ASK THE EXPERTS | Internet Safety in Schools: Overcoming the Fear Factor

By Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and John Norton

How do teachers, schools and districts balance concerns about Internet safety with the need to help students tap into the World Wide Web’s powerful learning technology? We've been working as consultants with some forward-thinking Alabama schools and districts that are determined to find the answer.

“The Internet can seem pretty frightening to cautious educators,” says one high school teacher who participated in a two-year 21st Century Schools project supported by the Alabama Best Practices Center and funded by Microsoft Partners in Learning.

“In my school," she told us, "teachers are afraid that if they let students use the Web in class, they’re going to access inappropriate material and the teacher is going to be held responsible.”

“There’s a fear factor involved at the district level, too. Some administrators are worried that something really bad will happen that somehow involves the Internet, and the school system may be liable.”

Filters that Do the Job Too Well

In fact concerns about Internet safety can lead to district policies that make it very difficult for classroom educators to fully integrate web tools and resources into their lesson plans. District technology directors may opt for a “safety first” approach in response to the concerns of superintendents and school boards – whom many IT leaders see as their primary clients.

In these instances, system firewalls and content filters are so tight or so unpredictable that teachers can’t be sure which websites and tools will be reachable — or when. And no teacher is going to integrate technology-infused lessons into the daily classroom experience when there's a good chance they won’t come off.

As the national debate grows around the need to address 21st Century skills, some school districts are adopting or considering a “layered” approach that offers teachers higher levels of Internet access and then scales down access for high, middle and elementary students. This frequently requires a revamp of the existing technology infrastructure to allow for multiple password systems and layered filtering.

Creating a “Web Wading Pool”

Some districts are building “intranet” systems, which allow students and teachers to use a collection of social networking tools (blogs, wikis, podcasts, discussion boards) within a closed and relatively more secure Web-like environment.

It's true that self-assured teachers can feel constrained in such an environment by the lack of access to the latest interactive software and the vast collaborative potential of the World Wide Web. But other less intrepid educators may be more willing to experiment with technology integration in a closed environment — what one teacher described to us as “the Web wading pool.” Smart districts, including Alabama's Trussville City Schools, are looking at ways to offer teachers both Internet and intranet options.

Building Net Safety into the Curriculum

Perhaps the most common evolutionary change taking place in school districts is the move to increase training for both students and teachers on the responsible use of the Internet.

Some IT people may worry that teachers won’t have the tools or skills to keep things safe, according to one school district technology director we interviewed. He believes that well-designed Internet safety curriculum and training programs (iSafe, Web Wise Kids, and NetSmartz are examples) can help alleviate those concerns.

Teachers at Wrights Mill Elementary School in Auburn, Alabama, are integrating some of the iSafe curriculum ideas into their own program for students.

“We got very interested in the safety issue last year when we became excited about blogs and wikis and then discovered that all the sites we went to were blocked by our filter,” says Wrights Mill media teacher Jennifer Dempsey.

“Because of this, we started a dialogue with our IT people and some good lines of communication have been opened up. They have concerns about safety and liability, and we want to access the good stuff for our kids.”

Sending Students on “Web Quests” for Safety

The Wrights Mill teachers developed a webquest, "Safely Surfing Cyberspace," aimed at third through fifth graders. The teachers grabbed their students' attention with a dramatic opening to the activity:

The Committee Against Kids Using Computers (CAKUC) has determined that the Internet is too dangerous for children. They want to outlaw the use of computers for all children under the age of 12. Can you believe it?!

The safe-surfing project not only leads students through an analysis of Internet safety information gleaned from a variety of websites, it makes the learning "sticky" through hands-on activities in which students produce a PowerPoint (3rd), a podcast (4th) or a movie (5th). Students also take a test at the PBS Kids website that can earn them an “Internet driver’s license.”

Dempsey says her principal and faculty believed that "by bringing our students through a safety program, we could show our district that we deserve access to the great (web tools) that are out there, and at the same time we could give students important skills they need to stay safe online.”

“The kids know so much more about the Web than we think they do,” Dempsey says. "And the Web is here to stay. It's my hope that responsible, safe online behavior can become so ingrained in the elementary school that the issues of cyberbullying and Web predators in the upper grades eventually become non-issues."