Internet Safety

Internet Safety

Why we should or should not use the Internet in education?

I think we should definitely use the Internet in education. If we like it or not this generation is all a computer world. The statistics have proven that the computer is used more than anything to find information for students. If we do not use it in our education then we are lacking a great tool for our students to use. It is a great source for many students to use for doing assignments, papers, and presentations. It is also a great tool for health education. I am going to use the Mypyramid.gov in my classroom to teach on nutrition. The Internet is a fabulous tool that my students and many other students will use to help their education. However, we do have to be smart about the Internet and find credible resources, which can be taught.

Why we should evaluate the sites we use?

We need to evaluate sites to make sure that the information students and I find is credible. There are many things on the Internet that is just opinions people have or any other non-credible garbage. However, when we evaluate sites we can find out if a website is researched by a credible source. If we don't evaluate then my students and I will be finding worthless information. After all, a study found that "googling" an item only brings up 27% that are actually credible. We need to evaluate sites unless credible information will not be used.

The questions you would ask yourself to evaluate a site.

1. What does the URL look like?

2. What is the date of the information?

3. Who is the author?

4. How can I find out more about the author on the website?

5. Is the author's credibility related to the information on the page?

6. Is there a credible bibliography?

7. How does this information different from other sites?

Ways you can keep your students safe while surfing:

I am going to have my students take home an evaluation sheet if they are using information on the Internet. That way I know they will be looking and credible and safe information. They will have to bring one of those every time they use the Internet for my class. I will also do my Internet safety unit at the beginning of each semester and not in the middle or end to teach them about Internet safety. They will learn to never give out personal information to anyone or any site on the Internet. I will teach them about predators on the Internet and how they can destroy many lives. I will also be talking about cyber bullying and how that is not accepted at all. This will be all at the beginning of the year so my students can be aware the whole year while they are using the Internet for research. I honestly am so excited because it is so easy to teach them about being safe while surfing because it is part of my core curriculum! I won't even be wasting a day of teaching because its already something I have to teach! I can't wait!