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House rules that factor in limits to the influence of technology are vital to making your home a sanctuary allowing family members to connect and promote sensible use of the Internet and phones. Three key elements for cyber safe house rules are identified.

New rules make eMail, instant messages subject to legal review. According to new federal rules that went into effect Dec. 1, schools, businesses, and other organizations are required to keep tabs on all eMail, instant messages (IM), and other digital communications produced by their employees.

With its evidence room overflowing with cell phones, the Richmond County school board is wanting to give away what it has taken 15 years to collect. The board decided to give the phones back to students when it changed its policy for cell phones in June. The policy replaces the often-criticized rule to seize phones for 365 calendar days when a pupil is caught with one. In 15 years, 5,725 phones were taken from students, according to the public safety department. Of those, 4,566 were still being held by the department this summer. Under the new rules, a parent has 10 days to claim a phone before it is turned in to public safety on the first offense. For a second offense and any phones not claimed at the school on the first offense, public safety takes the phone for 30 days.

This three-part article includes a discussion of classroom connections to social networking sites and the school's role in intervening when information that affects the classroom is publicly posted on MySpace or Facebook. The authors also provide five key social networking tips:
1. Establish a policy for dealing with incidents in which students break school rules and their inappropriate behavior is showcased publicly on social-networking sites.
2. Outline clear guidelines for administrators that spell out how schools should discipline students based on information garnered from social-networking sites, and let parents and students know about those rules.
3. Educate students about online-safety issues and how to use sites such as Facebook and MySpace responsibly.
4. Have a policy in place for dealing with cyber bullying.
5. If teachers are using social-networking sites for educational purposes, they should establish clear guidelines for how they intend to communicate with students via those sites.

As blogging becomes more pervasive, schools have begun establishing ground rules for teachers who blog. [David Warlick]

A Microsoft study done last February found that teenagers between seventh and 10th grades are less likely to illegally download content from the Internet when they know the laws for downloading and sharing content online.

A former Florida high school student who was suspended by her principal after she set up a Facebook page to criticize her teacher is protected constitutionally under the First Amendment, a federal magistrate ruled.

Salt Lake City's Granite School District is expected to approve a new policy this month barring students and teachers from connecting on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The policy - the first of its kind in Utah - provides an exemption for teachers' sites that are educational, not personal. Officials said there was no specific incident that spurred the new guidelines. But with the popularity of social networking sites in schools, Granite wants to eliminate any gray areas when it comes to teacher-student interaction, district spokesman Ben Horsley said. "The reality is if someone is going to interact inappropriately with a student, there's certainly lots of technology out there that can help them get around those rules and guidelines in a very nonpublic way," Horsley said. "This gives us some tools to move forward on a disciplinary track."

A solopreneur is a person who runs his or her business all by themselves. Getting almost zero assistance from anyone like employees, for example, being a solopreneur requires you to maintain certain habits and follow rules in order to effectively manage your time. This time then converts to money. Although you're not a freelancer or a contractor, you need to understand that, if you're not in the office working things out for your business, then you won't earn a single cent!

Most school administrators have more than one story to tell about cyberbullying. They report that victims of cyberbullying experience low self-esteem, peer isolation, anxiety, and a drop in their grades. They note that victims may miss class or other school-related activities. Principals also point to recent high-profile cases where cyberbullying, left unchecked, led to suicide. In response, some schools have created new policies and curbed free speech on the school's computer network and on all electronic devices used during school hours. This article offers practical advice for actions schools can take to curb bullying, ranging from policy development to education.

New safety rules from Telestra aim to give parents a tool in the fight against cyber bullying, with many struggling to understand what they can do to protect their children.Families should learn how to report cyberbullying and to work on building trust about discussing online problems. The article gives five suggestions for how adults can become an internet parent:
Familiarize yourself - talk with your child about their use of the internet.
Explore - websites and technologies yourself.
Restrict inappropriate content and consider parental controls such as filtering.
Talk to your child and encourage open communication
Know - be aware of the potential dangers and know where to report potentially illegal or inappropriate behaviour online.

These Internet safety links from Australia and over 75 other links to cybersafety agencies can be found at CTAP4's Directory of Cybersafety Education Agencies

Cybersmart kids is a community awareness project developed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). The site contains cyber rules, chat rules and mobile rules for kids as well as links to safe sites. Australian schools can also register for access to the online game, Cybersmart Detectives, in which players learn about managing bullying behaviors both offline and online.

Simply stated, it's network etiquette -- that is, the etiquette of cyberspace. And "etiquette" means "the forms required by good breeding or prescribed by authority to be required in social or official life." In other words, Netiquette is a set of rules for behaving properly online.

Ten Rules and 9 java-based quizzes to test your knowledge. Partially fulfills ISTE NETS 4c.

Three-minute video from the folks at Common Sense Media. Ten rules of the road will help kids make smart decisions online. Teens and tweens deliver the message.

As students in Reading Workshop begin to build their blogs, post by post, the need for some structure in commenting is evident. Hopefully these guidelines will help students engage in meaningful dialogue, comment by comment. Here are seven rules for blog comments.

3-minute video on Proper Rules of Netiquette.

The Core Rules of Netiquette are excerpted from the book Netiquette by Virginia Shea.

Despite their convenience, cell phones can pose a threat to teens' safety - physically, mentally, and emotionally. When placed in the hands of an adolescent without being accompanied with several words of wisdom, cell phones have been the root cause of both physical harm and horrific embarrassment to the child. Parents should consider laying several ground rules about how and when the cell phone should be used

In April 2008, Gov. Steve Beshear signed House Bill 91, often referred to as "The Golden Rule Act." The measure is aimed at protecting Kentucky's students by requiring "bullying" policies in the state's public schools. "This legislation hits home for many children, teens and their parents," said Gov. Beshear. "By prohibiting bullying and harassment among students, The Golden Rule Act will help protect Kentucky's most valuable resource, our children."

An interesting task that introduces students to writing blogs and esp commenting. Includes a list of blogging rules and also another document about ideas for comments

Love this!