The Internet and the World Wide Web have grown rapidly from a research project into something that involves millions of people worldwide. It also has proven to be a successful meaningful tool to build community and promote interactive learning. Much of the Internet's usefulness comes from the fact that it is shared by users, service providers, and others, in the sense that each depends on the other and needs to support the other. Hopefully, that sort of sharing and respect will continue. Your behavior, your expectations for others, and your activities will make the difference.
"It is important to realize that the Web is what we make it. 'We' being the people who read, the people who teach children how to surf the Web, the people who put information up on the Web. Particularly the people who make links.... The Web doesn't force anything down your throat. If you are worried that your children are going to read low-quality information, teach them. Teach them what to read. Teach them how to judge information." Tim Berners-Lee (Scientific American Dec 97) Thus it's use in the teaching and learning environment requires professional judgement in determining whether the appropriateness of the resources and ensuring that the resource is used within the ethical and legal parameters of the profession. There are a number of concerns relating to Internet usage in schools. Some of these issues include acceptable use, ethical issues and filtering. The main way for teaches to protect students from these dangers is to be aware that they exisit and to take precautionary measures within their classrooms on a daily basis. The information below will give insight into these issues.
Acceptable Use Policies
With as many possibilities an the Internet may hold for technological advancement in education it can also be abused. This makes it important to cleary state and enforce the acceptable manner in which internet access shouls be used within the school setting. All educators's should be aware of their districts acceptable use policy, which gives instructions on how students should use the Internet. Last but not least the students should fully understand what constitues appropraite use. This can be done thru the use of a code of ethics for appropriate computer usage. The code of ethics should state the districts expectations and definitions of what is considered appropriate or acceptable use. Teachers's should also inform parents of this policy and the consequences for students violations. Students and parents should be review and sign the code of ethics with the teacher. A signed copy should also be retained by the teacher for future reference.
Ethical Issuses
One of the most significant ethical issues is the freedom of speech and the Internet. The content on the Internet is not regulated and , as a result, does contain materials that are objectionable and inappropriate for children. Therefore when the Internet is used in school settings it is the districts responsibility to limit access to such websites. Schools use filtering software that deny access to sites that display inappropriate materials.
Privacy
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) was formed in 1990 to, among other things, bring issues dealing with civil liberties related to computing and telecommunications technology to the attention of the public at large, legislators, and court and law enforcement officials. As a nonprofit public interest organization, EFF maintains collections of files and documents.
Educators must be careful to guard the privacy of each and every child in his / her class. When displaying student work on a class website that childs personal information shouldn't be included. In the world we live in some individuals may use this information for inappropriate reasons. This issue has called many districts to become very strict about the content of class websites.
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