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With fewer lockers around to be stuffed into, many adults are under the impression that their days of being bullied are well behind them. Unfortunately for the meek, bullying is still going strong in the virtual world of 'Second Life.'

Child predators offering game points in exchange for nude images through Internet-connected video games have prompted a warning for parents. "Kids are playing games, and they are being asked to take photos of themselves naked in order to get game points," state attorney Cybercrime Detective Lt. David Maurer said. "There is not only the chatting version of the games but also a webcam involved."

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.

What is the best way to open a discussion with your children, on a complicated subject such as online safety? Can Mom and Dad get "it"? In this article, Norton's Internet Safety Advocate Marian Merritt introduces easy ways to help you start "The Talk", and keep the dialogue going with your family. Includes 5 questions you should ask and talking tips to guide you in the conversation.

Sexual predators are using gaming consoles such as the Wii, PlayStation and Xbox to meet children online. "Child predators are migrating from traditional methods to alternate media," says Detective Lt. Thomas Kish of the Michigan State Police. "They are going to places where children are." Predators view games that allow kids to access the Internet and text message other players as a "foot in the door," he says.

An excellent project for elementary students to connect with other classes.

A great way to get started with technology is to join in an exciting project. this project by Susan Silverman was designed using the principles of Universal Design for Learning. I've heard her present and she is a pro. (Along with my friend Jennifer Wagner.)

MISSING, from Web Wise Kids, is designed to SHOW rather than TELL children about online safety. It's a fun and positive way to teach children how to avoid danger on the Internet. The interactive software adventure tells the story of Zack, a kid in Vancouver, Canada who forms an online friendship with Fantasma. This guy is so cool - he has an online magazine about beach life in California and he sends Zack great stuff, like graphic arts and software. Little does Zack know that he is a predator. After Zach agrees to go to San Diego to be with Fantasma, players work with a detective to find and rescue Zack and arrest Fantasma. Available both as a home edition and a school edition. [Windows and Mac OSX versions available]. Note: Local middle school science teachers have successfully worked this program into their science curriculum since solving the game involves researching and collecting clues.

Discussing proper interaction and safety with digital devices is important.

Responsible use of electronic devices is going to become increasingly important because today cell phone is a distraction --- tomorrow it will be in car movies or gps devices. It is the behavior that is the problem and proper focus on real life has to be something we emphasize as we discuss the proper relationship of humans with "gadgets."

Pictures allegedly were uploaded to her MySpace profile, and then apparently leaked by the type of friends who make it unnecessary to have enemies. They've since made the rounds to all the typical tabloid style blogs out there, and of course all the folks posting them have made the appropriate amount of dismay and analysis on how this is going to ruin her career.

"Marketing in higher education is really at a crossroads," said Nora Ganim Barnes, director of the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. "Those that don't engage and manage social media are going to be left behind."

Slick video made by the Pearson Foundation for COSN that explains the shifts that need to happen if we are going to enable students to become fully digital literate.
\nThe Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) provides a voice for K-12 education leaders who use technology strategically to improve teaching and learning. CoSN provides products and services to support leadership development, advocacy, coalition building, and awareness of emerging technologies.

How much are your friends worth? That is the question behind the big debate going on around social networks and data portability. In the last ten days, Facebook, Google, and MySpace have all announced ways to let people access their data (including friends lists) from other sites, except that what they are really trying to do is erect new walled gardens by positioning themselves as the primary repository of that personal and social data.

It seems like you can't go a whole week lately without hearing about some major data security breach that has made national headlines. For businesses, these data leaks are bad enough-but for schools, they can be especially costly, as network security breaches can put schools in violation of several federal laws intended to protect students' privacy.

As any parent knows, tweens are crazy about cellphones. Those hoping to delay such a purchase--despite cries of "But everyone else has one!"--take note: 46% of U.S. tweens (ages 8 to 12) use cellphones, but only 26% own them, according to data released Wednesday by Nielsen Mobile. These "mobile borrowers" use their parents' phones when they go out with friends or on short trips, says Sally DePiro, a Nielsen product manager who worked on the report. The borrowing is more than an occasional habit: About 50% take their parents' phones more than three times a week. The key age for these early adopters is 10. While kids start using borrowed cellphones, on average, at around age eight-and-a-half, American tweens generally acquire their own phones between the ages of 10 and 11, reports Nielsen.

This is why I don't share the photos of my children online in public places. After one pic of a child at school was favorited in this way, I took the pic down and am ridiculously vigilant about checking to see how many photos have been favorited and which ones to see if there is one that some sicko has looked at. This is an article I'm going to share with my digiteen dream team! It is an important one to share!

In January 2009, Alex Couros received an email notice saying that a few of his Flickr photos had been favorited. These particular photos were of his children, mostly of his daughter. Every time this happens, he goes to see who the Flickr user is, and most of the time, it is a family member, a close friend, or someone he know through Twitter (or other social network). He did not recognize the user in this particular case, and when he went to see their photos, the Flickr message alerted him that none of the user's photos were available. Seeing as his photos had been favorited, he went to see what other photos had been marked as favorites by this user.

Research suggests that it'snot giving out personal information that puts kid at risk. It's not having a blog or a personal website that does that either. What puts kids in danger is being willing to talk about sex online with\nstrangers or having a pattern of multiple risky activities on the web\nlike going to sex sites and chat rooms, meeting lots of people there,\nkind of behaving in what we call like an internet daredevil."

Phenomenal page about integrating ICT into the classroom witha wide variety of rubrics based upon Bloom's taxonomy. You'll see blog journaling, wiki editing, threaded discussion, bookmarking rubrics, search rubrics, podcasting rubrics, audio conferencing, data analysis, and collaborative rubrics. I haven't been through all of these but would love it if we could go through them and work on them. They are in PDF format, but it would be great to share and edit them collaboratively. Very nice website.

Important example of how leading edge schools assess podcasting, searching, digital publishing, collaboration, threaded discussions, blog, wikis, and more. Excellent resource for parents or teachers to take to school administrators to advocate for these sorts of programs in their school. I highly recommend this site.

The Vaughan Memorial Library designed this colorful and nteractive flash tutorial on plagiarism to help university students learn how to cite resources, but it is also suitable for younger students.

Easy tutorial that explains what plagiarism is. Choose a player and go through the steps.

Teeming with chatrooms, online discussion groups, and blogs, the Internet offers previously unimagined opportunities for personal expression and communication. But there's a dark side to the story. A trail of information fragments about us is forever preserved on the Internet, instantly available in a Google search. A permanent chronicle of our private lives-often of dubious reliability and sometimes totally false-will follow us wherever we go, accessible to friends, strangers, dates, employers, neighbors, relatives, and anyone else who cares to look.

John Paulfrey (Berkman Center) provides a review of the book in his blog, here.

John Palfrey (Berkman Center) provides a review of the book on his blog, here.