This week has been cyber-safety week in the high school. This year’s focus was “Who are you online?”, looking closely at how online behavior, posts, and pictures become the only information that others have about that person. This perception of a person then becomes the reality of who that person is.
As I said to the students in the Monday morning assembly,
“for people who don’t know you as community-minded, friendly, focused students, your Faceboook profile IS who you are. So what would I think of you, if that’s the only information I had?”
This point particularly hit home in the context of how employers and universities are known to be checking online profiles and behavior before making hiring and acceptance decisions. In my research preparing for the week, I came across results from a US News and World Report study that indicates that 33% of US universities are somewhat likely to revoke an admission if they become aware of inappropriate postings on the web.
In both the Monday assembly and in our smaller Thursday Comm Group sessions, students learned about the permanence of their online content. Recently Facebook changed their Terms of Service so that user information belonged to Facebook, even after a user deleted their account. After a great deal of uproar over this, Facebook reverted back to their previous agreement But they will certainly look to return to their changes in the near future.
Discussions with students brought to light the need for them to better control who they are online. Students considered the ethical implications of their own privacy as well as the impact that their online choices have on their choices for their futures and those of their friends.
It was a wonderful learning opportunity for most students and a necessary part of their education in the 21st Century.
All in all, a successful cyber-safety week.
But it doesn’t end there.
As part of the week’s focus on online safety, we are also conducting the 1st Annunal Cyber-Safety Film Competition.
Here are the contest guidelines:
- Films should be between 30 seconds and 2 minutes long
- They can focus on any facet of cyber-safety, including but not limited to, cyber-bullying, identity protection, who you are online, bullying via cell phones, or general cyber-safety.
- Entries should be submitted as either .mov, .wmv, .avi, or .mp4 files.
- Entries should be submitted to Mr. Harter in Ed Tech before 3 April. No late submissions will be accepted.
For some examples of videos like this, check out YouTube. Below are a few examples and embedded is the one shown at assembly - once it’s posted it’s out of your control.
Tags: cyberbullying, cybersafety, facebook, high school, online safety, socialnetworking, videos, youtube
