Participate 4.1.2 Digital Safety and Security

In my last post I shared my thoughts on Acceptable Use Policies and their role in an effective digital learning community.  Today I am digging a little deeper into digital safety and security.  In particular, I will examine two options for online safety in schools.   Option A- blocking an obscene amount of websites as an attempt to shield students from internet dangers.  Option B- real resources for teaching students about the real world of digital safety and security.  So, let's dig in...

Option A:

It only takes a few horror stories of computer hackers, identity theft, and virtual stalkers to understand why digital safety and security is so important for our children.  As a teacher of teenagers and a mother myself, I am on the front lines of this quest to teach our youth about the necessity of being safe on the internet.  But I believe we are doing our students a disservice when we attempt to shield them from the dangers of the internet by frivolously blocking websites.  This is especially true for teenagers, whom I teach.  I cannot possibly prepare my students for the real world- college or work- if I am not teaching them how to discern for themselves digital security.

Let me put it this way.  My daughter is allergic to peanuts.  I mean the scary kind of allergic where she has epi pens that we carry with us all the time.  As a toddler, I have shielded her from peanuts pretty easily, blocking any opportunity for peanuts to sneak into her diet.  But now that she is in preschool and around a lunch table with kids who bring peanut butter sandwiches to school, I have to do more than just shield her.  I must educate her on the dangers of peanuts and why she can't have them!  I would not be a good mother if I shielded her all of her life, never teaching her about her allergy and then sent her on her way into the great big lunch room of possible peanut dangers.  There is no way she would navigate it safely!

I design with canva!

 Option B:

Just as I've been talking to my preschool daughter about her peanut allergy and the dangers therein, we must communicate digital safety and security to our students.  With all of the best intentions of Option A aside, shielding our students is not in their best interest.  The most important step we can take in ensuring digital safety is personal awareness and the number one strategy for making this happen is talking about it.

To help raise awareness of digital safety and security I have collected a variety of resources and presented them below as a symbaloo.  I hope you join me as we kick start this conversation and even take it to the comments section below.  I'd love to hear your resources and strategies for raising awareness on digital safety and security!



P.S.- Since this post was inspired by my daughter, I thought I'd share these classroom tips on making your classroom a peanut food allergy free zone.

P.S.S.- Symbaloo is one of my favorite bookmarking sites!  Start your own symbaloo today!