Cyber safety

Throughout this course, one thing that has been concerning me is the fact that many children and even adults do not know the dangers that are out there on the internet. Firstly, I wanted to know if there were anyways of children being protected through their searches. I personally have always used google when searching for ANYTHING! now, i generally always have a look at the URL, to see what type of source it's from (credible: edu. or gov. etc.) and also read the summary of content. However, many students may not do this or they may be searching with too few words and need to narrow it down. During one of my lectures, I was introduced to Boolify. It teaches people how to narrow their searches by using words like "and" "or" and "not".

I like this website and would have my students use this when learning to perform searches. I would then have students test their knowledge by using the terms in a usual search engine eg. google. In regards to images, I would make my own database of images for the early years of schooling and for upper primary I would have students use image search engines as mentioned in my images blog.

Students cannot be protected forever, and will have to use ICT tools which allow 'outsiders' to see in. This is why students need to be educated in cyber safety. I was browsing the internet and came across a website called Hector's world. It is a child friendly website which has movies and games to educate children on a variety of cyber safety issues. I viewed one movie which was about the use of personal information. Many young people have the mindset that all people can be trusted and that bad people won't see my details. This is not true, as is explained in the movie. Children are encouraged to have a nicname that they use online to protect themselves.

I would encourage anyone to show these movies in class or set small group time to view and discuss the issues raised.