GuidanceChannel.com: What may seem like safe online behavior often isn’t. In what ways can personal information be gathered as kids travel through and connect with one another in cyberspace?
Art Wolinsky: Contrary to what most people think, there aren’t that many people out there digging for information. The fact is that a lot of personal information is easy to find. For example, potential predators can easily follow people based on their profiles and online conversations. An internet predator who is stalking or grooming someone can actual talk directly to the potential victim, his or her friends, and look at all their profiles to learn key details about them.
Today’s kids need to be taught how to communicate online. While they aren’t intentionally taking risks, they just don’t understand the consequences of their actions. Kids often don’t recognize the difference between online and offline conversations. In an offline conversation, a comment is made and it’s gone. In an online conversation, the posts stay up forever. It’s also not private. When they post something for their friends to see, the whole world can see it. In order to keep kids safe, we need to teach them information literacy skills.
GuidanceChannel.com: Should schools be expected to teach them this? Isn’t that a parent’s responsibility?
Art Wolinsky: It’s everyone’s responsibility. Most schools are already focusing on promoting safety through driver’s education, sex education classes, fire safety programs, etc. They should be focusing on Internet safety, as well.
One reason why schools may not focus on Internet safety is that they not sure how to even implement these types of programs. They are trying to figure out who should be responsible for this type of programming and at what grade level should it be run. When schools are already overburdened with responsibilities relating to testing and accountability, it’s understandable that they may be reluctant to add another curriculum—especially when, in many cases, the teachers are not prepared to teach it.
GuidanceChannel.com: What would you say to schools who believe that installing filtering software is enough to protect their students?
Art Wolinsky: They are not enough. Filters don’t block all of the material they should and they block material that they shouldn’t. They also don’t do anything to keep kids from exchanging information that might put them at risk. That’s a message that myself and many other experts out there, including Congress, have been trying to get out.
GuidanceChannel.com: It seems as if there are so many potential problems associated with having students online at school that it’s easy to think that it may be safer to avoid using the Internet all together. What would you say to schools that say it’s just not worth the risk?
Art Wolinsky: If we do not allow students to work online in school, we are doing a tremendous disservice because these are the tools that they will use for the rest of their lives. I think any school who takes that tactic is doing a disservice to their school to the point where I wouldn’t want my kid going there.
GuidanceChannel.com: What is an acceptable use policy and what role can it play in protecting students online?
Art Wolinsky: An acceptable use policy, often called a computer contract, addresses what the school has determined to be acceptable use of their equipment. It’s a document that talks about how the students can use the network and what they can use it for. In most cases, these documents are fairly comprehensive and are saying the right thing. Where things fall apart is in the enforcement of the “acceptable use policies.” Too often, they are enforced inconsistently or aren’t enforced at all. Of course, there are a number of schools that are doing exemplary work where they are enforcing to the letter and students are doing what they’re supposed to.
The best thing that you can do in a school district to keep kids safe is to keep them actively engaged in worthwhile educational activities. Computers should not be used as babysitters or to let kids aimlessly surf the web, but rather be used to give students authentic and challenging tasks to do online.
GuidanceChannel.com: Earlier you mentioned “information literacy.” Can you explain what it is and how it can empower students with the skills that they need to protect themselves?
Art Wolinsky: If you look at the American Association of Libraries’ definition of information literacy, it boils down to being able to find, evaluate, and use information to do work in problem solving. The key component there is evaluating the information—evaluating the quality of the information, whether or not it’s good information, and whether it’s true information. If you teach kids to do that by evaluating websites, it’s a step towards talking to them about evaluating information they are getting from other people online.
My site, WiredSafety.org, features lessons to teach students how to evaluate websites and the people they are interacting with online. They are ready-to-use and any teacher can use them whether or not they have an expertise in technology. The flash-based lessons feature slides and audio which can be modified based on teachers’ preferences. If they have a limited background on internet safety, they can include my audio track that guides students through each lesson. Or, if they have lots of experience, they can shut off my voice and flip through the slides, hop around through them, and do their own teaching. I’ve tried to give them a tool they can use within the context of subjects that they are already teaching. Using this tool to teach kids how information can be used and misused can give them the power to protect themselves.
GuidanceChannel.com: It seems as if kids are especially vulnerable when they are using “social networking” sites. Can you explain how these sites work and describe some ways schools can help kids stay safe when using this type of technology?
Art Wolinsky: Social networking basically is a way that you can put a profile of yourself online and communicate with friends or business associates. Often it involves building a network of friends and/or a community of people with common interests.
People usually just think of My Space when they hear about social networking, but there are a number of sites offering this type of service. In fact, there’s even some free social network software that schools could set up on their own servers so that they could have kids social networking within the school. This gives schools the power to create a controlled environment in which teachers could actually be creating an online curriculum to teach both core academic subjects and online safety.
For example, a school could set up a social network and have students take on the roles of people living in the year 1776. A history teacher could assign roles to students--some as British spies, while others are patriots, businessmen, soldiers, and so on. Then the teacher can drive some of the discussions on the network. As the discussions evolve, students discover the importance of keeping certain information private and being careful about who you let into your network. For example, if you let a British spy into your network and you’re Ben Franklin or Thomas Jefferson, you’re going to be in big trouble.
That’s just one example of how these networks can be used. You can apply the concept to countless scenarios from history and even literature, such as having students take on the roles of the Montagues and the Capulets from Romeo and Juliet. Of course, most schools are not equipped to do that right now—for technology reasons, professional development reasons, and a number of other reasons. We’re still in the infancy of all of these things. Yet, it’s exciting to know what’s coming down the line!
GuidanceChannel.com: How can schools work with parents to keep students safe online?
Art Wolinsky: Schools can share the same message they a giving to kids with their parents. For example, they can provide internet safety information on nights when they know that the parents are going to be there already. You can have some short programs and printed material available to parents during back to school night or school orientation.
GuidanceChannel.com: It seems as if parents and schools want kids to know about the dangers online, but still want them to embrace the potential of today’s technology. How do you walk that line?
Art Wolinsky: For the most part, kids are safe. Even if they’re sharing more information than they should, in most cases, that information is not being accessed by predators. If you look at the statistics that are beginning to come out now, we see that the picture of social networking and online predators perpetuated by the press is not the real picture. In most cases, the kids who are being sexually exploited online are at-risk kids. These are the kids who are internet daredevils, who are seeking love and affection that they’re not getting at home.
On the other hand, when considering worrisome online behavior, it’s also important to recognize that sometimes kids are just being kids. The fact is that sometimes the do stupid things online and post things they shouldn’t. And while they may not really be at such a high risk to predators, they need to realize that this behavior can get them into trouble with college recruiters, future employers, the principal, and other people. The best way parents can keep their kids safe is to talk to them, understand them, and listen to what they’re saying.
GuidanceChannel.com: What is Wired Safety and how does it provide the resources schools and parents can use to keep kids safe online?
Art Wolinsky: WiredSafety is the world’s largest online safety organization. We are comprised of over 11,000 unpaid volunteers from around the world who work to keep people safe. We provide live support online through chat rooms and even have case workers who work with individuals. We also do presentations in schools and communities.
If you visit the WiredSafety site, www.wiredsafety.org, you’ll see that there are resources for people of all ages on a variety of topics, such as cyberstalking, viruses, adware, and the list goes on. Wired Safety reaches out any way we can to get our message across and to help people.