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
