“Don’t talk to strangers.”
Growing up, I received two different pieces of advice regarding cyber safety:
- Don’t talk to strangers, and
- Don’t send explicit photos online, it’s pornography and by distributing you could go to jail.
While these are great pieces of advice (which we received every year in like one or two health classes), we were never told what our presence online SHOULD look like. Additionally, when youth are told things they shouldn’t do…they are probably going to do it. Scare tactics do not work!
I believe that if parents and educators are going to try and scare youth into not doing something, they should also discuss what to do if you do those things and end up in a scary or dangerous situation.
Technology was integrated into the classroom by having assignments needing Microsoft Word or PowerPoint, and the occasional video groups would make with their phones. We had one lesson using Excel (so I still do not know how to use it) and we played coolmathgames and Kahoot! sometimes during class. The apps and games I downloaded onto my devices I just “figured it out”, as a child it is much easier to learn new things.
While the knowledge I have gained has been sufficient enough for my personal life and university career, I do think it would have been beneficial if teachers had incorporated other technology and apps for lessons and assignments. This could be problematic however if not every child has a device to work on. My school has two computer labs (one for K-6, one for 7-12) and two laptop carts for 300 students to share, so there’s not going to be enough for everyone all of the time. Obviously I’ve never been to a teacher PD before, but this would be a great time for teachers to get updated on technology and learn ways to use it in the classroom.
I really enjoyed this week’s lecture and I feel that if teachers were to slowly go through each of the nice digital citizenship elements students would be much more competent and responsible users of technology. I am hoping I will be able to teach a unit on this topic during my three week internship in March!
2 thoughts on ““Don’t talk to strangers.””
My school did the same thing with the two examples you mentioned in your post, Hailey. I think a lot of students did not care about explicit photos unless they went to more than the person it was meant to be sent too. I know in my school, we were always told not to post photos of us partying and drinking because it looks bad for a future employer. Where you ever told that? Also, you are correct; scare tactics don’t overly work.
I think you bring up some excellent points, Hailey. I was also taught a lot about what not to do online and very little about how to build a responsible digital identity online. I agree while it is important to do better for our students, that a lack of technology available in our schools makes this challenging. I’ve worked in many schools where you would be lucky to get any tech booked once a week.