Month: June 2024 (Page 2 of 2)

When I think back to my initial cyber safety education, it was heavily focused on “scare tactics“. My parents and teachers emphasized the importance of not sharing any information about yourself with strangers online. They insisted that even a single slip in revealing personal details could put your life in danger. This approach was somewhat alarming, but it seemed to come from their attempt to navigate through the then-unfamiliar territory of the internet and to ensure our “safety” as best as they could.

From personal experience, I do not think that scare tactics are an effective way of teaching cyber safety. I believe it is more important to teach responsible online behaviour.  We need to educate students on how to be good digital citizens. Scare tactics can intensify fear and cause panic. Perhaps they were too heavily imposed on me in my youth, as I now harbor a reluctance to post anything online as an adult. I choose to maintain a very private life, which may be somewhat tied to the fear of being known. It may seem irrational, yet it comforts me to know that I don’t share my entire life online for others to observe and track. For me, the scare tactics have led to a little bit of anxiety regarding online activity.

While searching for resources on how to teach cyber safety in the classroom, I came across this video, Teaching Students Internet Saftey (posted below). As I watched it, I asked myself, “Is an informational video more beneficial than one that uses scare tactics?”The answer is yes, an informational video is more beneficial to use as a teaching tool. If I were to use a scare tactic video it would create feelings of fear, anxiety, and worry from learning about potential cosequences of one wrong move. Thus, making a scare tactic video less effective as it does not teach how to be proactive. The Teaching Students Internet Saftey video, left me feeling more informed and knowledagble about what to look for and how to respond in certain cyber situations making it a better approach to use when educating students on cyber saftey.

I would like to hear your opinion, do you think scare tactics are beneficial?

When I think back to my experience with technology in school, the resources available were the computers in the computer lab. It was always an exciting day when we got to go to computer class! On these computers, we learned how to type with a program called, “All The Right Type“.  Is learning to type still taught in school I wonder? We also engaged in a game known as Treasure Mountain (see video below), which presented word problems as challenges. The game incorporated various word problems, including mathematical operations like addition and subtraction, as well as questions on nature, planets, rhymes, comparing, and sequencing. Each time we used these, we were required to load the game from a CD-ROM into the computer to play.

Fast forward to todays technology and many classrooms have easy access to technology in their classes such as IPads, Chromebooks, etc., These types of technology no longer require you to insert a disc as they have “apps” and programs readily availble on them to use. Teachers today utilize more technology to conduct their classes. Reflecting on the current technological integration in classrooms, I realize there is much for me to learn about SMART boards and the various interactive educational platforms in use, such as Kahoot, Flipgrid, Google Classroom, and others.

The video “An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube” by Michael Wesch,  highlighted how the web connected people in unexpected ways through blogs, videos, and tagging. At first, this was an incredible development. However, observing today’s classrooms, it seems that our face-to-face social connections have slightly faded due to the overuse of technology. Students are often observed engaging with their technology devices during recess or break times instead of interacting and conversing with their peers. Thus, we are more connected digitally, and there is a decline in our want or ability to communicate without technological means. The constant availability of technology seems to have created a digital dependency.

Lastly, there’s the shift towards adopting AI tools. Conversations with teachers reveal they find these tools useful for creating lesson and unit plans, and some even use them for reporting comments. Yet, there’s a differing opinion on allowing students to use AI tools for their assignments. It will be interesting to observe how this evolves and whether AI tools will eventually be permitted for all student use in classrooms.