The Dilemma of Internet Safety

In District #1, we have a group of community and school representatives who make up the "Learning Leadership Team". This morning marked the opening meeting for the 2009-2010 school year. At each meeting, our facilitators organize some "new learning" for the group, and today's presenter was the Grundy County State's Attorney, Sheldon Sobol. Mr. Sobol spoke to our group about the importance of Internet safety. His office has provided numerous parental trainings on this issue throughout Grundy County.

He provided many examples of situations involving Internet predators in Grundy and surrounding counties. He also gave some information for parents to discuss with their children when talking about Internet safety. Overall, he did a very good job of opening our eyes to an important issue. In fact, many of the safety precautions he advocated are similar to those found on an FBI website of the same topic.

During his discussion, I couldn't quit thinking about the quandary school districts are in. On the one hand, we have the ultimate responsibility of keeping our kids safe. No matter what the topic, our first consideration is, and must always be, student safety. In today's litigious society, there are moments we may even go overboard in assuring our students are safe, but that is just a sign of the times in which we live. Therefore, we have to make sure our students are provided with all of the safety precautions necessary to assure they do not access web sites deemed inappropriate or become victims of online predators. Our school district takes these responsibilities very seriously, and as Mr. Sobol reinforced, it is vitally important.

However, Mr. Sobol also made another very important statement. He reminded us that completely sheltering our students from the Internet is not the answer either. If we shut our students off from these opportunities, we are withholding from them a necessary "life skill" they will need for success in the global economy of the 21st century. Instead, we have to educate our students, and their parents, on using the vast amount of information on the Internet in appropriate and meaningful ways. The question then becomes, "How does society accomplish this, and what role should schools play in the process?"

I believe that schools will have to become the primary player in this learning process. However, I would advocate for the incorporation of these skills into our existing curriculum as opposed to the development of new classes. Within our existing curriculum, we have to provide meaningful learning opportunities for our students that encourage their use of Web 2.0 tools. We must also take the time to teach them how to use these tools in a responsible manner. For example, where our instruction for a research paper used to focus on "how to find" the necessary information, now we must focus on "how to evaluate" the content of the plethora of information that is available via the web. The entire notion of a "primary resource" has changed. Video-conferencing and social networking have muddied the waters, and we must provide opportunities to teach our students how to evaluate a creditable source from a phony. It is a complex issue and a difficult challenge, but one that we must begin to deal with in our public schools.

How would you go about providing the necessary Web 2.0 opportunities for our students while at the same time protecting the school district from liability?