Internet Safety and Ethics for the Classroom
Note: After reading this editorial, please visit the transcript of the discussion forum to view readers' comments.
Mrs. Wohfiehl was the type of teacher other teachers sought to emulate. She was intelligent, hardworking, and innovative, and she loved to teach. She frequently used Internet search engines and directories to locate materials and lessons related to her fourth grade students' needs, and she identified resources on the World Wide Web that fit with the learning objectives in her classroom. She used e-mail frequently, and she belonged to several listservs, many of which put her in touch with a wide variety of educators -- from inservice and preservice classroom teachers to college professors. Her favorite listserv encouraged friendly, helpful interaction among professionals and discouraged flaming and spamming.
She was shocked one day when she discovered that someone had posted a message to this listserv that contained pornographic images and abusive language. The list manager immediately removed the message from the list archives and took steps to prevent its author from posting to the list in future; she also kept others on the list apprised of the situation and what was being done to resolve it. After some investigation it was determined that the child of one list member had sent the message. No one who knew the child could believe that this honor student had done such a thing.
Mrs. Wohfiehl felt that it was important for her students to have access to the vast resources available on the World Wide Web and to make the most of e-mail. However, receiving the disturbing message on the listserv made her think about the guidance she needed to give her students as they learned to use the Internet. The Internet provided her students with ready access to all sorts of people, and not all of them would model appropriate and ethical Internet behavior.
The next weekend, Mrs. Wohfiehl spent some time searching the Internet for ways in which schools, agencies, and parents had dealt with unethical behavior on the Internet. She soon found herself researching not only how to deal with inappropriate messages on listservs but also issues related to dissemination of misinformation, flaming, defamation, harassment, obscenity, incitement, impersonation, plagiarism, privacy, viruses and worms, security breaches, abusing the property rights of others, spamming, fraud, and exploitation. Though all these things concerned her, she determined that her most immediate need for her students was helping them understand and respond to plagiarism, invasion of privacy, and exploitation with relation to the Internet.
Of course, we are all familiar with the terrifying cases of sexual exploitation of children facilitated by the Internet. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation website describes cases of e-mail transmission of pornographic images of children and of pedophiles who prey on children they meet in chat rooms. And we have all had the experience of conducting an Internet search, only to have our seemingly innocent keywords yield links to explicit websites.
But another, subtler form of exploitation of children involves invasion of privacy. For example, at some websites where contests are sponsored, children are asked to provide a considerable amount of personal information as a prerequisite to winning prizes. Many innocently respond, unaware that their personal data will be used for marketing purposes. In 1998, David E. DeSantis (online document) reported that of the 69 million children in the United States, almost 10 million (14%) had Internet access either from school or home. Children clearly represent a large and rapidly growing segment of online consumers, and companies that produce and market products for children are well aware of this fact.
Besides wanting to protect her students from all forms of exploitation, Mrs. Wohfiehl was concerned about the way they used Internet resources in their classroom research. She wanted to ensure that the students were aware that material on the Internet belonged to the people who developed it. She believed that though children should be encouraged to search for new information and ways of presenting it, they should have a basic understanding of copyright and know how to cite Internet sources in order to give appropriate credit for information they might use.
Guidelines for Classroom Use of the Internet
While searching the Internet, Mrs. Wohfiehl found a wealth of material that gave her ideas for addressing inappropriate and unethical behavior on the web. The next week, she discussed plagiarism, privacy, and exploitation with her fourth graders, and she and the children generated the following list of rules for use of the Internet in their classroom.
Guidelines for Parents
Mrs. Wohfiehl knew that many of her students had Internet access at home, so she sent a note to each child's parents, offering the following guidelines.
Filtering the Internet
Despite guidelines such as these, it is all too easy for children to stumble on highly disturbing material on the Internet. There are, however, many software packages that can help teachers and parents prevent children from accessing pornographic, violent, or otherwise offensive material. These packages usually work by searching for certain phrases and words in a data stream coming from a website. If these words are detected, the software prevents the material from being transmitted by shutting down the computer or hanging up the modem, or it blocks display of content from the site. Though there are many such software packages, some of the more commonly known are CYBERsitter, SurfWatch, Cyber Patrol, The Internet Filter, and Net Nanny.
In addition, some Internet search engines and directories now offer special “safe sites” designed for children. Two of these are Yahoo's popular Yahooligans and Lycos Zone.
Making the Net Safer for Students
Mrs. Wohfiehl's research convinced her that there were two ways to make certain the children in her class were safe on the Internet: by limiting the ways in which they could encounter material that did not contribute to their education, and -- perhaps most importantly -- by teaching them how to deal with such material if they did encounter it. She knew that as they got older they would often be put in situations where they would have to decide between right and wrong. Besides relying on the Internet as a classroom information resource, she intended to use it as a stepping stone to teaching her students about safety, responsibility, appropriate behavior, and ethics.
Some Additional Online Resources
Guidelines for Using the Internet
Filtering the Internet
Chat room: A chat room is a location on the Internet where communication can take place in “real time.” When you've logged on to a chat room, everything you type appears on the screens of everyone else who is at that Internet location to participate in that particular chat. Each participant's statements are labeled with a nickname to identify who is talking. Participants choose their own nicknames and often decide against sharing their real names, either to preserve anonymity or to take on a new persona. Chat rooms are usually organized around a particular topic (for example, ROL has conducted chats about several of its postings) and provide a place to “meet” people who share similar interests.
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Flaming: Originally, “flaming” meant to express oneself in an e-mail or post to an online discussion in a passionate manner in the spirit of honorable debate. Flaming well was an art form. More recently, flame has come to refer to any kind of derogatory or mean-spirited comment. A “flame war” occurs when an online discussion degenerates into a series of personal attacks against the debators, rather than discussion of their positions.
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Internet: The vast collection of interconnected networks that all use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the Arpanet of the late 1960s and early '70s. Together, the Internet gives access to websites on the World Wide Web, e-mail, listservs, and other forms of electronic communication and transmittal of data.
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Listserv: The most common kind of e-mailing list, “Listserv” is actually a registered trademark of L-Soft International, a software firm that developed one of the most popular mailing list packages. The word, usually with a lowercase l, has now come to refer to any group mailing list which a user can join to receive or post messages to other members of the group. Examples include ROL's own mailing list (a list that provides subscribers with “e-mail alerts” of new content at the site) and RTEACHER, a list connected with the International Reading Association's print journal The Reading Teacher.
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Spamming: An inappropriate use of a mailing list, listserv, or other networked communications facility to send the same message to a large number of people who didn't ask for it. The term may come from some Internet users' low opinion of the food product with the same name or from a Monty Python skit that features the word spam used repeatedly.
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Definitions in this glossary are based on those found in Enzer, M. (1994-99). Glossary of Internet Terms. Available: http://www.matisse.net/files/glossary.html.
About the Author
Martha Dillner is a professor of reading and instructional technology at the University of Houston-Clear Lake in Houston, Texas, USA. She earned her doctorate in reading and curriculum and instruction at the University of Florida and has spent over 25 years teaching in both public school and university settings. In addition to coauthoring five textbooks, Dr. Dillner has developed and published instructional software, including an application that uses interactive multimedia to help preservice and inservice teachers learn how to use the Language Experience Approach. She also has created a set of hypertext lessons for elementary-level reading instruction and an interactive computer kiosk that uses photographs, audio clips, and video clips to depict the history of the University of Houston-Clear Lake. Dr. Dillner has contributed numerous articles to international, national, and state journals, and has been awarded several grants for her continued research, including a US$100,000 grant from the United States Office of Education Right to Read Program. She has presented papers at international and regional conferences, has served as president of the International Reading Association's Microcomputers in Reading Special Interest Group, and has served as editor of the group's electronic newsletter, MicroMissive.
Transcript of the Discussion Forum
Note: When this editorial was originally posted in January 2000, readers were invited to post comments about it in an online discussion forum. These forums were subsequently discontinued when the journal was redesigned in July 2000. Readers who would like to comment about this editorial are now invited to contact the author directly or to post messages to Online Communities.
Following is a transcript of the comments posted to the forum.
Post 1
Author: Katie_Smith
Date: 02-07-2000 10:46
Mrs. Wohfiehl has identified two of the most critical issues teachers will face with bringing the internet to the classroom - safety and ethics. The internet can provide a classroom with endless amounts of information and resources. On the flip side, it can introduce curious young minds to a world of pornography, obscenity and child predators, and can challenge the ethical standards of a classroom.
Though these issues should by no means discourage teachers from using the internet as a prime classroom resource, they should be addressed and students should be given guidelines for internet use. Mrs. Wohfiehl was very inventive the creation of her classroom's guidelines as she allowed her students to take part in the development of their list. She addressed all of the key points with her students - plagarism, privacy and exploitation - and then worked with them to develop their own rules. More importantly, however, she provided students with alterior sources on the internet that they could use when faced with questions regarding citing sources and giving proper credit.
Another positive step that Mrs. Wohfiehl took with her students was developing a list of guidelines for parents. She addressed the fact that the majority of her students had internet access at home and in keeping with the standandards of her classroom, provided parents with these at-home rules. This was a great idea! Not was she keeping parents abreast of her classroom activities - she was taking that extra step to ensure that her students understood that ethics and safety on the internet applied to all situations - not simply those in the classroom. I applaud this teacher's efforts to ensure that the internet remains a positive resource for her students!
Reply 1a
Author: Rebecca Stone
Date: 04-09-2000 23:19
Katie (in the above response) made some really important points in response to Mrs. Wohfiehl's approach to the use of the Internet in the classroom. Here are my responses to the approaches given in Ms. Dillner's editorial.
1) Student choice - So many times in classes students are told what to do and how to behave without any imput or choice. Mrs. Wohfiehl not only identifies and discusses with her students the type of behavior she expects from her students when they are using the Internet as a resource, but includes them in the decision-making process. Students are free to discuss and develop the classroom rules; this critical thinking leads towards empowement, mutual respect, and self-directed learning.
2) Providing "friendly" resources for student use - I just love the list given in the article outlining several Internet sites that help students give proper credit to Internet resources. I think it would be wonderful for teachers to explore these sites, possibly posting them close to classroom computers or making copies for each student to keep in their notebooks. Having the sites available and posted for easy use can help reduce and eliminate plaigarism.
3) Parental guidelines for Internet use - What an excellent idea! Many parents do not realize that admist a variety of benefits, the Internet can also expose their children to child predators, obscenity, and pornography (many others as well). Parental support in following the same guidelines as outlined in the classroom can make the use of the Internet in the classroom much easier.
I highly suggest that if you have not done so yet, please make a copy of this editorial for future reference and use. The sites Ms. Dillner lists are wonderful resources on how to guide student use of the Internet in the classroom. I found this article not only extremely interesting, but also helpful as a prospective teacher! :)
Reply 1b
Author: Heather_Blakeslee
Date: 04-15-2000 08:19
I agree with what both Katie Smith and Rebecca Stone have to say in regards to the article, "Internet Safety anhd Ethics for the Classroom." During my courses here at Miami University I have learned quite a bit about using technology in the classroom. I would have to say, however, that if I learned any one thing that stands out as being most important about using this tool with students, it would be that GUIDANCE is the most important aspect of student exploration. If we as educators wish to use new and innovative methods for students to research and experience, we must be prepared to guide students through their exploration. If we choose not to guide those students, then we are the ones who will be faulted for inappropriate behavriors or materials that are brought to light.
A second point that I don't think has been fully developed is Mrs. Wohfiehl's view on addressing plagiarism, invasion of privacy, etc. The article says, "she determined that her most immediate need for her students was helping them understand and respond to plagiarism, invasion of privacy, and exploitation with relation to the Internet." How important this is! If we merely present information to students, it will be most difficult for them to fully comprehend exactly what we mean. When I read this article, I get the feeling that Mrs. Wohfiehl has done enough independent research that she is going to use a variety of techniques to ensure that her students truly understand the implications of plagiarizing material or doing some other inappropriate act regarding the Internet or World Wide Web. Something else that I feel needs to be validated is that Mrs. Wohfiehl makes sure students are aware that the material on the Internet belongs to someone else. It is important that students document those sources correctly. In my classroom I used a printout from Eastern Michigan University that gave specifications on how to document online resources but I like the links she gives for students (and teachers) to go to. Documentation is very important and helps keep teachers and students on track.
I had some concerns with the Guidelines for Parents portion of this article. I was wondering what grade level Mrs. Wohfiehl taught and also what kind of background her students come from. It seems to me that these guidelines would work well in an elementary school that lies in a middle, upper-middle, or upper-class section. I am not sure how responsive parents or students would be to these guidelines if the majority of students come from a high school setting that is in an urban or lower-class region. I have not had much experience teaching, but this would be a concern for me. If I teach in a setting that does not have much parental involvement or support, what kinds of "guidelines" or ways of getting parents involved with Internet safety could I use? Any suggestions?
Reading Online, www.readingonline.org
Posted January 2000; updated May 2000
© 1999-2000 International Reading Association, Inc. ISSN 1096-1232