Links to Online Safety

On-line Safety is a concern for everyone. We want to explore the new frontier of technology but not at the cost of personal safety. I've gathered these links for your informational needs. Stay Safe!!

Online Safety Links, Guides and Videos

Websites

http://lmk.girlscouts.org/Online-Safety-Topics/Online-Sexual--Predators/The-Facts.aspx Let Me Know is a program between Girl Scouts of America and Microsoft Windows This user friendly section of the site is specifically designed around the subject of “Online predators”.

http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/ResourceServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=2954 Keeping Kids Safer on the Internet, from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Safety tips for families whose children use online services.

http://www.mcgruff.org/Advice/online_safety.php The McGruff character, from the National Crime Prevention Council, has long been synonymous with child safety. Parents and educators can explore all the different links to this sites but this one is specifically for online-safety.

http://www.netsmartz.org/ Also from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, this site is family oriented and user friendly. There are sections available for children, teens, parents, educators and law enforcement. I especially like the internet safety pledges, they have adjusted them to make them appropriate for different ages and stages of development.

http://www.wiredsafety.org/ This site is the world’s largest internet safety help and education resource. (from her on-site bibliography )The Executive Director of Wired Safety, Parry Aftab, is a security, privacy and cyberspace lawyer, as well as an author and child advocate. Recently more than 90% of her time is donated to Internet issues involving children and adults, ranging from protecting children from sex crimes online to helping adults avoid identity theft and fraud online. Her main focus is teaching good cybercitizenship, especially to young people. The young children friendly section of Wired Safety is http://www.wiredkids.org/wiredkids_org.html.

Videos and podcasts

http://www.wiredsafety.org/wiredlearning/videos/4P/Privacy.mov Patty Atfab narrates this EXCELLENT Quicktime clip on internet privacy (geared towards parents)

http://www.wiredsafety.org/wiredlearning/videos/index.html Wired Safety has a series of video clips to illustrate and teach about internet safety. The first section 4P’s discusses Predators, Pornography, Privacy and Piracy. Included is a clip “Chrissy’s Story” about a girl who, when she was 13 years old, was approached by a predator via the internet. An introduction to the 4P’s and credits are also included in this section.

The second set of short clips entitled “You never know” illustrates an online conversation from a variety of viewpoints, there are clips where the main character is a boy and a girl. The person they are chatting with includes everyone from brothers to prisoners to a nun monitoring the school computers.

There is also a series produced by High school students about Kacie Renee Woody, the first minor killer by an on-line predator on December 3, 2002. What follows is a heart-wrenching four part article by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette about the abduction and murder of Kacie Renee Woody.

Pamphlets and guides

http://www.fbi.gov/publications/pguide/pguide.htm The Federal Bureau of Investigation offers a parent’s guide to internet safety. This guide was prepared from actual investigations involving child victims, as well as investigations where law enforcement officers posed as children.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUyQI0USNSY Google and Common Sense Media have combined forces to talk about internet safety. This is good to show teens but really would be most appropriate for parents.

http://www.wiredsafety.org/parent.html Wired safety Parents information guide. This guide answers questions like: What if I find out my child’s a bully? Is there software I can us to track what my kids are saying and doing? There are also questions and answers about e-spam and pop-ups. This guide also comes in pdf form. From this site you can also navigate to other areas of wiredsafety.com and its affiliated websites and blogs.

The issue of safety really hit home this week. Our church had an emergency meeting last Sunday. Since I'm on the Pastor Parish Relations Committee and I am the Charter Organization Representative for the Cub Scout pack that uses the church, I was asked to attend. The meeting was to discuss information discovered about a person who has been attending some of our church functions. There hadn't been any concern until this man was found trying to lure two of our young boys away from their mother to go outside with him. Another church member saw what was happening and followed them out. The church member suggested they go back inside with their mom. The mother was uncomfortable with the situation and voiced her concern with a church trustee. Upon research, it was found that this man was a level 3 sex offender who was not supposed to be anywhere near children. He is the worse offender our town has had, according to a police detective called in to investigate, with multiple sexual crimes against young boys. SCARY!!! Our church has a policy of inclusiveness but we also have a duty to protect our youth. Since this man violated his parole by trying to approach these boys, we now have a no trespassing order against him at our church. The public library and Boys and Girls club (across the street from where he now lives) have also set up no trespassing orders. But this is just one of 28 level 3 sex offenders who live in our town.
The subject of child safety, both on the web and in our communities is a real concern for everyone. Like I've been researching this week with the Internet safety assignment, there are those out in our communities who will exploit the trust of ourselves and our children to their our gains. We, as parents and educators, need to be aware of what is out there and how we can help those we've been entrusted to protect.

Internet Safety: Information for Parents video

This video brought to you by Google and Common Sense Media is a great introduction to parents on tips for internet safety for their children. I'll probably use it in my assignment this week: Internet Safety.

I thought about taking this assignments from a students point of view; use it as part of a Girl Scout project, and I will definitely be talking to "my girls" about this subject. Our Troop has a wiki for communication now and many of our girls are accessing the internet regularly for the first time. Internet safety is a subject it's imperative to discuss. However, most of the students have already been exposed to some sort of information through the school's computer teachers and librarians. Parents, on the other hand, have had mixed communication about the subject; many adults having more questions than the kids. If we can educate the parents to set guidelines and be aware of online safety, it can reduce the parent's fear and will help open communication with their children about this concern. Online safety begins with the parents.

Spreading the World to teachers...

We've been learning about an endless list of web2.0 applications but how can we get the word out to teachers and students that these applications are available... and in most cases, free!
My choice for spreading the world for this weeks assignment was via a website. I found a free website application called weebly. I like the website idea for this because it gives me the option of adding new sites as I find them. I also added a comment section to collaborate with those who find my site.

http://organizeyourstudents.weebly.com/

Hey All,
Remember a couple of posts ago when I was comparing online applications like Second Life to a Star Trek Holodeck! Then check out this article! It's from Wired magazine, a magazine I would definitely recommend for those who want to find out about the latest in technology and technological advances. Virtual Sets Move Hollywood Closer to Holodeck, By Hugh Hart Check it out and imagine, what's next?
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2009/03/filmmakers-use.html

Time to go back to school!

Our assignment this week has been to take all of the wonderful online applications we've explored for the last few weeks, and apply them to a teaching unit of our choice. I found this to be a bit daunting because the last time I had to set up a unit or a lesson plan was in 1983 before I graduated from college. I am blessed, however, to have an advantage I didn't have 20 years ago. I have the internet to help me create a unit. My hardest decision was to actually choose a grade and subject. My final choice was the American Revolution, grade 8. I chose it because I love history, I work in a middle school (so it may be useful information to have available0 and my daughter is in 7th grade this year. She may just be interested in this information in the near future. (I was reminded we have 56 more days of school for this school year, yikes!)
The lesson plans examples are as infinite as the internet. http://www.lessonplans4teachers.com/templates.php offered excellent choices for lesson plan templates. I spent one afternoon with my best friend, who also happens to be a 3rd grade teacher,showing her the applications and lesson plan templates. I shared my technology knowledge with her while she shared her classroom knowledge with me; an excellent collaboration. My son helped with my Voki example on the classroom blog example http://mannshistorylesson.blogspot.com/. Although the assignment was time consuming, it did emphasize how easy it is to enhance any lesson plans with the infinite applications available today.

This week we also explored virtual worlds like Second Life, Gaiaonline and World of Warcraft. Through experimenting with Second life, I came to a realization. Second life reminds me of the holodeck on Star Trek; the Next Generation. On the holodeck, one can explore an alternate life, time period, analyze data and run test simulations as Data, Gordie and Captain Jen Luc Picard often did on many of the television episodes. I case you haven't guessed, I am a Trekkie. Not the wear-costumes-to-conventions kind, but the I-like-how-Captain-Kirk-keeps-talking-about-the-Prime-Directive-of-no-interference-yet-usually-destroys-a-planet's-culture kind of Trekkie. Star Trek is a phenomenon because Gene Rodenberry had insight. He and his writing team created communicators, replicators, phasers,and voice activated computers. This wouldn't be impressive except he created these items in the early 1960's long before our current technology boom. Now communicators look eerily like cell phones, voice activated computers are available and the military has the prototypes to phasers. That's a pretty good track record. I can see Second life as the forerunner of a holodeck. On the holodeck people move through computer simulated worlds interacting with three dimensional holograms. It's used for educational purposes, art and cultural recitals and entertainment. Yes, I can see Second life and virtual worlds like it becoming the precursor to future educational learning centers to engage students of the future. So as Jean Luc Picard would say, "Ahead. Warp factor two, engage!