A recent study by the National Cyber Security Alliance titled 2010 State of Cyberethics, Cybersafety, and Cybersecurity Curriculum in the U.S. indicated that less than 25% of our students are being taught about safety on the internet (social networks, scams, fraud, safe passwords) and more than 75% of teachers reported receiving less than 6 hours of professional development on these topics.  This basically means that one quarter of the children of America are being taught by untrained professionals about the dangers of computers and the internet.  Very scary numbers.  I think that a similar poll of American adults would reveal the same lack of understanding, so who is going to educate these young minds?

Like riding a bike, learning to tie shoe-laces and proper manners, “internet education” might have to be a lesson taught at home.  This means that parents must take an active role in what children are doing on the computer, what web sites they are visiting and how they are doing these things.  To do this properly, parents must educate themselves first.  This is easily said, but parents must have the proper resources and be willing to put in the time.

Tools and Resources

JumpstartMyPC.com Blog

JumpstartMyPC.com was created to help PC users get the most out of their computer and the articles we have written in our blog often deal with security, safe surfing, recent malware attack warnings and social networking.

Link: http://www.jumpstartmypc.com/blog

There are over 100 articles on getting the most out of your computer that can be accessed at the link above.  You can search by keyword or category to find articles on a certain subject.

Recent Articles of Interest:

• My Web of Trust – You Cannot Afford to Surf Without It
• Seriously! – Your Password is What? Are you kidding?
• Social Media Credit Score – a series of articles dealing with what people post on social networking sites.

NCSA – The Stay Safe Online Blog

The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) has designed some educational tools, including this blog, based on three key pillars Cyber Security, Cyber Safety and Cyber Ethics.

Link: http://www.staysafeonline.org/blog

“The Second Nature Blog explores a varierty of cybersecure issues including how to stay safe and secure online, emerging trends in security, the integration of cybersecuirty, cybersafety, and cybersecurity into K-12 education, and our emrging digital lives.” - as taken from their web site

Recent Articles of Interest:

• What will we teach our children?
• Managing your online reputation is a good idea
• Stalking and cybersecurity

USA Today Education – Technology Web Site

NCSA teamed up with USA Today Education Foundation and the Department of Homeland Security to develop seven lessons during the 2009-2010 school year targeted at 8th-12th graders. Lesson plans use recent news stories about cyber security issues.

Link: http://www.usatodayeducate.com/wordpress/index.php/technology-cyber-security

Most of the “lessons” shared on this site were written within the last 2 years and are available as PDF’s.  There are also a number of “Resources for Elementary Teachers” and helpful links to other web sites.

Recent Articles of Interest:

• Hackers Want to Be Your (Malicious) Friend (PDF)
• How to Avoid Cyberscams (PDF)

Computers have really changed since the days of the apple IIe.  No longer are they giant beige boxes with floppy disc drives.  Today, computers come in all shapes and sizes and it seems like you can’t turn on a device without connecting it to the internet.  Phones, cameras and even game systems make it possible for anyone with the ability to punch a button to post material to sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Flickr…. the list goes on and on.  Yet, there are no warnings of the potential dangers associated with your behavior behind that keyboard and mouse.  So how do we educate the children and teens of today to prepare themselves for the world ahead?

Education is key!  This slogan is used for every movement under the sun, from drug use to sexually transmitted diseases.  Why, because it is true and it helps.  So how do we educate and inform?  My opinion is that we use the very medium in question (social networking) to convey the message.  Kids are drawn to televisions and computers.  Just look at Sesame Street, which has been a great educational tool for decades.  So how about a video?

One of my very favorite companies is CommonCraft.  They design educational videos for just about any topic in the world, but seem to focus on computers, software and technology.  According to their motto their “product is explanation” and they do a fantastic job as just that.  They explain things in using short, easy to understand videos and it just so happens that they have a video titled “Protecting Reputations Online in Plain English.”   The video is only available from their web site currently, but we have provided the link below:

http://www.commoncraft.com/protecting-reputations-video

“Aimed at young or inexperienced Web users, this video explains the long term risks of sharing inappropriate information online.”  The video is not free for distribution, but CommonCraft does offer licensing options for individuals and sites.  Wouldn’t this make a great tool for a classroom?