Citation

Manzo KK. Education Week 2009; 29(2): 23-25.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Faced with concerns about Internet predators, cyberbullying, students' sharing of inappropriate content on social networks, and the abundance of sexually explicit or violent content online, many school leaders and technology directors are placing tighter restrictions on Web access to shield students from potential harm. Yet in Trussville and other like-minded school systems, educators and school boards are instead expanding access to online resources, including social-networking sites, for students and teachers. Instead of blocking the many exit ramps and side routes on the information superhighway, they have decided that educating students and teachers on how to navigate the Internet's vast resources responsibly, safely, and productively--and setting clear rules and expectations for doing so--is the best way to head off online collisions. That philosophy has served students in Trussville's Paine Primary School well. The K-2 school provides e-mail addresses to each of its 880 students and maintains accounts on the Facebook and Twitter networking sites. Children can also interact with peers in other schools and across the country through protected wiki spaces and blogs the school has set up. The school basically starts to train students as early as kindergarten about things to look for out there and strategies to help them stay safe on the Internet. As the students move through the grades and encounter more-complex educational content and expectations, their Internet access is incrementally expanded. The district also varies filter levels for teachers, allowing them to call up Facebook or YouTube in class. They can also request that other sites be unblocked that have an application to their class lessons.

Language: en