Amherst County’s Internet Safety Education Program

Gloria Preston

Amherst County ITRTs

WISE Weaving Internet Safety Education

Extra Extra, The World Is Different!

The

Workplace

Farmers are checking soil moisture from their hand-held

computers, and factory workers are guiding robots.

Health Care More efficient systems are linking together county, state,

and federal facilities, accelerating the study, diagnosis,

and treatment of diseases through networked applications

and medical databases.

Public Safety Officials are gaining access to instantaneous emergency-

response information and inter-operation of critical

equipment regardless of jurisdiction.

Government Free and universal access to information is increasing for

all citizens, whose informed opinions are in turn shaping

policy and fostering greater global democracy.

Ethics Ethical issues are no longer just about right and wrong but

also about informed choices between two rights-such as

respect for other’s beliefs and protecting our country.

Education Teachers are serving as facilitators, exploring with their

students the vast world of ideas and information.

Technology Benefits Student Achievement

• Students, especially those with few advantages in life, learn basic skills—reading, writing, and arithmetic—better and faster if they have a chance to practice those skills using technology.

• Technology engages students, and as a result they spend more time on basic learning tasks than students who use a more traditional approach.

• Technology offers educators a way to individualize curriculum and customize it to the needs of individual students so all children can achieve their potential.

• Students who have the opportunity to use technology to acquire and organize information show a higher level of comprehension and a greater likelihood of using what they learn later in their lives.

• By giving students access to a broader range of

resources and technologies, students can use a variety

of communication media to express their ideas more

clearly and powerfully.

• Technology can decrease absenteeism, lower dropout

rates, and motivate more students to continue on to

college.

• Students who regularly use technology take more pride

in their work, have greater confidence in their abilities,

and develop higher levels of self-esteem.

There is a Down Side

While no one contests the benefits of

technology, the truth is that whenever

something good is invented, there are

those who will take the good and warp it to

cause trouble. This is true for the internet

as well.

What are the risks?

In 1999, the National Center for Missing &

Exploited Children (NCMEC) provided

funding to Dr. David Finkelhor, Director of

the Crimes Against Children Research

Center at the University of New Hampshire,

to conduct a research survey on Internet

victimization of youth. His research provides

the best profile of this problem to date.

• One in 5 youth received a sexual approach or solicitation over the Internet in the past year.

• One in 33 youth received an aggressive sexual solicitation in the past year. This means a predator asked a young person to meet somewhere, called a young person on the phone, and/or sent the young person correspondence, money, or gifts through the

U.S. Postal Service.

• One in 4 youth had an unwanted exposure in the past year to pictures of naked people or people

having sex.

• One in 17 youth was threatened or harassed in

the past year.

• Most young people who reported these incidents were not very disturbed about them, but a few found them distressing.

• Only a fraction of all episodes was reported to authorities such as the police, an Internet service provider, or a hotline.

• About 25 percent of the youth who encountered a sexual approach or solicitation told a parent. Almost 40 percent of those reporting an unwanted exposure to sexual material told a parent.

• Only 17 percent of youth and 11 percent of parents could name a specific authority, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), CyberTipline, or an Internet service provider, to which they could report an Internet crime, although more indicated they were vaguely aware of such authorities.

Adults do not have the market cornered on

committing Internet crimes

• 72% of teens between the ages of 12 and

16 have committed acts which could be

labeled as an Internet crime.

• Of these, 53% did not realize that what

they did was in fact illegal

• Most of the crimes committed by teens

take the form of threats or harassment.

Isn’t it obvious that more education in this area is

much needed?

We have blocking and filtering

software; we are safe.

• In households with home Internet access,

one-third of parents said they had filtering

or blocking software on their computers

and their child was still a victim.

The best filter is education!

Legislation

All Virginia school division are mandated to

have Internet Acceptable Use Policies and

employ filtering software. But these alone

cannot prevent all risks to our students.

House Bill 58

• House Bill 58, introduced by Delegate

William H. Fralin, Jr., and passed by the

2006 General Assembly, requires that

school divisions’ acceptable use polices

“include a component on Internet safety

for students that is integrated in a

division’s instructional program.”

Current state laws related to Internet safety

• Acceptable Use Policies (AUP) for Public and Private Schools (Code of VA 22.1-70.2). This law reflects the circumstances unique to the school or division and the electronic system used. It clearly defines the responsible use of information networks.

• Family Involvement in Technology (FIT) Program (Code of VA 22.1-212.2:3). This program promotes parental and family involvement in children’s education, including increased and appropriate supervision of children using the Internet.

Current federal laws related to Internet

safety

• Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA).

Congress enacted this law in December 2000 to

address offensive Internet content on school and

library computers. It imposes specific

requirements on any school or library that

receives funding support for Internet access or

internal connections from the E-Rate Program.

What do we need to do?

• Each VA division must examine its resources and requirements and devise a plan that includes the following:

• Integrate Internet safety and ethics into the K-12 curriculum and instruction.

• Define the roles and responsibilities for the school board, administrators, teachers, counselors, instructional technology resource teachers, library media specialists, building resource officers, technology coordinators, students, parents, community stakeholders, caregivers, public library staff, after-school and off campus program instructors, day treatment providers, and local law officials.

• Safety measures, including any that already

cost.

• Data and network security plan

• Procedures to address breaches of Internet

safety and protect students’ safety.

• Process for annually reviewing, evaluating, and

revising the program.

• Professional development opportunities for staff

across the division

• Outreach programs for community stakeholders.

This sound like a lot of work!

• We already have to teach the Virginia

Standards of Learning. This is what our

accreditation is based on. We cannot add

one more thing to our instructional day!

There is not a choice.

This is now a law!

• We could find ourselves involved in a liability case if we fail to comply. Tort Liability Laws are those that protect individuals and provide restitution if the consequences of another’s actions or failing to act causes harm. This means that if a student is either a victim or perpetrator of an Internet based crime and we as a school have failed to meet the requirements of House Bill 58, we are liable for harm to the student. EVEN IF THE CRIME WAS INITIATED ON A HOME COMPUTER!

What is Amherst doing?

• The following slides provide a brief

overview of a grant the instructional

technology group has been awarded to

help in meeting the state’s mandate.

Be WISE

Weaving Internet Safety

Education

Project Description

• Develop an Internet Safety Curriculum

which will span all grade levels and all

content areas

• Collaborate with all stakeholders: parents,

students, community leaders, law

enforcement, teachers, administrators

Goal

• Protect young people from online dangers

Timeline

• February 2007 – Select, develop, and organize Internet safety lessons by grade level and content area for four specific areas:

– Personal Safety (Grades K-12)

– Cyber Bullying (Grades 4-12)

– Copyright (Grades 3-12)

– Internet Source Evaluation (Grades 3-12)

http://guest.portaportal.com/internet.safety

Timeline

• March 2007 – Teacher review of lessons

• April 2007 – Stakeholders review of

lessons

• July 2007 – Develop Internet safety

component for division AUP

Timeline

• August 2007

– Present plan to school board

– Present plan at administrators’ conference

– Present plan at faculty meetings

• Ongoing – Present to community forums

– Collaboration with law enforcement

Deliverables

• Portaportal - http://guest.portaportal.com/internet.safety

• PowerPoint – presentation that explains our Internet Safety plan that will be suitable for administrators, teachers, and community stakeholders

• Kiosk – display demonstrations of what students

have learned about Internet safety

Alignment with P21 Framework

• Core Subjects – across all grade levels and subjects

• 21st Century Content

– Global awareness: social studies, science classes

– Financial, economic, business, entrepreneurial literacy: math, business classes

– Civic literacy: social studies classes

– Health and wellness: health and P.E. classes

– Skills will be addressed in other core areas as well

Alignment with P21 Framework

• Learning and Thinking Skills

– Collaboration skills: work in groups

– Contextual skills: address situations in video

clips

– Critical thinking/problem solving: reach

collaborative decisions

– Creativity and innovation skills: design posters

and offer solutions for situations

– Communication skills: share responses with

class

Alignment with P21 Framework

• Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Literacy – Use technology safely

– Source evaluation and literacy

• Life Skills – Personal responsibility: personal safety

– Social responsibility: interacting in social networks and responding to cyber bullying

– Ethics, accountability, personal productivity: learning about fair use and copyright

Alignment with P21 Framework

• 21st Century Assessments

– Formal content area assessments

– Informal 21st century skill assessments:

rubrics to be developed

Plan for Evaluating Project

• K-12 Insight will be used to develop

surveys for various stakeholders

• K-12 Insight is a specialized survey

platform designed to develop effective

surveys and analyze the data these

surveys provide

Disseminating Project Results

• Portaportal

• PowerPoint Presentation

• Kiosk

• Community Forums – invite the media

We are at the point in our timeline where

we need the input of our county’s

instruction professionals.

• We will break into two groups to review

lessons.

• Please refer to your questionnaire as you

review the lessons.

• Thank you for your valuable input~~you

are the ones who will be at the front of the

implementation

Questions?

Remember, you will need to explain this

process to your school faculty. Please

let us know if we can help in any way.

References

• Computer Systems Policy Project. (2000). Building the foundation of

the networked world (p. 8). Washington, DC: Author.

• Cornish, E. (Ed.). (1996). Exploring your future: Living, learning, and

working in the Information Age (pp. 7-11). Bethesda, MA: World

Future Society.

• Raising Student Achievement with Technology. Apple. Date of

Access: February 11, 2007.

http://www.apple.com/education/research/

Acknowledgement

• This project is supported in part by the

JMU/Microsoft Partnership for 21st Century

Skills