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Friday, July 21, 2017

Online Safety: The Responsibility of Schools or Parents?

I recently read a blog post on why parents should be concerned with teaching their children about digital safety. (You can find the link below if you would like to read it.) Many people believe that it is the schools responsibility to teach students about online safety, but in his post Corey Tutewiler suggests that it is more of a partnership between schools and parents. He argues that children begin learning in the home before ever coming to school and most children, whether good or bad, tend to exhibit behavior more similar to their parents than any teacher or educator.

I tend to agree with Tutewiler's point of view. I definitely think the responsibility of teaching children about online safety falls on the shoulders of both parents and educators. It is important for students to be safe while at school, but once students leave school grounds, educators cannot be solely responsible for what students do online. Parents need to be aware of what their children are doing on their devices.

I recently had a colleague hand me his phone because he was on Facebook and couldn't figure out why an inappropriate account was showing up on his feed. He said he had denied adding the account to his friend list. As I took his phone, I looked at his feed and the account wasn't showing up because he was friends with the person. It was showing up because his daughter had accepted a friend request from the account. My colleague was shocked that his daughter would add someone to her social media that she did not know and was clearly inappropriate. We talked about how as parents we assume our children know how to be safe online because a lot of times they know more about different sites, apps, etc. than we do. He determined that when he got home, he would sit down with his children and talk about online safety and make sure they got rid of people they do no know on their accounts.

I think this is an important discussion all parents should have with their children. Social media was not a very big thing yet when I was in high school, but my parents only allowed my siblings and I to have a MySpace (I know, old right!?) and later a Facebook account if they had our passwords. We also knew that our parents could take our phones whenever they felt like it and read any texts on there. My parents did not do this in a malicious or overbearing way. They explained that it was for our safety, and they tried to respect and allow us some privacy while still making sure we were being safe. Technology is going to continue to change, so as parents, I think we have to stay on top of the parental controls and tools that are available to keep our children safe.

Gaggle Speaks - Safe Schools Begin at Home: Why Parents Should be Concerned about Student Online Safety

6 comments:

  1. Hi Brittni,
    I definitely agree with you and Tutewiler in that it is a partnership between parents and educators. I have found that many times teachers are more aware of the current apps and trends since they're surrounded by children all day. For example, there was an app called "AfterSchool" that caused a lot of bullying issues at my school, but many parents weren't aware of it; teachers only knew because they heard kids talking about it. Of course it all depends because there are parents that are more "hip" than some teachers! Its definitely a joint partnership, which means the two groups need to work together to ensure that all bases are covered.

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    1. You are absolutely right. Teachers do sometimes hear things from students that parents might not, so there has to be a relationship and a way to share that information. It is amazing sometimes what kids will say because they think you aren't listening!

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  2. Hey Brittni,

    I 100% agree with you that it is a partnership between parents and educators to teach students about online safety. As of right now, I only allow my 13-year-old son to have Instagram. I also have his account tied to my account so when he receives messages I get pinged as well. Both of my kids are not allowed to download anything without a password, that I refuse to share with them.

    In my son's middle school there have been several instances where SnapChat has caused major bullying issues, and therefore I have chosen not to allow them to have it. Facebook is another no go because of the difficulty to monitor it. I personally have all three, but I also teach middle-school and understand how some can be influenced to "check out" something. We have discussions about why certain things are allowed and the reasoning my husband and I have chosen to not allow other items.

    As a teacher, I try to educate on digital citizenship and why it is important for everyone to understand what it means. This often turns into discussions about cyber bullying. My hope is that maybe talking and teaching about it will help my students become more aware.

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    1. It sounds like you are a very well-informed parent, and it is great that you are able to have those discussions with your kids. My children are still too young to have any social media accounts, but I have to admit it scares me to think what will be available when they reach that age.

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  3. As a technology teacher who concerns myself with the issue of digital citizenship and online safety, your post was thought provoking to me, Brittni. I spend a lot of time teaching students how to be safe online, not to bully others and even stand up for kids who are being bullied, but I don't have a partnership with parents. Reading your post made me want to create one. It's apparent that it has to be a joint effort, like any other aspect of education. Teachers and parents have to work together to create a successful experience for their kids.

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  4. Working with parents is so very important, yet it can sometimes be a difficult thing to do. I'd love to hear any ideas on how you might create that partnership.

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