present Internet safety trainings with students, teachers, and parents. Each time, privacy is stressed, and examples are given. Each lesson is a “teachable moment”. Students may raise their hands about a pop-up, or ask what to do when email addresses or full names are asked for. It is then that we are able to really put into action the lessons on Internet safety that we have implemented.
As far as I'm concerned, the technology agreement that is sent home and signed by parent, student, then back to the teacher is taken a little too lightly, at least in my experience. As I mentioned in the post, it seems to be just another document that needs to be signed and filed. I think some extra initiative is needed in this case. Perhaps, one could take a moment to explore some scenarios at the beginning of the year that could reinforce how serious internet policy should be taken. There's a lot to gain through some of the horrific things that have happened through, for example, cyber bullying. I have seen many programs on television that have shown the effects and end results of cyber bullying. A scare tactic maybe, but students can be very motivated through some of these emotional videos. I think about my fifth graders moving up to middle school where cyber bullying is much more prevalent. Also, parental involvement is key. There has been a technological revolution over the past 15-20 years; most parents aren't aware of how powerful the internet can be. But, how do we achieve this? Parent/student workshops after school sound like the most practical way. County school systems should be obligated to set some time and money away for this. Many parents, at least where I live, don't have internet access at home, so school computer labs would be perfect for this. Teaching in an elementary school, I am not faced with many issues on internet safety, but we all know how danger can escalate as kids grow older. One problem that I can say I've had to deal with is the use of research in student projects, especially searching for pictures. Looking for pictures on Google can get a little dicey, and my kids have ran across some things that the filters couldn't catch. In this case, we pick specific days to do picture searches in which, I heavily monitor, but more than that, I urge my students to be very specific when typing in their search. I tell them to: ask yourself if this is too broad of a search, ask yourself-what am I specifically looking for. Now, copyright violations have been an issue since before the internet has been used as a tool for research. I remember growing up, not feeling comfortable using something that someone else created. I didn't know how to properly cite anything until high school. As I mentioned in my post, I really liked the interactive site (Cyberbee) that explained all the ins and outs of using copyrighted material. It was clear and understandable fundamentally. I quickly bookmarked the site. I'll be introducing it to my students this week. I also liked the 'Kindergarten Copyright' reading, in one area, the site offered a breakdown on each component of the MLA style of citing a book, this is a perfect template to introduce before jumping into a research project! The site also explained the steps to take in gathering pictures and sound from the web, which was very helpful.
My present plan for student safety on the internet is to always be aware of what the students are viewing online. Most sites that are inappropriate for the students are bloked my the county so they can not even veiw the site. At the beginning of the year each student and parent must sign the schools Acceptable Internet Use Policy, which explains the rules and regulations for the students to follow while using the school network. I let the students know what is acceptable and what is not and that the internet should be used for school purposes only.
The biggest problem I have with my 4th Graders isn't in the classroom or school regarding internet usuage or cyberbullying. The issues generally carry over from outside the school setting. "Such and such said lastnight...."
Regarding internet copyright, the biggest issue is with artwork, clipart, pictures, etc. I agree, they are so readily available that students do not think they are doing anything wrong. It is our responsibility to teach them that everything out there belongs to someone.
I plan to remind / or educate my students on Cyber safety and the issues we have discussed in this class. Thankfully, I work with students one on one - so monitoring their internet use will be quite easy in my situation.
At our school, students are not permitted to use cell phones AT ALL - not at lunch or between classes. The rules are strictly enforced and there was good reason to incorporate the rule because there was misuse as well as "sexting" going on frequently during school hours. The first year I taught middle school, I was pretty much in shock the whole time! I had no idea what kids this age are aware of. But I think we are all getting a reality check these days and realize it is vital to monitor internet use for many reasons.
As I mentioned in my post during the discussions, our school recently attended a presentation of Cyber Safety and the affects of Cyber Bullying. It is a great way to get the word out ther and remind students and teachers of how to use the internet properly. Its a program from the WVU Extension office - there are probably more programs out there just like this one. Because the students could relate to real people who live in neighboring schools and were victims of cyberbullying - it really hit home and made sense to them. Its often hard to find a way for students at middle school age to realize these things can happen to them, not just a stranger in New York or Chicago - it happens right here.
Every student and teacher at my school is required to sign an AUP before having access to the computers. Students take their AUP home and parents have to sign it as well. In an elementary school I think the biggest copyright issue we face is using copyrighted pictures. Students go to google and search for images for reports and dont worry about copy right policies. They dont realize that they are "stealing" someone property. In order to try to keep this from happening if we are working on a report that will require images, I create a list of websites where students and find images that they have permission to use. I like websites such as flickr storm that use creative commons licensed images that they can use for projects. Other issues such as cyberbullying is an issue that needs to be addressed early in the school year. Our school counselor goes to classrooms and talks about cyberbullying and we also completed the tech steps that address cyber bully issues.
Internet Safety is really something that should be addressed to students at the beginning of the school year. The first day of school, students in my class were sent home with a technology safety form that they had to sign along with their parents. If this form was not returned, students were NOT permitted to use the computers under any circumstances.
Each time we begin something new on the internet, computer safety is once again reviewed. I think their are so many dangerous avenues students could stumble upon, that you cannot teach safety enough. In my class, even with searches, I make sure to monitor students so that they are on appropriate websites. Sometimes students in my class use computers for recess and want to play games. My rule is they can only play games with some kind of educational value, i.e. - math, spelling, etc.
Students also were sent home with an email form for their parents to fill out once students were assigned with their own email address. THere were also rules that students have to abide by in order to utilize the internet.
I have gone over Copyright issues with my students, but it does not seem to be as big of an issue. I just relate copyright infringement to plagarism and it being illegal and students understand that completely.
I like to share some real life scenarios that have been in the news regarding internet safety and responsible use of the internet. I think that hearing real issues helps to make the seriousness and consequences more real to students. I think it is also important to get students to understand that once something is posted on the internet that it is basically impossible to make it go away. Students often do not understand the ramifications of what they post in the internet and how it can effect others as well as themselves. I think that giving students viable sites and resources that contain images and music that are free for reuse is one of the best ways to get students to follow copyright laws. Students often use copyrighted materials because it is the easiest thing to do and they don't know how to properly distinguish between copyright and free use materials and do not know where to find material that can be reused legally.
I will have my students take home and sign a technology agreement at the beginning of the year. Since they aren't the best at reading things, and will most likely just sign the paper, I will make sure to do a lesson with them before our first trip to the lab. In this lesson I will present copyright specific to the art world, and make known how important it is to cite artworks.
When it comes to student safety/cyber bullying, I have little experience mostly because all social networks are blocked in the schools I teach. I am sure the students can find a way around this in certain cases, so it will definitely be discussed in class prior to computer use.
One way that our school protects with interet safety is that we have 'favorites' bars set up for each class. If the site isn't in the favorites list then they may not go to it. Of course, you always have the stray student who types in a site anyway. This is where our computer lab setup helps. We have our lab set up in a U shape with the teachers desk at the top of the U. At a glance, you can see if the student is not on the site that we are working on. Also, our school has a pretty tight filter on and many of the sites that students would typically go to are locked. The main thing for me is to constantly be monitoring and looking over shoulders. If students know you are right there, they tend to 'keep their nose clean' when it comes to straying from the work at hand. As far as the copy right issues go, I always repeat what I expect as far as using pics, quotes and songs. But I do like the article that we read about copy right issues and intend to share it with my class before we begin a few upcoming tech projects that I have planned.
I am not in a school system and have not been for a while but I do know a little about Internet safety. Years ago, I became involved with an online charity. I really enjoyed what I was doing. After a few weeks of involvement, a police officer came to my door. My rights were read and I was interigated. The charity was fraudulant. I was found innocent. I truly learned a lesson. Internet safety is not a game.
36 comments:
What are some of the issues you have faced with your students on Internet Safety and Copyright violations? How are you teaching your students to address these issues?
I currently teach third Grade and monitor their usage very closely. Some are just learning to search the Internet. But there are some who are pros at searching to find what interests them.
Every year, my parents and students sign usage forms that are included in our Rules and Regulations handbook. They are to tear out the agreement pages and send them both back signed by the parent and the student.
Internet safety is more of a concern than Copyright violations. When some of my students receive “free time”, they immediately go to a known game site. At times, there will be different windows that will pop up to request information or to have them install various things. They each know to never click on any windows that pop up. We cannot set the pop up blocker due to WVWrites. They don’t intentionally wander onto bad sites, but if they are talking and not paying attention, they can mistakenly click on a bad site.
An issue that we have faced school-wide at the middle and high school level is cyber bullying. As stated in the Microsoft safety article, this problem often continues due to the generational gap between today’s children and their parents/teachers. Cyber bullying was not something that most adults faced as children and therefore it is often overlooked as a pressing concern. In the rural community where I teach, many adults are just learning how to use internet communication and cannot understand how their children can be facing such harsh bullying, often from people they don’t even know. Last year we took on a school-wide initiative to inform the parents/guardians of our students about cyber bullying, how it happens, and how it can be prevented. I truly believe that parents are the first line of defense against these harmful acts. We needed to start by teaching parents how to block/control the “cyber lives” of their children. Of course, it is impossible to expect every parent to take the time to learn and use these systems. We have also banned the use of cell phones and any other electronic device that can be used to contact other students during school hours. All social networking sites are blocked on our internet which prevents the bullying during school hours. Unfortunately, almost every incident occurs after school and I am not sure what measures we can take as teachers beyond informing the parents.
I often ask my students to research or write about scientific information and copyright issues are a large part of that. At the beginning of every year I do a presentation for the students on plagiarism and how to appropriately cite a source. Of course, this alone does not prevent them from trying to “copy and paste” information or take pictures from a site with no credit given. At the bottom of every research project outline I include a “reminder” about where/how to cite sources. Students are constantly reminded that plagiarism results in a “0” for that assignment. A few students always earn this grade at first but then everyone learns from it!
I totally agree with you Helen about safety being more of a concern than copyright, at least for me - especially for my younger students.
Students love to explore, but teaching them how to explore the internet is important to me, how to do safe searches and such.
I start working more about copyright with my older students because they tend to want to find the easy way out and just copy and paste information instead of reading information and developing their own opinions and compiling their own work.
Although I love the internet and that I can find just about anything at the drop of the hat.
I do have my fears with students and their safety on the internet. I think teaching internet safety is important at all ages, but teaching students young and modeling proper internet safety may follow a student throughout life. The following quote caught my eye in the reading:
“Parents need to understand that when you’re giving kids a computer or smartphone screen, you’re opening them up to an entire world,But, if you’re teaching them how to behave and engage and be kind and respectful and be responsible for their actions in this world, then that will carry over into their digital world if you make the link that the two are the same.” - Laura Banks from the article "Helping Keep Children Safe online"
Cyber bullying also scares me for our youth because I know people who have been bullied online and it affects everyone differently.
Copyright laws I often find difficult to understand because it isn't friendly language for most people. I loved the sites that broke copyright down into kid friendly terms - it also made it make more sense to me.
I teach first grade so my main concern is with safety, not copyright. I have specific sites that my students can use and that's it. They will often laugh at a picture on the screen when I pull up Weather Bug or a site that I put up on the smartboard. But I really have not had any issues thus far in 3 years of teaching first grade. Unfortunately it is really easy to get sidetracked to other inappropriate sites so you have to be super careful.
I took a cyber safety course last year and throughout it, I created a blog addressing various issues found under the umbrella of cyber safety. I would like to present this blog to my classes and discuss the various issues. Some of the issues that would be addressed are: cyber intrusions; spam and scams; copyright, fair use, and illegal downloading; social networking; and rights, risks, and responsibilities. Within each page of the blog are various examples, resources, and information about each area. I also have a quiz at the end as a form of assessment. I would like to include all of this in a mini-workshop at the intro of my lesson on alternative energy sources. Also included in this blog is an overview of my school's AUP and the link to the WVDE's AUP.
I do not have a current internet safety plan since I am not currently in a classroom. If I were teaching I would monitor student's activity on the internet. I would preview sites to make sure they were appropriate before asking students to explore them. I would use the interactive sites to introduse and help explain the copyright violations.
Issues at my school are usually with the more tech savvy students who have found out how to bypass the filtering process. This allows them to acces their social networking sites, email and game sites that are normally blocked. Other issues have been in the form of malicious attacks on our network, shutting down computers and labs. The savvy students share with the not so savvy students and then they know enough to cause alot of trouble. Cyberbullying is another issue that usually starts at home and ends up being a problem at school. We have a class scheduled with the state police teaching it the semester. I think active monitoring of computer usage is the best method of insuring student safety, after of course some sort of trainig prior to use. TechSteps has a good program to teach internet safety. However, it is not foolproof or totally safe. I think the students should be prepared for these times and a teacher should cover how these situations will be handled when they arise.
I agree with Stacey in that there is a generation gap between students with their teachers and parents regarding internet usage. Somehow there needs to be more information for parents and grandparents so they are aware and understand the dangers of cyberbullying, posting personal information, photos and even clicking on links that don't appear suspicious.
My current plan for addressing internet safety and copyright issues involves several areas of focus. First,
I try to reinforce the school’s AUP and review its expectations when needed. Second, I try to help my students make good choices by discussing potential risks, how to identify and avoid them, and most importantly, how to ask for help when problems arise.
I’ve already encountered plagiarism and copyright issues in the classroom this year. Even though we’ve discussed it and they’re aware of the consequences, it still happens. This is an area that I definitely need to put more emphasis on and find ways to relate the message on a more personal level. I’ve already picked up several great ideas from our class discussion so far this week!
Stacey,
I agree with your thoughts on cyber bullying. Just this year, our school also banned the use of cell phones or other electronic devices during the school day. Although it has greatly cut down on a lot of the issues we faced last year, there's still so much that goes on outside of the school day that we have no control over.
I currently do not have a classroom but if I did teach a Kindergarten class, prior to learning about these wonderful resources, I probably would have a filter on the computers that the students use and closely monitor their usage. I do not think I would have much trouble with copyright but would reinforce the idea that you can not take credit for someone else's work whether it is someone in your class or someone who showed their work online.
As I read down the blogs I liked the quote that Tina Picked up on:
“Parents need to understand that when you’re giving kids a computer or smartphone screen, you’re opening them up to an entire world,But, if you’re teaching them how to behave and engage and be kind and respectful and be responsible for their actions in this world, then that will carry over into their digital world if you make the link that the two are the same.” - Laura Banks from the article "Helping Keep Children Safe online"
My thoughts are that we need to really think along the lines of values and character traits. We need to know what is there that can injure and hurt our children and warn and protect them.Things that are wrong are just that. Yes there are new ways to harm,lie,steal,hurt and create havoc with in the social system we live. The use of technology is just the new means of doing all that. Making fun of the weaker slower boy at the bus stop has just moved up to doing it on a social site. A false rumor about someones character.Promoting a product that is not what it should be and selling it is dishonest. Do not go in the old abandoned building it is unsafe.You just now have your license so drive slow. You boys are not allowed in the pool hall they serve beer in there. ( Yes, 16 years old ,and the name of it was the Idle Hour, go figure that one!)As we use technology in the classroom and life we have to also teach values use a moral guide as to work in society. We need not take away the technology but make consequences for those whom are unwilling to obey the rules as set by society.
On another note a really good read on bullying is The Wounded Spirit by Frank Peretti If you teach in high or middle school give it a look.
I also found a cyber bullying video on brain pop jr. that would be good for K-3 students.
Discuss your present plan for student safety on the Internet and for teaching students responsibility for safety and copyright issues.
When using the internet, I usually use my class set of netbooks. To make sure students are where they need to be, students have to sit facing the back of the room so that I can see what is on their computer screens from my desk. Also, when working on a project, students are assigned a netbook and are required to use that computer for the duration of the project. The one thing I haven't done that was a suggestion in one of the articles, is regularly check the history on the netbooks. This is something that I will start doing at the beginning of each class. Students and parents sign an AUP at the beginning of the year and this information is included in the student info section Grade Quick. I have this info selected to view so that I know who can and can't use the internet.
As far as copyright issues go, I require students to cite their sources for any project that we do. I also, like some of the others have mentioned, have students who want to copy and paste, sometimes their entire project. I have given students zeros for this and I have gotten the argument...well, I cited my sources....as if citing equals being able to copy everything. I try to address this issue with each project and discuss the consequences but you still get those who think they are going to get away with it or who just don't care whether or not they receive poor grade.
I have had to deal with both safety and copywrite infringment as teacher and mom.
As far as safety--that is scariest. When my girl was small a predator called our house and asked for her. She was probably 9 (she gave her phone number and city on an internet game) and a man (he sounded about (50 to 60) called and was talking to her on the telephone. I was a maniac and called the police but was offered very little assistance (they told me I was at fault). We thought we disciplined the children and explained the dangers. A year later a teenage boy called our house from Georgia. At that point we took our daughter off all technology. I still worry. The internet is a dangerous place. At this point most of us are financially tied up online through shopping, billing, and banking. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable. I feel that in a way we are putting all of our eggs in one basket and it could wind up destroying us.
My students steal "words" from the Internet. They steal phrases/sentences/ideas/paragraphs
and some of them don't get it. They think that if they change a comma or one word it is original work. We explain the rules. I have actually showed my students on the whiteboard the way English teachers look up phrases and identify plagiarism. I tell them stealing in this way comes with serious consequences.
Our schools require signed forms warning of consequences for illegal use of the internet.
When we are in the lab we sit in the middle of the room or the back of the room so that we can see all of the monitors at once because to tell you the truth we just don't trust them(with regard to getting on certain sites). Rose
sorry, I would like to correct "copyright" Thanks, Rose
Discuss your present plan for student safety on the Internet and for teaching students responsibility for safety and copyright issues.
My current plan as a substitute teacher is to walk around and monitor student online activity, reminding them to be on "approved" websites and not social sites or games (except educational game websites). I do make students (generally this is high school students) turn off their computers or monitors if they are not cooperating. Most stay on task (or at least when I walk near). I am hopeful the filters the schools have in place at least block out pornographic websites, which I consider the "worst case" scenario. Thank goodness I haven't seen any examples of this.
As far as copyright issues, I remind students if they are working on research to give credit to the author and website. Now I have some additional resources to assist them in citing works, such as: http://www.easybib.com/ it will hopefully encourage more compliance with copyright responsibility.
My school’s present plan for student safety on the Internet involves the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), Internet filtering, monitoring software, mentoring lessons, and individual teachers’ lessons.
Before any student obtains a user account at our school, they and their parents must sign the AUP, which is modeled on WVDE Policy 2460. Freshmen mentoring (homeroom) teachers review this with student on the first day of school. When students violate the AUP, they lose their account privileges for a specific period of time, which varies depending on the offense and the number of violations.
Our district technology department also filters our Internet, blocking many of the sites that violate the AUP such as social networking and chat sites. A few teachers in our school have AB Tutor software, which allows the teacher to see the monitor of every student computer in the computer labs. This software allows the monitoring teacher to send messages to the students, to close their windows, and to shut down a student’s computer. The teacher can also see the students’ usernames so that disciplinary action can be taken when necessary.
At least once a year, mentoring (homeroom) teachers discuss cyber bullying with students, and we also have a district-wide harassment policy that’s strictly enforced and includes cyber bullying—even when not committed on campus. Other individual teachers also work with students on Internet safety issues, but this is really of their own choosing. When I work with students in the computer lab on research skills, I usually talk a bit about reading alerts and messages, being cautious of downloading, determining the owner of a site and/or the reliability of a site, and understanding where links send users. Students get really lost by blindly clicking links.
We don’t really have too many issues with students trying to access social networking sites from their computers because they use their phones to do this. They know that we cannot filter the Internet access on their phones. Our biggest issues with computers involve students bringing infected files to school on their memory sticks and students slowing down the network by playing online games that use too much bandwidth. They’re not permitted to do this, but unfortunately some teachers don’t monitor students in the lab or don’t care if students play games.
As far as copyright is concerned, our teachers are much more involved. When students violate our plagiarism policy, they receive a zero on the assignment plus three days of after-school detention for the first offense. Multiple offenses incur higher levels of discipline. Some teachers do allow students to re-do plagiarized assignments if the student hasn’t had prior offenses.
Although the English department spends more time than others on teaching students how to avoid plagiarism and how to document sources properly, most teachers do require student to cite their sources for any projects. When I work with students on research projects, we always discuss proper documentation. On my library web site, I have information on how to document a variety of sources, and I’ve also created a guide to using digital images. This is where we have the most problems, as students and even some teachers don’t enforce proper use of images found online. Students think that they can use any image they find online for any reason. They do not care that the owners of some images have clearly stated that their images are not available for re-use or that they may only be used if attributed. We also have problems with students understanding the true meaning of plagiarism. They cite sources, but they still plagiarize because they copy the information nearly verbatim, changing only one or two words. They don’t properly paraphrase or summarize.
I’d like to see our students use the TechSteps Internet safety lessons. Right now, no one is responsible for teaching them.
I'm not currently employed, but if I were working as a school counselor I would definitely conduct classroom guidance lessons on Internet safety. These sessions would focus on appropriate vs. inappropriate conduct, contact, and content. Of course, cyberbullying would be a large focus of the lessons. I would also host an evening session for parents and provide them with information on what they can do to protect their children while online. When using social networking sites for example, parents should remind their kids that once they post information online, they can't take it back. They can also use privacy settings to restrict who can access and post on their child's profile, and they should review their child's friends list. Parents and teachers should use security software and update it regularly, and they should also regularly check out sites that kids visit.
As far as copyright issues, I think the interactive activities included in this week's session would be great to use with students.
As a 7th grade teacher, copyright is more of an issue for me in the day-to-day, but I definitely worry about my kids online. While I do not shy them away from social media, I have certainly seen the downsides of it. The best way I control the situation in the classroom is to make sure I am constantly monitoring. I can usually catch a kid within a minute or two of getting on an inappropriate site, and then that interaction trickles down to the rest of the class. The school's network shuts out 99% of the really bad websites. I also warn them about online predators and that posting something online is often permanent.
For copyright, I teach it like any other lesson through modeling. I cite teaching books that I am reading which spawned lesson ideas. I also talk about the practical strategy of using a good quote to take up space on an essay they don't feel like writing. Show me the college student that hasn't benefited from knowing how to cite their sources. :-)
Our school has a student use policy that must be signed at the beginning of each year by student and guardian. Other than that, my students are only allowed to go to the sites that we are using for the current activity. Because I teach math, there is no browsing where the student is free to go to different web sites. As far as copyright goes; it's not really an issue for me. We don't do research projects in math class, so I have not yet had to deal with this.
Our school's current student user policy is reviewed and discussed each year at open house and the first week of school. Our teachers and especially our librarian does a great job making sure each student has an acceptable user policy signed by the student and parent prior to logging onto the computer/ internet.
The librarian meets with each class in the library at the beginning of the school to review and discuss acceptable internet usage and behavior.
The English department goes more in-depth with copyright information. Each english teacher will review this information with their students.
It seems that encouraging students to respect copyrighted material and to be careful about what they publish on the Web must be an ongoing lesson. Our students and parents annually sign the county’s “Acceptable Use Policy”. Our media specialists will continually present Internet safety trainings with students, teachers, and parents. Each time, privacy is stressed, and examples are given. Each lesson is a “teachable moment”. Students may raise their hands about a pop-up, or ask what to do when email addresses or full names are asked for. It is then that we are able to really put into action the lessons on Internet safety that we have implemented.
As far as I'm concerned, the technology agreement that is sent home and signed by parent, student, then back to the teacher is taken a little too lightly, at least in my experience. As I mentioned in the post, it seems to be just another document that needs to be signed and filed. I think some extra initiative is needed in this case. Perhaps, one could take a moment to explore some scenarios at the beginning of the year that could reinforce how serious internet policy should be taken. There's a lot to gain through some of the horrific things that have happened through, for example, cyber bullying. I have seen many programs on television that have shown the effects and end results of cyber bullying. A scare tactic maybe, but students can be very motivated through some of these emotional videos. I think about my fifth graders moving up to middle school where cyber bullying is much more prevalent. Also, parental involvement is key. There has been a technological revolution over the past 15-20 years; most parents aren't aware of how powerful the internet can be.
But, how do we achieve this? Parent/student workshops after school sound like the most practical way. County school systems should be obligated to set some time and money away for this. Many parents, at least where I live, don't have internet access at home, so school computer labs would be perfect for this. Teaching in an elementary school, I am not faced with many issues on internet safety, but we all know how danger can escalate as kids grow older. One problem that I can say I've had to deal with is the use of research in student projects, especially searching for pictures. Looking for pictures on Google can get a little dicey, and my kids have ran across some things that the filters couldn't catch. In this case, we pick specific days to do picture searches in which, I heavily monitor, but more than that, I urge my students to be very specific when typing in their search. I tell them to: ask yourself if this is too broad of a search, ask yourself-what am I specifically looking for.
Now, copyright violations have been an issue since before the internet has been used as a tool for research. I remember growing up, not feeling comfortable using something that someone else created. I didn't know how to properly cite anything until high school. As I mentioned in my post, I really liked the interactive site (Cyberbee) that explained all the ins and outs of using copyrighted material. It was clear and understandable fundamentally. I quickly bookmarked the site. I'll be introducing it to my students this week. I also liked the 'Kindergarten Copyright' reading, in one area, the site offered a breakdown on each component of the MLA style of citing a book, this is a perfect template to introduce before jumping into a research project! The site also explained the steps to take in gathering pictures and sound from the web, which was very helpful.
My present plan for student safety on the internet is to always be aware of what the students are viewing online. Most sites that are inappropriate for the students are bloked my the county so they can not even veiw the site. At the beginning of the year each student and parent must sign the schools Acceptable Internet Use Policy, which explains the rules and regulations for the students to follow while using the school network. I let the students know what is acceptable and what is not and that the internet should be used for school purposes only.
The biggest problem I have with my 4th Graders isn't in the classroom or school regarding internet usuage or cyberbullying. The issues generally carry over from outside the school setting. "Such and such said lastnight...."
Regarding internet copyright, the biggest issue is with artwork, clipart, pictures, etc. I agree, they are so readily available that students do not think they are doing anything wrong. It is our responsibility to teach them that everything out there belongs to someone.
I plan to remind / or educate my students on Cyber safety and the issues we have discussed in this class. Thankfully, I work with students one on one - so monitoring their internet use will be quite easy in my situation.
At our school, students are not permitted to use cell phones AT ALL - not at lunch or between classes. The rules are strictly enforced and there was good reason to incorporate the rule because there was misuse as well as "sexting" going on frequently during school hours. The first year I taught middle school, I was pretty much in shock the whole time! I had no idea what kids this age are aware of. But I think we are all getting a reality check these days and realize it is vital to monitor internet use for many reasons.
As I mentioned in my post during the discussions, our school recently attended a presentation of Cyber Safety and the affects of Cyber Bullying. It is a great way to get the word out ther and remind students and teachers of how to use the internet properly. Its a program from the WVU Extension office - there are probably more programs out there just like this one. Because the students could relate to real people who live in neighboring schools and were victims of cyberbullying - it really hit home and made sense to them. Its often hard to find a way for students at middle school age to realize these things can happen to them, not just a stranger in New York or Chicago - it happens right here.
Every student and teacher at my school is required to sign an AUP before having access to the computers. Students take their AUP home and parents have to sign it as well. In an elementary school I think the biggest copyright issue we face is using copyrighted pictures. Students go to google and search for images for reports and dont worry about copy right policies. They dont realize that they are "stealing" someone property. In order to try to keep this from happening if we are working on a report that will require images, I create a list of websites where students and find images that they have permission to use. I like websites such as flickr storm that use creative commons licensed images that they can use for projects.
Other issues such as cyberbullying is an issue that needs to be addressed early in the school year. Our school counselor goes to classrooms and talks about cyberbullying and we also completed the tech steps that address cyber bully issues.
Internet Safety is really something that should be addressed to students at the beginning of the school year. The first day of school, students in my class were sent home with a technology safety form that they had to sign along with their parents. If this form was not returned, students were NOT permitted to use the computers under any circumstances.
Each time we begin something new on the internet, computer safety is once again reviewed. I think their are so many dangerous avenues students could stumble upon, that you cannot teach safety enough. In my class, even with searches, I make sure to monitor students so that they are on appropriate websites. Sometimes students in my class use computers for recess and want to play games. My rule is they can only play games with some kind of educational value, i.e. - math, spelling, etc.
Students also were sent home with an email form for their parents to fill out once students were assigned with their own email address. THere were also rules that students have to abide by in order to utilize the internet.
I have gone over Copyright issues with my students, but it does not seem to be as big of an issue. I just relate copyright infringement to plagarism and it being illegal and students understand that completely.
I like to share some real life scenarios that have been in the news regarding internet safety and responsible use of the internet. I think that hearing real issues helps to make the seriousness and consequences more real to students. I think it is also important to get students to understand that once something is posted on the internet that it is basically impossible to make it go away. Students often do not understand the ramifications of what they post in the internet and how it can effect others as well as themselves. I think that giving students viable sites and resources that contain images and music that are free for reuse is one of the best ways to get students to follow copyright laws. Students often use copyrighted materials because it is the easiest thing to do and they don't know how to properly distinguish between copyright and free use materials and do not know where to find material that can be reused legally.
I will have my students take home and sign a technology agreement at the beginning of the year. Since they aren't the best at reading things, and will most likely just sign the paper, I will make sure to do a lesson with them before our first trip to the lab. In this lesson I will present copyright specific to the art world, and make known how important it is to cite artworks.
When it comes to student safety/cyber bullying, I have little experience mostly because all social networks are blocked in the schools I teach. I am sure the students can find a way around this in certain cases, so it will definitely be discussed in class prior to computer use.
One way that our school protects with interet safety is that we have 'favorites' bars set up for each class. If the site isn't in the favorites list then they may not go to it. Of course, you always have the stray student who types in a site anyway. This is where our computer lab setup helps. We have our lab set up in a U shape with the teachers desk at the top of the U. At a glance, you can see if the student is not on the site that we are working on. Also, our school has a pretty tight filter on and many of the sites that students would typically go to are locked. The main thing for me is to constantly be monitoring and looking over shoulders. If students know you are right there, they tend to 'keep their nose clean' when it comes to straying from the work at hand.
As far as the copy right issues go, I always repeat what I expect as far as using pics, quotes and songs. But I do like the article that we read about copy right issues and intend to share it with my class before we begin a few upcoming tech projects that I have planned.
I limit the sites that the students may be on. We have on our edline site where we put the sites that the students are allowed to be on.
I am not in a school system and have not been for a while but I do know a little about Internet safety. Years ago, I became involved with an online charity. I really enjoyed what I was doing. After a few weeks of involvement, a police officer came to my door. My rights were read and I was interigated. The charity was fraudulant. I was found innocent. I truly learned a lesson. Internet safety is not a game.
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