ARTICLE: Teaching About Web Includes Troublesome Part

[Ryan Goble]

Another great article from the New York Times...

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

Published: April 8, 2010

MILPITAS, Calif. — When Kevin Jenkins wanted to teach his fourth-grade students at Spangler Elementary here how to use the Internet, he created a site where they could post photographs, drawings and surveys.

And they did. But to his dismay, some of his students posted surveys like “Who’s the most popular classmate?” and “Who’s the best-liked?”

Mr. Jenkins’s students “liked being able to express themselves in a place where they’re basically by themselves at a computer,” he said. “They’re not thinking that everyone’s going to see it.”

The first wave of parental anxiety about the Internet focused on security and adult predators. That has given way to concerns about how their children are acting online toward friends and rivals, and what impression their online profiles might create in the minds of college admissions officers or future employers.

Heidi Schumann for The New York Times

Kevin Jenkins tries to caution his elementary school students to consider their online behavior before they get into trouble.

Incidents like the recent suicide of a freshman girl at South Hadley High School in Massachusetts after she was bullied online and at school have reinforced the notion that many children still seem unaware how the Internet can transform typical adolescent behavior — cliquish snubs, macho boasts, sexual flirtations, claims about drinking and drugs — into something not only public, but also permanent.

Read the complete article here.

[Jenny Smith]

I wonder how many parents are aware of their child's online activity. I get the impression that many parents I meet tend to limit time spent playing computer games, but not neceassarily interaction with social networking sites. I teach at a private school, and many students, even those as young as Year 7, have smartphones so it's so much easier for students to communicate online even without a standard computer setup. It's a potential can of worms in many cases, but I feel that it's also a school's moral responsibility to include some degree of instruction about online safety, identity theft and online bullying.

[Ryan Goble]

Maybe an "intellectual responsibility."