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Insightful (and harrowing in places): 7 chapters re online teenagers - a revolution in classrooms and social life - self expression, trying on new identities - the child predator fear - private worlds outside parents' reach? - cyberbullying - updates

Anybody can post information on the Internet, making it possible to find "proof" of any ideas or beliefs you can imagine. Yet to many students, "If it's on the Internet, it must be true."

"Just how radically is the Internet transforming the experience of childhood?" The program talks with experts in child psychology, teenagers who've created online personalities for themselves, parents, and others who are involved in this restructuring of the childhood experience..."

This excellent video from Temple University's Digital Media Education Lab illustrates the reasons why media literacy educators are at the forefront of the user rights movement because of their reliance on the use of copyrighted materials in their teaching. We see how teachers' confusion about copyright affects the quality of teaching and learning, the ability to share innovative teaching practices, and students' understanding of the law. Download the report, "The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy" for more information.

As far as high-tech misunderstandings go, this was a big one. An East Stroudsburg University sociology professor made two provocative posts on her Facebook page, according to the Web site Inside Higher Ed: "Does anyone know where to find a very discreet hitman? Yes, it's been that kind of day" and, "had a good day today, DIDN'T want to kill even one student :-) Now Friday was a different story."

FTC site with exercises that help teach kids how to be smarter consumers. Parent and teacher pages offer suggested activities and ways to use this site in the classroom.

Designed for teachers and produced by the staff at Nettrekker, this 14-page document is a free download.

Chatting with Kids About Being Online from http://www.onguardonline.gov/.

This 54-page downloadable booklet from http://onguardonline.gov offers parents practical advice for talking with their kids about socializing and communicating online, file sharing, privacy and socializing and communicating on the go (mobile phones).

According to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation data, 8- to 18-year-olds are spending more than 50 hours a week with digital media. That's more than a full work week. Are e-mail, mp3s and the web affecting your child's brain? Dr. Gary Small is the director of UCLA's Memory and Aging Research Center.

PBS/Digital Nation provides five focal areas for their latest documentary and multiple sub-topics among them: LIVING FASTER, RELATIONSHIPS, WAGING WAR, VIRTUAL WORLDS and LEARNING. All of the videos are captured at this site for use as future resources. There are also lessons for teachers and a discussion round table where you can leave feedback.

Digital Nation is a new, open source PBS project that explores what it means to be human in an entirely new world -- a digital world. It consists of this Web site as well as a major FRONTLINE documentary to be broadcast on Feb. 2, 2010.

Students read and interpret a fictional short story about a girl who was nearly abducted from an online predator. For a real life version of this, see Katie Canton's story.

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.

Based on common sense and good judgment, cyberethics also includes obeying laws that apply to online behavior. When you practice cyberethics, you are more likely to have a safer and enjoyable Internet experience.

A school's Acceptable Use Policy, or AUP, is a list of technology regulations that require students to use technology responsibly and prevent abuse of school computers. Students are often required to sign this "user contract" in order to use school network computers but unfortunately many sign without reading or understanding the information. The Smart AUP assessment tool is a fun and effective way for students to demonstrate to teachers and administrators that they have read and understand the AUP.

Bullying is a problem at every level of education. Every school has its own way to address the problem, but are these techniques effective? Do they ever make a deep impression on the students? Does the bullying ever go away? Not Likely. My school is no different from any other; we have implemented programs to combat bullying, but the bullying persists. Then, after experimenting with some new software, I got the idea to make bullying awareness important and exciting for my third-and fourth-grade students by having them create comic strips using Comic Life, one of the new programs available for Macs. With the aid of ready-made templates, word bubbles, pictures, etc. its users easily create a comic strip.

Many students and recent graduates say they are changing their names on Facebook or tightening privacy settings to hide photos and wall posts from potential employers.

A teen has sued his mother for harassment after she logged into his Facebook account and changed content. He also claims she's made "slanderous" comments about him in Facebook as well. It's important to note that this 16-year-old lives with his grandmother and not his mother, and that he appears to be old enough to drive in his home state of Arkansas.

In answering the famous Twitter question "What's happening?" we can tune in to the world around us; from grocery shopping to attending a business function, we can now share both our personal thoughts and literal happenings. Now, with the rise of "location-based social networks" the "What's happening?" suddenly becomes the question "Where are you?" giving transparency a whole new meaning. Currently leading the pack is Foursquare.com.