Freeda Blog 2-2

Did you ever just “Google” your name or that of a friend? It is startling the amount of information that is available with just the click of a mouse. It would be easy to be paranoid about what is available. Intelius “knows” that I’m a Libra.

Spokeo posts a Google Earth picture of my house. If I use my Google Maps on my phone in the house, and I move around the house, the blue dot moves to different locations around my house. I know in our SNHU classes we have taken steps to protect our privacy as much as we can in an online class format i.e. using first names and last initials for blogs etc. it’s important to protect our privacy as much as possible. I think as educators, we need to stress the importance of maintaining that privacy. Young adults and kids too, do not seem to value their privacy and some are learning the hard way that it is easy to be violated.

 Here’s a story from last week’s New York Times. As teachers, we have a very important role in helping students become good digital citizens. First we need to keep them safe in school, using only first names, making sure we have parental permission to use their names etc on the internet. We also need to educate the students and their parents about the safe use policies outlined by the school district. These policies help our students not only learn how to keep their privacy, but also learn how to effectively use online tools and research in a way that is developmentally appropriate for the students. This is an on going process that evolves as the students grow and mature. I think it’s important to stress that the parents need to be active in this process also. I think it’s important for any student who is using the computer with internet access to begin to hear about being a good digital citizen. Children need to know what to do when a pop up ad comes on the screen that may be inappropriate.

 They need to learn not to hide it because they think they will be in trouble. Schools are fairly good about filtering but we the children are still on the computers at home. Many times there is not an adult just standing there, like there would be in a computer lab. Children need to know what to do to keep themselves safe and use the technology most effectively.