Ad4dcss/Digital Citizenship

PARENTS have been urged to confiscate their children's mobile phones at night and monitor computer use after two year 9 students from the prestigious Sydney girls' school Ascham were forced to leave the school because of cyber-bullying.

BACKYARD bullies have moved into cyberspace with such speed and aggression that police, governments and lawyers are testing new ways of slowing their spread.

THE mother of a former student at the prestigious Sydney girls' school embroiled in a cyber-bullying scandal has spoken out about the claimed culture of intimidation at Ascham. The woman said yesterday, on condition of anonymity, that her daughter had been forced to leave the school after becoming the target of bullies.

Yesterday, Rep. Sanchez defended her bill on this subject in an item here on the Huffington Post. Unfortunately, the response doesn't quote or link to the bill, which in relevant part reads: Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both....

In a survey of 45,000 children in middle school, 85 percent said they have been cyberbullied at least once, said Parry Aftab, executive director of the Internet safety group WiredSafety.org, based in Irvington, N.Y., about 20 miles northeast of New York. Just 5 percent admitted it at the high school level, she said.

On Wednesday, April 29, 2009 the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA) released a Discussion Paper entitled: What If? Technology in the 21st Century Classroom. As school trustees we want to engage the province in a meaningful focused discussion about classrooms of the 21st century. We want to be part of developing a provincial vision and strategies that will make all our classrooms connected and relevant. “Today’s students are leaders in the use of technology and we know they want their learning experiences in school to reflect this,” said Colleen Schenk, president of OPSBA. “Students want to take the technology they use in their daily lives and integrate it with how they learn. They want their learning clearly connected to the world beyond the school.” The Discussion Paper asks the question: “How can schools continue to be connected and relevant in the world of the 21st century?” It explores the relationship between the use of technology and the scope for increasing the quality of teaching and learning.

For years, Symantec has included a parental-control element in its Norton Internet Security and Norton 360 packages. It's so limited as to be nearly useless, so for years I've given it poor ratings. OnlineFamily.Norton is a huge improvement, on a par with the best existing parental-control programs. Now both suites offer it as an alternative to the old, lame Norton component. Users should definitely choose it instead. The new free offering is a strong contender, matching almost all the features of the top paid parental control systems.

“Our study set out to establish whether online security factors vary according to age, gender, geography and occupation. Online criminals operate on a mass scale so are indiscriminate about who they target. Whether they are successful or not depends largely on two factors: firstly, how good we are at securing our computers; and secondly, how much we avoid risky activities and behaviours while we’re using the internet.

Chances are they're banned - to stop students texting their friends all the time, or worse still, cyber-bullying. But are schools missing a trick? Most teenagers now carry a mini-computer in their pockets, capable of taking photos, videos, podcasts and even surfing the web. Could their mobiles actually be used to enhance their education? Alex and Charlotte from Westhoughton High School in Bolton wanted to investigate this issue. They interviewed one boy who'd experienced cyber-bullying - getting abusive and threatening text messages on his mobile phone.

About a quarter of the colleges and universities polled in a recent survey by the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) said their admissions officers research prospective students' social-networking profiles before extending admission or scholarships. That means a Facebook picture from a weekend party might cost a student a spot on a premier campus.