Digital Citizenship
What's Happening in 6th Grade?
How Would YOU Answer These Questions?
What is clickjacking?
What do scammers want with a child's personal information?
Does my mobile device really record locations that I frequent?
Can hovering over a website or link attach a cookie to my computer? What is a cookie?
Read on and see what our 6th Graders are learning--ask them to answer these questions!
Our Goal
This newsletter is to communicate to parents the curriculum that 6th grade students are receiving in the middle school in an effort to:
- Keep our children/students safe online against outside threats.
- Empower our children/students to be good digital consumers and citizens, promote positive communication, so that they continue to have positive digital footprints.
- Have parents, interject their family values, continue the conversation at home and join us as a partner in this effort.
The curriculum and this newsletter is based on and modified from Common Sense Media Digital Literacy & Citizenship Educator Curriculum. Check out Common Sense Media and Subscribe to their newsletter to learn more.
By Karen Reiber Media/Technology Specialist
What's the Big Deal About Internet Privacy? (Also known as 6th Grade Cookie Day!)
Focus: On how and why websites collect personal information, when and why one might want to look at the privacy policy and how children/teens are protected.
This class was started off with the scenario that our principal was having researchers in for a week to help make our school, work more efficiently—by documenting where a student goes (lockers, restroom, nurse, water fountain, etc.), how long they were there, who they talked with and then make recommendations. Students would only be identified by a number. When asked if they had any questions you will be glad to know that they did not like this, felt that their rights might be violated and even it might feel like they were being stalked. They were informed this would not really happen and then we applied that same information to internet privacy—it was an interesting discussion. They have ‘Stranger Danger' down to a tee but not so much online stranger savvy.
We covered:
- Cookies-are small text files that attach to your hard drive. It is not software, virus or spyware. They can be both good and bad. They can enhance your browsing or shopping experience, they can expire with the session or only work when returning to that site. The downside--a tracking cookie'-- this may occur when websites might use/sell information that they have collected and give to a third party. Some cookies can attach by just hovering over a site or link.
- What is private information? (Name, age, address, phone, email, gender, etc)
- The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act--which protects the rights of children under the age of 13. If students download apps or sign up for websites that are not age appropriate, their personal information is NO longer protected.
- Activity where they checked Privacy Policy on sites like: You Tube, Minecraft, Pandora, Gmail, How Stuff Works and Tumblr—they had to find what personal information was collected, did the site collect cookies, does the site share 3rd party information and were there privacy options. It was difficult reading and they used ‘finder' to zone in on the words they were looking for and most were surprised at what they found.
- Final thought: If you are giving a website information perhaps you should read the Privacy Policy! A bag of cookies awarded at the end of class.
PARENTS:
- You can clear and or disable Internet "cookies" in your browser (Internet Explorer, Chrome etc.) settings, thus limiting the ability for cookies to track your child's online activity.
- Here is a link to Children Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) website--we take this very seriously at school.
- Check out this article from the Wall Street Journal: On the Web, Children Face Intensive Tracking.
The Power of Social Media
Last week during the frigid weather my son found a pug dog on his 5:30 am dog walk. Too cold to leave the small dog he carried it home. After looking at some options--two that would cost him and the owner money, he decided to take it to social media. He posted the picture with location to Dayton Area Lost and Found Facebook Page. His post had 196 Likes, 126 Shares, 31 Comments and 1 Very Happy Owner (about an hour later) and my son still made it to work on time! Here's a link to the to the Cincinnati page just in case you might need it: Lost and Found Facebook Page for Cincinnati.
Identity Theft: Scams and Schemes
Focus: Students will have the ability to define Identity Theft, recognize strategies that scam artists use to access information and ways to protect themselves.
- We looked at the goal of the scammer as getting information or money from children/teens. Our children/teens are vulnerable to these attacks because they lack worldly experience that adults have, easily give up personal information and will click on anything. As adults we can process the information being presented to us and are much better at guarding our personal information.
- Scammers often look for children because as Common Sense Media states, “they have ‘clean’ Social Security numbers that haven’t yet been used to get credit. That way a scammer can use or sell this information to get a credit card or a loan.”
- With children/teens this might not even be discovered for years and then it becomes difficult to recover their financial identity.
PARENTS:
- Be careful when giving your child information to purchase items online—as your child may think it convenient to store your information which in the end makes your information vulnerable.
- You might consider every couple of years running a credit check using your children’s names—just to make sure their identity has not been compromised.
- Email Accounts--most are for 13 year olds and older as they ask for a lot of personal information. Set up delegated, "joint account" to see what is happening. Remember most websites and apps will ask for an email address--if they have their own you might not know what they are accessing/using. You can also use Family Sharing on apple devices.
In class we looked at some current scams for "password validation" and Flappy Bird Scam Clones. We watched one of those ridiculous City Bank Commercials on Identity Theft (seen below) and did an activity on how to identify Phishing Emails.
Taking it Mobile!
Focus: Was around mobile devices, cell phones, smart phones, any mobile device that has access to the internet. Students will be able to talk about age restrictions and why they are put in place, both positives and negatives of social media.
- Students took an anonymous mini-poll about what devices they are using.
- Activity: look at some websites and apps that they have, or know that other students might have, and look for the age restrictions and location services.
- Define texting, chatting, sexting and pornography (sexting and pornography just a basic definition just to make sure all students are on the same page).
- Discuss very positive ways these websites/apps can and are being used and on the negative side we discuss some consequences: legal, to reputation and effect on their digital footprint. I have included a great infographic from Common Sense Media, “I Took a Photo of My Friend That I Want to Share…Now What?”
Check out this great video segment, "iphone iSpy" that was shown on Fox19 about Androids and Apple devices tracking all your Frequent Locations at the bottom of this section.
PARENTS:
- Focus on the positives of mobile devices and social media and the intended purpose of the devices you have given them.
- Establish clear ground rules based on family values.
- Make it clear if they make a mistake, it's okay, don't hide it, remind them you are their to help them.
- Become knowledgeable about Social Media. Make sure to look at the apps your child/teen have on their devices. Be interested and ask them how they work. Occasionally check text messages to see how they are handling those as well. Discuss up front that monitoring the device is for their protection.
- Not sure about an app/website you can go to Google and type in: "Age Restriction for…app or website." This will bring up the age restriction and other information. Here are links to a couple of articles about apps and their content—Common Sense Media has great resources on this topic.
- Some apps/websites that are being used in 6th grade that are not age appropriate: Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Vine, Buzzfeed and Stumble Upon—all are for 13 years and older and some for 17+ or 18 year olds. Here is an article that a parent shared with us: Parents, If Your Kids Have Any of These 10 Dangerous Apps, It's Time to Hit "Delete."
- Devices should be used and charged in a family space or public space and NOT in their bedroom.
- Be sure to update mobile devices so that the device does not miss out on the latest security measures—remember mobile devices are not as secure as home/work computers.
QUESTIONS, COMMENTS OR CONCERNS?
513-206-7190
reiberk@wyomingcityschools.org
Resources:
Common Sense Media Education. Common Sense Media, Inc. 2015. Web. 22 February 2015.