Digital Safety is a must!

As a student and a soon to be teacher, I know how important technology is in our lives today. The internet is a very powerful tool and should be treated as such, enter digital safety. I believe that digital safety is very important and should be one of the first things that children are taught when they are first exposed to the internet and the different tools associated with it. This is crucial to everyone because so many people are affected by what happens on the internet. The five topics that we discussed, 1) Fair User Practices and Copy Right Issues, 2) Digital Safety and Privacy, 3) Cyber Bullying, 4)Textual Harassing and Sexting, and 5)Pharming and Phishing, all became subjects of relevance for certain reasons as cases began happening over time. I feel like all of these subjects are important because millions of people are dealing with at least one of these issues every day. As educators, it is our job to teach students not only about the dangers that we can see but also the hidden dangers of the internet. All of these points are important and I would not delete anything and everything included seems to cover base with me.

As a member of Group Epsilon, we were given the task of covering “Textual Harassment and Sexting.” We worked as a team to put together a basic skeleton of what our presentation would look like, who would speak about what, and what activity we would do. Although we did spend a lot of time together in person working on our presentation, we also used tools such as WhatsApp, Wiggio, Google Hangouts, and Google Docs to work on our presentation, even if we could not meet up in person. I worked well with my group and we got a lot of work done away from each other because of our use of different tools in order to keep in constant contact.

I feel like our topic is very important when it comes to school and the students that we as teachers are responsible for. Our topic “Textual Harassment and Sexting”, I feel, is a very important topic. This is a subtle topic that you would never guess you were guilty of until you were accused and found out. This is a very serious offense and can land you on the list of Sex Offender and any dreams of becoming a teacher or anything else that is even close to the profession, consider it gone. The need to educate everyone about the dangers and perimeters of textual harassment and sexting is ever on the rise. More and more students are getting smart phones are becoming highly competent and curious about the capabilities of their devices.

Everything that we have covered in the area of digital safety is nonetheless very important, and we need to become educated in every aspect. I do not feel that any one aspect is more important than the other. Dr. Cyrus presented our class with a very important lesson and as a class, we were able to educate one another and enlighten each other so we do not fall victim to any of the problems caused when you are unaware of digital safety rules. These are all things that we should be aware of as future educators and that we should pass along to our students. The reason why digital safety is important and should be practiced more, especially in the classroom is because according to an online educational article titled Safe and Responsible Use of Digital Technologies (2015), “while advances in technology have created opportunities to engage students in the classroom in new and exciting ways they also present an opportunity to be both intentionally and unintentionally misused.” This means that with each passing day, a student who is uneducated about digital safety may be digging themselves in a deeper and deeper hole that they may never find their way out of.

Digital safety is especially important when it comes to education. According to an online resource Discovery Education (2015), “As a teacher, it’s important to make digital safety a priority in your classroom and ensure that your students know how to act safely, responsibly, and thoughtfully online.” This just shows that by tasking us with looking into these topics, Dr. Cyrus has helped us all to become more mindful educators.

These five topics that our class researched and presented on are things to think about as a student growing and learning to become a teacher. It was good that I learned more about them and I will be sure to carry on these digital safety practices with me and then enforce them onto my students.

           

References:

Discovery Education. (2015). Digital Safety Program. [Web] Retrieved from

http://www.discoveryeducation.com/DigitalSafety/

Victoria: Education and Training. (2015). Safe and Responsible Use of Digital Technologies.

Retrieved from http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/support/pages/safe

andresponsibleuse.aspx