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The new mobile phone phenomenon, dubbed "sexting", led to 32 Victorian [Australia] teenagers being charged with child pornography offenses last year.

To today's students, online social networking is almost second nature outside of the classroom. What about inside the classroom? Educational software and services are taking a cue from Facebook and MySpace, adding a twist of online collaboration and interaction that brings students, teachers and parents together.

While reports and stories in the media focusing on Internet predators have become all too frequent, the closer-to-home threat to our children may really be cyberbullying, also known as electronic or online bullying. A recent survey of 395 students (11 to 19 years old) found that 28% of students have been cyberbullied, and more than 1 in 7 admitted to acting as the bully."Cyberbullying could be the biggest online threat facing teens today," says James Leasure, co-founder of Pandora Corp. "Of course Internet predators do still exist, but statistically, kids have a much greater chance of being involved in some way with electronic bullying." Most cases of cyberbullying go undocumented because, fortunately, many kids are able to shrug off the 'unkind words' and look the other way. But there are some cases that make national headlines when they turn into tragedies, such as the Megan Meier case in 2006. Larger cases like this have prompted several states to adopt legislation that makes online bullying illegal.

When it comes to watching over their tech-obsessed teenagers, parents are learning the dangers of too much information. Having the ability to monitor and knowing how to is important. But sometimes the threat of intervention [Don' t give me reason to...] is better than actual intervention.

Think.com's safety lesson with nets standards. Think.com is excellent to use with younger students and is very walled and has an excellent profanity filter. I highly recommend it and have personally used it for a summer blogging project. Excellent site. It also requires an extensive verification process by the participating schools.

Excellent lesson plan and activities from think.com for teaching digital citizenship, particularly safety and netiquette.

[May 2008] AASA article gives examples of school organizations that are desperately and inappropriately blocking the future and Scott McLeod pleads, "Please don't block the future." Please don't relegate your students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to second-class status in the new economy because you left it to them and their families to figure out on their own what it means to be digital, global citizens. Ask AASA and its state affiliates to provide more technology leadership-related professional development opportunities. And let us know how we can help.

Copyright law protects musical and spoken compositions, or "works"; the performance of a work preserved in a sound recording; and the sound recording itself. Podcasting implicates these in three ways: the performance of a work; the playing of a sound recording of a performance; and the reproduction of a sound recording by incorporating it into a podcast. The law is well-settled only as to the first of these.

Cool summary of an article by Liz B. Davis -- Liz took the article and extracted the most valuable bits to her using google Docs. This methodology is fascinating, but even moreso the fact we may all begin doing this together with Diigo.

This research article has the facts about sexual predatory behavior.

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.

As we are pioneers in cyberspace, cybersafety is a concern that is being refined and evaluated all the time - trying to balance transparency with privacy, allowing students some freedom, yet protecting them and ensuring their safety at all times. This article provides a review of what was done with a class of students over a year's time to teach them digital citizenship and cybersafety.

Information for parents and educators, slides, podcast, press realise, fact sheets (on research: children and the internet), fact sheets: ensure safety online.

Discussion between parents and children is the best way to create trust. But computer use especially by new users can not be expected to be "private" from their parents. Filtering has its place, but should be used to generate trust and not access blame or perjorative measures. Students will always find a way to circumvent filtering and internet restriction. What are you're opinions? Has anyone used PC Pandora 6? Ray http://www.google.com/profiles/Raymond.WM.Lai#buzz

Jan 2010 Report from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Because Cory was in a class that used social networking tools for writing-specifically Elgg, an open source media platform-other students, teachers, family members and even the general public were able to comment on his story. For example, an "army colonel," who did not give a name, said about chapter 1, "Your words have painted a very vivid picture. You did an excellent job of illustrating the terror of war. Keep up the good work."

Howard Gardner, the founder of multiple-intelligences theory discusses the challenges ethics and education face as digital media become more prevalent. Through his GOODPLAY PROJECT, he examines the ethical sense of young people. He ooks at five elements related to what it means to be ethical with new media: sense of identity, sense of privacy, sense of ownership/authorship, trustworthiness and credibility, and what it means to participate in a community.

The rise of online media has helped raise a new generation of college students who write far more, and in more-diverse forms, than their predecessors did. But the implications of the shift are hotly debated, both for the future of students' writing and for the college curriculum.

In 2006, legislation in the state of Virginia added a new component to the educational curriculum for GR K-12: Internet Safety for Students. This colorful 25-page Citizen's Cyberguide focuses on a middle school audience and integrates ethical standards that can promote their use of the web more wisely and responsibly. Includes information on general safety, social networking and gaming and is designed to help kids develop safety skills, cyberethics and respect regarding their behavior online. Materials were developed at James Madison University.

being a citizen in today's society has very different issues and challenges, presented to the next generation at increasingly younger ages. "The ability to participate in a responsible way online is part of what kids have to learn about becoming responsible members of the public."

If Phoebe was bullied to the grave, it didn't stop there. When some of her former classmates set up a memorial Internet site, it was defaced by insults and slurs. When a television crew came to the school to interview students about Phoebe, Rebecca Brouillard, a student who talked on camera about the bullying, was roughed up afterward by one of Phoebe's tormenters, her father says.

Consumer Reports WebWatch presents a three-minute animated video with an original song written and performed by singer/songwriter Dean Friedman and animated by Powerhouse Animation. The video is part of WebWatch's Look Before You Click campaign, supported by a grant from the New York State Attorney Generals office, to help educate New York consumers about Internet fraud. Download the lyrics at: http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/pdfs/gonephishing.pdf