As a teacher of technology, I spend the first part of every school year teaching digital citizenship. We spend a great deal of time talking about our digital footprint, building a positive online presence and thinking about personal security. We spend time talking about the importance of being thoughtful about our passwords and our user names. It is usually right during this time, that students are given their school wide accounts to things like iRead or System44, typing web, Reading Inventory or FASTmath. Inevitably, the password that has been given to them is: Password.
I find tremendous irony that the same institution that values, and endeavors to teach them importance of online safety does not follow the rules when assigning accounts to students. I understand the difficulty of creating usable passwords to our youngest students, but the disconnect between what we teach and what we do is significant. Students in my classroom must first earn their Internet Driver's License before being allowed out on the internet at school. This License has two components: Internet Safety and Technical Skills. For the first aspect we spend a good deal of time discussing, watching videos (Common Sense Media) and creating a pledge to remain safe on the internet. They also sign an agreement that involves appropriate use of computers at school. It is important to establish parameters for the professional use of computers while at school. The second portion of our class involves making sure students have the basic tools necessary to contribute and collaborate in all their classes. Students learn how to create in google slides, docs, and how to share these with teachers and classmates. I also instruct them on the use of their school email. Involved with all of this instruction I teach them the specific skills of inserting links, pictures, screenshots, as well as how to utilize research and editing tools. This is taught 3rd-5th grade. Our younger students learn how to log on to their Chromebook, how to email, and how to insert pictures. They earn their Driver's Permit. I use a WONDERFUL resource from Teachers Pay Teachers. It is a series of slides (google slides) which teaches students each of these skills. The culminating assessment project is for students to create their own Internet Driver's License which includes the skills they've been working on. They must take and insert a picture of themselves, and edit the License to standards that they are given. Our students exist in a wide digital world that is full of dangers and pitfalls, as well as opportunities and amazing experiences. It is our responsibility to send them out to meet this world armed with the necessary skills to not only succeed but to ensure their safety and privacy.
4 Comments
james
6/11/2017 02:27:51 pm
Jen,
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6/11/2017 05:53:21 pm
Jen, you covered ways to keep students on their foots to being a wise internet user, love it. In high school we are always watching for plagiarism and students on websites that could be unsafe for them. Another issue we are coming across is cyber bullying. I will check out this website you have written about and see if I'm able to incorporate it somehow in a lesson plan next year.
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I love that you also focus on passwords. I do the same with my students. I have them calculate the sample space for their rather formulaic school passwords and they learn a modern computer could brute force it in seconds and, unfortunately, most of our educational softwares don't have a number of attempts before lock out. Not to mention that the consistent structure of passwords makes them easy to guess without a computer to help out! It really does get them to start thinking critically about their passwords. Something else I love to do with my students is this quiz about password strength (I put it as my "website" since I can't link in comments). It was based off of research into how people crack passwords and what makes them easy to crack. I was surprised at how some "traditional" password strength tips can backfire because those tips made passwords predictable!
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Scott Marsden
6/13/2017 10:09:20 am
Jen,
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AuthorJen has been teaching school for awhile now. She's learned some stuff, but she's got tons more to learn. Archives
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