Recently, my students worked on a performance task where they had to investigate the interest rates offered by different banks. During the activity some students began mentioning that the webpage was not loading. Walking around I also noticed that they accepted all cookies without hesitation. These curiosities led to a conversation on why certain websites were not loading and whether it was good to automatically accept all cookies. This led to a conversation on internet safety and made me realize that they have had very little training on measures they can take to protect their identity.
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The question then becomes who is responsible to teach students online safety? At the beginning of the school year all students receive a
student handbook that contains all the rules and policies students must abide. Within the handbook on page 65 students are provided an AUP that reads more like a list of what not to do. At the end of the list students are warned of negative consequences for violating any of the rules. What normally happens is that students blindly sign the usage consent form without actually knowing how to safely or properly use the internet. That is a drastic contrast to how the Boston Public School's state their AUP. They write their policy as "A responsible student will...". I believe that such statements provide a clear guidance for students. In that aspect my school district needs to improve on their AUP. According to
Kajeet, the AUP needs to include an introduction, definitions, policy statement, acceptable uses, unacceptable uses, and violations/sanctions. From that list district 201, Morton High Schools, are missing definitions and acceptable uses. The language used could also be more student and family friendly. To improve the policy the district should involve teachers and students, just as the Boston Public schools did. Doing so will help ensure the language is student friendly.
Phishing e-mails and scams are pervasive and the responsibility to teach students about online safety and security falls on all stakeholders. That includes students, school staff, and parents/guardians. I consider myself adept at identifying phishing emails and decided to put my skills to the test by taking the Phishing Quiz by JIGSAW. The outcome was that I was unable to identify two of eight phishing e-mails. Unfortunately it only takes 1 time to fall victim. This highlights the importance of continual training. That is something lacking in my school community. Teachers receive a copy of the district policies, but never receive training in regards to internet use and online safety. If we are not trained, how are we to model and teach students?
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Enrique, I didn't even think about students accepting cookies automatically. Even myself as cookies have updated in the past few years most websites are required to prompt this notification and I always accept without hesitation. As much as we share student handbooks with families and students, we do need to review with our students and have student voice within our AuP!
ReplyDeleteYes, some websites require you to accept cookies, but sometimes you have the ability to decide what cookies to accept within the prompt that pops up. You can choose to accept the cookies that essential for the page to work properly and can deny permission to others. That is something I just found out.
DeleteHi Enrique, The AUP for my district also listed a lot of things that students shouldn't do. I also very much believe that students who are given positive reinforcement as opposed to all the negativity will have a better chance of understanding exactly what they are signing, the parents too, as opposed to just blindly signing a document that they have no intention of reading at all. Great thoughts!
ReplyDeleteI agree positive reinforcement is crucial in everything.
DeleteInviting students to join the conversation on what is acceptable use and not acceptable is a great suggestion. You'd be surprised that they can actually be pretty tough on themselves. It would also be great to see high schools have social media clubs in which they had a voice in policies such as an AUP.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great idea. At my school we have a Technology Support Internship department (TSI) where students earn certifications and provide students and staff with technology support. We could definitely gather a group of students interested in upgrading our AUP.
DeleteMy district's AUP was similar to yours in that it included a list of what was prohibited and the consequences if students engaged in these behaviors. I agree that students are most likely signing this without actually reading/knowing what they read. It is important that we include students on the process and write AUPs in a way that is more student-friendly.
ReplyDeleteI like your beginning paragraph as I can relate myself and in my classroom. I typically just hit the accept button and continue on. I have seen my students do the same. In my district we have a student handbook that all students must sign. They do not read it as I can refer to it and they make comments such as "Oh, I just wrote my name so it was done." The parents also have a form they must sign letting students use the technology our school provides. I agree that having more parent and student friendly wording will help lead to more understanding of what they are signing.
ReplyDelete