In today's technology age, we use computers for practically everything it seems. From paying bills to ordering a birthday gift for your child, computers can make our lives much easier. However, computers and the Internet in particular, are not always safe and secure. Computer hackers can hack into your network and steal personal information. Child predators can stalk children via the internet causing every parent's worst nightmare. Another threat to computers are viruses that can infect them and cause irreparable damage. All of these things are dangers that we encounter when using the Internet. That's why it is vital to take the necessary precautions to prevent these things from happening.
I am not yet teaching, but on my personal computer at home I have anti-virus software installed. I am also very careful about what I download or click on when using the Internet. Unfortunately, these precautions are not always enough because some viruses, like the Trojan Horses, disguise themselves as something else, so the user unknowingly downloads them onto his or her computer. My sister had something like this infect her computer last year. A pop-up box kept showing up on her computer prompting her to click yes or no as to whether or not she wanted to download a program. She clicked "no" and didn't think about it again. Over time her computer virtually shut down. My husband was able to fix it, and discovered that her computer had a virus that she had unknowingly downloaded when she clicked "no." The virus was set up to infect the computer no matter which you chose. She would have had to have closed out the box without choosing an answer to not contract the virus. It definitely pays to be extra careful with the internet.
I am not yet teaching, but I did work at my county's middle school for the last three years as a case manager, so I know a little about the precautions made with the school's computers. Every staff member has a password that must be entered before they can access any computer. This is a good precaution because it prevents students from being able to access the computers without knowing the username and password of a staff member. One concern I have with this system, though, is that the password is not required to be changed after so long. I worked there for over three years and was never once asked to change my log-in password. Teachers can take it upon themselves to change it every so often, and they probably should, but honestly, I never changed mine because I was worried that I would forget it if I kept changing it. I kept it the same for my own convenience, but at what risk? My guess is that if I did not change my password, other staff members probably didn't either. Looking back, I can see that this was not the best way to go about things. Changing passwords is a simple way to increase security and prevent students from getting onto computers and retrieving information.
With the prevalence of social networking sites like Facebook, new safety and security concerns are occurring in our schools. My county recently had an incident with a teacher communicating with a student via Facebook in order to illicit sexual contact with her. After this happened, our schools are now requiring that teachers do not have students as friends on Facebook. I personally think that this should have been policy before this happened, but thankfully it is now. We have to keep our students and teachers safe from things like this. In the end, I feel that it is best to err on the side of caution when using the internet.
Taking precautions with the internet and teaching our students about internet safety addresses the NETS-T standard 4: Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility. It is our responsibility as educators to keep our students safe while using the internet. It is important that we monitor what they do in the classroom and teach them safety tips that they can use at home as well.
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