Legal Issues and Privacy Laws for Students and Schools while using the Internet
This week, my research was focused on the legal issues and privacy laws that students and schools encounter when using the Internet. In today's technology driven world, students are learning about how to use a computer before they even start preschool. Once students begin kindergarten, they encounter computers and iPads either in their own classroom or in the school library or computer room. When young students have open access to computers, that may mean that they have open access to the internet as well. For this reason, it is crucial that schools take the necessary steps to protect their students when using the internet.
The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) is one way that students are protected while using the internet. A school can agree to follow the rules that CIPA has set in place such as monitoring the students' activity while on-line. Schools who follow CIPA must also agree to teaching the students about internet safety. Once a school meets the requirements of CIPA, they are given any E-rate funding. E-rate funding helps make communication services and products more affordable schools. While this is a great act and idea for helping to keep young students safe on the internet, schools have to have enough funding to purchase items such as web filters or monitoring systems. Therefore, not all schools can participate in this program/act.
The other important privacy act is Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). This act helps to make sure that children under the age of 13 are not giving out any personal information (full name, phone number, address, birthday, pictures, etc.) when using the internet. The problem with this is that educators can give consent to have this information of the students released on-line which can pose some liability issues for educators. Parents do however have the privilege of revoking the educators' consent at any time.
I've included a few links that provide further information:
http://www.usac.org/sl/applicants/step06/cipa.aspx
This site spells out all the requirements that a school must adhere to in order to be eligible for the E-rate funding.
http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/definition/COPPA
This site gives a brief overview of the act, talks about why it was created and addresses a few common misconceptions about COPPA.
Bethany, I think you raised some really great points about internet safety. I definitely think that educators and schools need to take some responsibility in teaching students about internet safety. This is a topic some students might learn about at home, but others many not. Personally in my school experiences, I don't think internet safety was taken seriously enough. Whether it is cyberbullying, giving out personal information, or visiting appropriate sites, all of these seem to be very common among our youth. My mom works at a school, and just recently she caught a third grade boy looking up inappropriate pictures on his iPad. If this happens at such a young age, it is scary to think what could happen when this student is 10 years older. This being said, I think that schools need to take initiative and make internet safety a priority in the curriculum, especially since our society is so technology-driven.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the privacy acts you mentioned in your post, I think that both of these should be mandatory in schools. A school shouldn't miss out on one of both of these acts just because their lack of funding. That is basicaly implying that internet safety is just an added bonus if you have enough money to teach it, when really, it should be a priority in all schools.
With all of this being said, what grade level should internet safety be taught at? And do you think it is something that should be taught every year or just in certain grade levels?
ReplyDeleteShelby, you bring up a good point about making sure that schools take some responsibility for teaching the students about how to be safe while using the internet. I think it is safe to say that many parents in today's world assume that their child's school does this, so they don't even bother talking with their children about internet safety.
ReplyDeleteThe problem that comes with requiring schools to teach internet safety is cost. To purchase the materials needed to monitor students' activity on the computers is very expensive and not all schools can afford it. Also, when schools have so many requirements already to teach to students, trying to add in one more thing may seem impossible.
What kind of internet safety training did you receive while in school? Was it every year or just once in a while? All I had to do each year from elementary school through high school was sign a paper that said I agreed to practice safe internet habits and not abuse my privilege of using the school computers. In my opinion, this isn't very effective.
To answer your question, I think teaching students about internet safety is something that should be revisited every year or at least every other year. As students get older they will get smarter and may learn how to do more things on the internet. It's important to gear the lessons about internet safety towards the age(s) of the students.
Bethany,
ReplyDeleteMy school monitored what we were doing on the internet. If they didn't want us visiting certain sites, they would block them. However, as we got older, we learned how to get around the firewalls and we could access facebook and other social media sites. We didn't actually recieve training or instruction on how to be safe on the internet, as far as I can remember. I think in my 6th grade computer class we briefly touched on it. I agree with you that signing a paper would not be a very effective way. Not to mention, it assumes that you already know how to be safe online.
I think cost is problematic, but I still think internet safety is worth it. Maybe there would be a way teachers could integrate internet safety instruction with other lessons to try to be more effective with time. I think every one to two years would also be sufficient. As for taking the time, I feel like some type of workshop/assembly could be given every one to two years. When you think about it, taking a few hours out of a day once would probably give you enough time to cover the basics of internet safety.
One thing to keep in mind is that schools must, in order to receive federal funding for Internet connections, provide adequate firewall software.
DeleteIn terms of when, that's a classical problem. When do we teach citizenship, digital safety, computer skills in general? Many teachers think that they should, just, "Not in my class...I have too much content to cover!!!"
Unfortunately, the integration of these topics in lessons is time-consuming and often outside of the scope of expertise of the teacher (how many teachers do you think know about CIPA, COPPA, etc.?).
We had a site blocking program as well at the Grandville schools. Even this became an issue though because many times, sites that teachers wanted or needed to use for their lesson would be blocked. Then the teacher would have to submit a request to our IT department for them to unblock it. This took time though and sometimes meant that the lesson had to be postponed.
ReplyDeleteWhile thinking about the idea of teaching internet safety in schools, I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes a requirement for all schools. It seems like something that would fall into the health requirements, but I also know that not all schools have a health program and that many times the regular teachers teach their students about health related topics. Do you have any ideas on how to teach students about internet safety that would be engaging for the students? I think often times topics like this are taught in repetitive and boring ways, so the information would have to be presented in a clever way to keep the students' attention.
My school had the same problem. Teachers would have to go through the IT department to unblock sites and it definitely become a hassel.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it is often taught repetively. It definitely would have to depend on the grade level and the students you are trying to reach. At older ages, there are a lot more serious issues with internet safety that would need to be discussed, such as the dangers of giving out personal information. It would be eye opening to students to share real life cases of what happens when you put your personal information on the internet. As for the younger students, I think its tricky because you have to consider how much they are actually using the internet as well as what they are using it for and go from there.
I agree with what you said. The younger students would certainly need a very brief overview of how to be safe while using the internet. I think they do use it more than what most people think. Many games are connected to the internet and although it doesn't appear to be, it is. The games may ask for an account name or email or location. Young students who are not properly trained or supervised while using the internet or games, may not know to make up a fake name or to put a fake location. I think it would also be important for schools to communicate with the parents about internet safety. I think there is a lot more monitoring and blocking of sites at school than what there might be at home on the computer, iPod, iPad, phone, etc. Parents need to be aware of how easy it is for kids to get into bad situations when using the internet. A lot of times parents think that they know what their kids are doing on-line because they are their Facebook friend or follow them on Instagram, but parents need to be aware of the fact that there is so much more to be aware of than just being their "friend" or "follower".
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. One danger that I can think of right away is chat rooms. Many children don't realize the danger of chatrooms and other apps in which you connect with people you haven't met in person. It makes me think about the boundaries between school and home when it comes to teaching internet safety. I think in a perfect world, we could assume parents were doing their part and the school would do the rest, but this doesn't always happen.
ReplyDelete