Running Head: ONLINE SAFETY FOR STUDENTS 1

Online Safety for Students

Adrienne Harrington

EDU 352: Foundations of Educational Technology

Judy Donovan

May 22, 2017

ONLINE SAFETY FOR STUDENTS 2

The article I chose was written by Scott McLeod, and it is titled "If We Were Really

Serious About Educational Technology." Scott's article is important because it details many ways

that students can stay safe while using technology in the classroom (McLeod, 2010). Throughout

this article, the ways that students and teachers can stay connected, but safe, is deeply expressed.

McLeod talks about privacy settings, warning students of true online predators, and how to better

teach educators on how to use technology to better educate rather than depend on technology ("If

We Were Really Serious About Educational Technology", 2010). I chose this article because it

really expresses the fact that students can face real danger when it comes to using technology and

accessing the internet. I understand that being able to access the internet is a create resource for

students, even beyond the classroom. The world is more connected now than ever before.

On the other hand, students and teachers should be fully aware of the dangers that being

fully connected can have. Other people that have access to the internet are not out for the

betterment of the world, or the safety of others. It is sad to say, but this is the current world that

the students are growing up in. I found another article that discusses how to teach internet safety

to younger, elementary students. Hertz says that an easy way to teach students about the dangers

of online education is to use the concept of "stranger danger" (Hertz, 2012). Another article I

found was written Poole, and it discusses the top risks that can be involved with bringing

technology into schools.

Some of the risks that is talked about are inappropriate material, the right policies to

follow, privacy issues, how teachers can stay informed and help students, filtering the software,

and cyberbullying (Poole, 2011). This is a great article to read because along with the issues that
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arise, Poole also offers solutions. He talks about having more monitor systems for teachers and

administrators to use (Poole, 2011). A separate article that I found was written by Ben Johnson,

and it speaks about not relying on technology (Johnson, 2014). Johnson explains that in order to

better maintain the students' learning, is to monitor their communication with other peers. He

states that it is already difficult to monitor how students talk outside of the classroom, so adding

technology into the mixed is even worse for educators and administrators. The final article I

found interesting was published by Cody Laplante. Within this article, it is talked about pushing

technology onto students in the classroom, without thinking about how the students would

respond to the lessons (Laplante, 2013). Laplante talks about Khan Academy. He discusses how

the students are left with little to no face-to-face instruction (Laplante, 2013).
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References

Hertz, Mary Beth. "How to Teach Internet Safety To Younger Elementary." Edutopia.
Technology Integration, 4 June 2012. Web. 9 May 2017.
<https://www.edutopia.org/blog/internet- safety-younger-elementary-mary-beth-
hertz>.

Laplante, Cody. "The Dangers of Too Much Technology In Education." Northern Star. N.p., 15
Jan. 2013. Web. 9 May 2017.

McLeod, S. (2010, November 22). If we were really serious about educational technology [Web
log post]. Retrieved from http://bigthink.com/ideas/if-we-were-really-serious-about-
educational-technology

Poole, Bernie. "Risks Involved in Integrating the Internet Into the K-12 Curriculum." Education
World. N.p., 12 Sept. 2011. Web. 9 May 2017.