NHS Instructional Technology

Recently I visited middle and high school classrooms at NHS talking to students about their use of technology, both in and out of school. I learned, not surprisingly, that while gaming is popular (especially with middle school students), many students spend a significant amount of their time on social networking sites, primarily MySpace. This is simply a part of their social life – it’s a way to keep in touch with friends, listen to music, and even chat about homework (that was a surprise!) This generation is very comfortable communicating via this online tool, mostly keeping in touch with people they know through school, sports, family, etc. but occasionally chatting with others they may not actually have met except online. I took the opportunity to remind students not to share personal information online and most said they didn’t or that they posted false information to protect their own privacy. Some were convinced that their pages were private and only “friends” could see or communicate with them. How many friends? Oh, anywhere from 30 to 300!!!

As I am not a “digital native” – not having grown up surrounded by technology as these young people have – I worry about the digital trails these students leave behind and whether they think about the potential consequences of actions they may take while online. A comment or picture upload that might seem innocent one day may come back to haunt them if a “friend” gets angry and decides to use it against them, or a future employer or school admissions officer decides to do a background search. When I raised these concerns with students, I got that “deer in the headlights” stare from many or total dismissal from others. “But my page is private.” “They can’t see my page unless I want them to!” Really? Don’t be so sure.

While I think there are many positive uses of social networking sites and I would never suggest that they be banned, I think it’s important to have discussions with young people about how they use these sites and plant the seed so that they are aware of potential misuses. The video “Think before you post” is an launching point for this discussion. I would encourage teachers to show this video to their students, and parents to show it to their online teens and tweens followed by a discussion about online safety.

There are many resources for online safety that you may want to review before having this discussion, and then visit again with your students/children. Here are just a few:

• NetSmartz Workshop – www.netsmartz.org – Resources for Parents/Guardians, educators, law enforcement, teens, and kids.
• WiredSafety – www.wiredsafety.org – provides help, information and education to Internet and mobile device users of all ages.
• WiredKids – www.wiredkids.org – designed to teach kids how to surf safely and how to have fun doing it.
• MySpace.com Safety Tips – guidelines for users and parents on using MySpace safely, provided by MySpace. www.myspace.com/Modules/Common/Pages/SafetyTips.aspx

Knowledge is power! Let’s educate our kids to be safe online! Banning & blocking are not the answer.

Please add your comments or links to other resources you’ve found online that address these issues…