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 * Cyber Safety Webpage**

Southern Lehigh School District’s [|AUP] has guidelines on Internet responsibility (p. 7), prohibitions (p. 11), blogging, safety, and privacy (p. 19). The Educational Technology Report stated that cyber safety training occurs for students, educators, and parents in the middle school (SLSD, 2011, pp. 10, 34, & 40). This year on February 13, 2012 the school district’s policies on [|//cyberbullying//]were reviewed.

**Legal Reasons for Cyber Safety** According to the Child Internet Protection Act of 2001 (CIPA), in order for schools and libraries to be eligible to receive discounts for telecommunications, Internet access, and connection services ( i.e. E-rate discounts), they must verify that they have implemented Internet safety policies, have Internet filtering measures in place, and monitor online activities of students. These measures provide protection to both children and adults from digital images that are obscene, display child pornography, and are harmful to minors (FCC, 2011).

Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act in 2008 advanced Internet Safety in schools. Schools must certify they are educating students “about appropriate online behavior, including interacting with other individuals on social networking websites and in chat rooms, and cyberbullying awareness and response” (FCC, 2011, p. 3). In addition, schools must educate “minors about appropriate online behavior” (FCC, 2011, p.4).

Up to this point, schools have been encouraged to update their Internet safety policies and procedures.According to the Federal Communications Commission (2011), on July 1, 2012 when the 2012 funding year begins, Internet safety policies and procedures must be in place in accordance to the Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act of 2008. The mandate did not define what social networking and cyberbullying meant nor did it detail how schools will educate appropriate online behavior; this is left up to each school district’s discretion.

**Cyberbullying** An important safety topic is cyberbullying. In 2010, the Pew Report provided a research-based [|slide presentation.]Here are some vital facts from their slide show. Focus especially on the 26% of students that have been bullied or harassed and the 15% that have received sext. In addition, among the nearly one thousand two hundred 11 – 16 year olds surveyed, 3% were bullied daily, 3% were bullied on to two times a week, and 5% were bullied one to twice a month. Schools can teach cyber safety by utilizing Web-based lessons from Websites like [|Common Sense Media]  and [|iSAFE] .

(Lenhart, 2010, slide 13)


**Common Sense Media** is a website dedicate to Internet and cyber safety.

**Digital Citizenship** Common Sense Media offers 25 //free// lessons on [|digital citizenship] that begins with grade 2 and continues through senior high. The lessons cover topics on responsibility, respect, reality, and safety.

**Internet Safety Lessons** Common Sense Media offers free lessons on Interent safety. Locate the [|Educators]’ tab, to “Get Started.” Educators may select from among many lessons geared towards grades K – 12. Some of the topics covered are cellphones and digital communication; online bullying and cyber relationships; digital creation, plagiarism, and piracy; online privacy and security; social networking and community; and more. Common Sense Mediaalso offers a free educational cyberbullying toolkit called [|Standing up, Not Standing By].

**Staff Development** Common Sense Media offers [|Professional Development] resources. Educators can get training on Digital Literacy and Citizenship. Just choose your grade level and what topic you plan to teach and learn on your own time.

Most importantly, these lessons are aligned to Common Core English Language Arts (ELA), American Association of School Librarians, and International Society for Technology Education (ISTE). At the conclusion of each lesson, indicates to which Common Core standards it aligns. For an overview of these standards, go to [|Alignment and Standards].

Common Sense Media offers cyber safety [|webinars]. Teachers can view new ones or check their archives. Webinars are presented on Blackboard collaborate.

**Parents** Common Sense Media offers educational materials for parents. Parents can use a Tip Sheet titled [|Common Sense on Internet Safety for Elementary School Kids] and review Internet safety with their children. Under the [|Review & Advice] tab, parents can find ratings for movies, apps, games, websites, books, and music.

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 * iSAFE** is another Website for Internet and cyber safety. It provides resources for teachers, students, parents, and administrators about Web 2.0 technology, personal safety, cyber community issues, cyber predator identification, cyber security, intellectual property, and effective outreach to peers, parents, and community.

**Lesson Plans** Educators can //subscribe// to differentiated lesson plans for multiple learning needs in K – 12; these align to state and federal standards. Here is an overview of the [|lessons]. These are available online for those with Internet access or offline for those without it. Educators can purchase [|Gold, Silver, or E-Rate plans]. The E-Rate plan has about 100 lessons that cover topics on cyber bullying, social networking, and personal safety as specified in the 21st Century Act of 2008. The Silver plan offers over 200 lesson plans and 3 webcast video lessons. The Gold plan includes both E-Rate and Silver lesson plans. **Assessments** Teachers can purchase assessments at the National Assessment Center (NAC) to assess students before and after lessons to see if concepts have been grasped. These assessments provide “NAC data and performance metrics can be used by individual schools, school districts and statewide education departments/boards to validate their compliance with legislation mandating e-Safety professional development training for teachers and/or Internet safety education for students” (National Assessment Center, 2012).

**Staff Training** i-SAFE provides free learning modules for teachers to learn about their services. You can access these at their [|website]. To keep track of what lessons educators have completed, a “My Info” page is accessible from the upper right hand corner.

**Free iTunes Apps for Internet Safety**
 * 1) [|Professor Garfield Cyberbullying]by Paws IncorporatedCurrent customer ratings: 4.5 stars
 * 2) [|Professor Garfield Online Safety]by Paws IncorporatedCurrent customer ratings: 4.0 stars

**Internet Safety Tips** 1. To create [|strong passwords]:

2. Once you make a password, **check the [|strength of a password]**.3. **Think**, what is safe to post on the Internet; [|ReadWriteThink] offers [|Online Profile Tips].4. **Protect your Identity**, here are [|Ten Twitter Safety Tips to Protect Your Account and Identity]
 * use symbols such as @#$%^&
 * use at least 8 numbers, letters, and symbols
 * do not use common words or numbers such as 123, password, birth date, login name and any words from the dictionary.
 * use capitalization and small letters (howtomake.com, 2008)

**True Story** Watch [|Alicia’s story] of being lured by an online pedophile. ** Warning, ** this video is geared toward older children, at least middle school age or older. To view the entire judiciary hearing of Alicia Kozakiewicz’s testimony to legislate against Internet predators, go to[|Aliciaproject.com]

media type="youtube" key="hR0bXZrIErE" height="310" width="456" **Reflection**

This activity fulfills the requirements for


 * III.D. Communicating effectively with parents/guardians, other agencies and the community at large to support learning by all students. **

The activity was to “create a webpage on the SLSD site to serve as a portal for Cyber safety related information.” The activity fulfills the PDE requirement for supporting learning and communicating effectively with parents/guardians, students, and teachers about cyber safety.

To prepare for this activity, I researched numerous sites for information about cyber safety. I ended up focusing primarily on two, Common Sense Media and iSAFE. The first, Common Sense Media, offers all of its materials free to educators, students, and parents; the materials are aligned to Common Core and state standards. The second, iSAFE can be purchased and provides lessons according to a school or district’s needs. Both appear to be very thorough.

Safe Internet use on school property or events is the responsibility of all educators and administrators. To fulfill this accountability and therr Educational Technology goals, SLSD needs to systematically teach Internet safety and digital citizenship.

I was already quite familiar with iSAFE, but was gratified to learn about Common Sense Media as a quality free site aligned to ISTE’s standards and Common Core Standards. I also had not known that by July 1, 2012  the Federal Communications Commission (2011) has put tighter guidelines on ensuring Internet safety policies and procedures are in place.

I began an **app** and **tip list** for the Internet Safety webpage; these lists can be added to as needed. The apps might prove especially useful as new ones are created for iTunes and can be utilized by school districts. .

**References**

Common Sense Media. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.commonsensemedia.org/

Federal Communications Commissions. (2011). //FCC 11-125//. Retrieved from[| http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2011/db0819/FCC-11-125A1.pdf]

i-SAFE. (2012). //National assessment center.// Retrieved from []

Lenhart, A. (2010). //Cyberbullying: What the research is the telling us//. Retrieved from [|http://www.slideshare.net/PewInternet/cyberbullying-2010-what-the-research-tells-us-4009451]

makeuseof.com. (2008). //How to create strong passwords that you can remember easily//. Retrieved from []

Southern Lehigh School District. (2011). //Educational technology report//. Retrieved from slsd.org