April 30, 2016

Teaching Digital Safety to Students


            The world wide web offers a variety of resources and material for education. The Internet does a splendid job at bridging the gap of communication around the world through social networking sites, technological applications, web-conferencing tools, etc. The rise in technological advances has made it easier for educators to teach and carry out their lesson plans to students. Although the wealth of resources and information available online has made life easier for several individuals around the world, it can also lead to a variety of unsafe measures. Cyberbullying, sexting and textual harassment are some of the ways people can be victimized on the Internet. As a future teacher, I know that I am going to incorporate technology in my lesson and I want to protect my students, as much as possible, from the dangers that can take place in the world wide web. In order to do so, I want to first show my students a video about staying safe and secure in the digital world. Then, I want to teach my students ways of being safe on the Internet by talking to a law enforcement agency, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to come and talk to my students about the dangers of the Internet and the preventive measures of staying safe online. After learning about digital safety, I would like each of my students to create and design a poster board, demonstrating one way of staying safe on the Internet and elaborating more about it in front of the class.

            According to a study from the Pew Research Center (2015), 92% of teens report going online on a daily basis, with 24% of teens admitting going online constantly. As a future educator and a technology-proficient professional, I want to show my students a brief 5-minute video on YouTube called, “Staying Safe and Secure in a Digital World” by Intel Security (See video below). This video is demonstrated by children talking about the pros and con of the Internet. The children go into depth in explaining what others should do to stay safe on their computers, emails, mobile devices and the Internet. Through this video, I am able to give my students a sense of how important it is to be digitally safe.

            There is no better way, I feel, to teach the do’s and don’ts of the world wide web than bringing in someone who knows digital safety inside and out, like the FBI. The FBI is a law enforcement agency that deals with domestic intelligence and security services in the United States. They investigate digital crimes, such as cyber-based terrorism, espionage, computer intrusions and computer fraud. By allowing guest speakers from the FBI to talk to my students about digital safety will give my students a better understanding of the subject at hand. Also, they will learn that any forms of harassment online are taken very seriousness and should not be tolerated. In eight different studies from 2007 to 2014, an average of 16.6% of individuals were cyberbullies and an average of 25.2% of people were victims of cyberbullying according to Justin W. Patchin and Sameer Hinduja of the Cyberbullying Research Center (2014).

            After learning about digital safety and its significance, I want my students to take ownership of the lesson they had just learned and be able to apply that knowledge in class. I would like my students to individually create and design a poster board of at least one way a person can be digitally safe. Students will be able to work on this assignment in class and at home. After creating and designing their poster board, they will then present their poster board to the class, demonstrating their ability to know and understand the importance of being digitally safe. I believe that each presentation allows students to successfully take in what they have learned about digital safety and shared it with others.

            It is imperative for students, parents, teachers and schools to take preventive measures in teaching the importance of digital safety. The Internet is open to anybody and anything. As a future educator, I want to be able to shelter my students, as well as teach them that although the world wide web provides a ton of resources and materials to make life easier, it also comes with many dangers. By incorporating a brief video about digital safety, bringing in guest speakers from the FBI to talk about digital safety to my students, and assigning a simple project to my students on what they have learned from those presentations, I feel that I can successfully execute my lesson plan in teaching my students to become responsible digital citizens. Always remember to think before you click!

References

Lenhart, A. (2015). Teens, social media & technology overview 2015. Pew Research Center.

Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. (2014). Cyberbullying: Identification, prevention, & response. The
Cyberbullying Research Center. Retrieved April 30, 2016, from




1 comment: