Ad4dcss/Digital Citizenship

Lessons have been developed to be consistent with national student learning standards, including the ISTE Standards and the National Council of Teachers of English. Right now, lesson plans are only available for high school students but elementary and middle school curriculum is coming soon.

Flames of Moral Panic: You may have noticed that the media has fully embraced "sexting" [a term invented by the media] as the latest horror story about teens and technology. First it was about how the internet is teeming with predators a la "To Catch A Predator," with the most dramatic stories focusing on girls who met these predators in real life [read the real deal here: Online "Predators" And Their Victims]. Next it was about cyberbullying, highlighting the most extreme cases that ended in young people having to switch schools or even more tragically committing suicide. The latest is "sexting," where teens are naively sending and receiving sexually explicit photos or video of themselves to friends via cell phone, again, with the most dramatic cases highlighted.

From Childcare International. Safey issues for kids.

Interesting report on comparison of technology usage in the workplace by boomers and Gen Y.

Another fine presentation by Tom Barrett

High School's survey of student's technology habits, including cell phone usage

HB 315, which was authored by Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway and primarily sponsored by Bell, makes it a Class D felony to solicit a minor for sexual activity through electronic communication.

The worrying extent of the use of technology to bully school and college staff was revealed earlier this month with the release of survey results by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and Teacher Support Network. One in seven respondents said they had experienced cyberbullying and almost one in five said they knew of colleagues who had become victims.

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez is proposing a federal grant program to research and educate children about Internet safety. Menedez, D-N.J., said he is hopeful that educating teenagers, teachers and parents will stop children from sending explicit photos of themselves over cell phones and the Internet. The grant proposal would authorize $25 million to $35 million each year for Internet safety programs. The grants would be awarded on a two-year basis and administered by the Department of Justice.

I am sure that Vermonters don't like the idea of teens sending sexy pictures from one phone to another. Nor do Ohio and Utah parents want their kids using cell phone minutes to bare their bodies with their buddies. Nevertheless, their state legislatures are among the first trying to sensibly ratchet down the penalties for sexting. They are backing away from laws that currently treat a teenager with a cell phone the same way they treat a child pornographer. They know there's a difference between truly dreadful judgment and a felony.

Nolensville Elementary School Principal Beth Ferguson recently let parents know that many of their children are on social networking sites designed for teens and adults. While this is not a violation of any school policy, Ferguson was concerned enough to send letters and Internet tips to parents. Ferguson found at least 13 students from her K-5 school on Facebook, the popular networking site, and she knows there are probably more.

Story about protecting one's digital footprint in difficult economic times. You never know what a potential employer is going to dig up.

Home Business & Finance News Top News UK World Sports Technology Entertainment Science & Health Environment Motoring Oddly Enough Lifestyle The Great Debate Blogs Special Reports Video Pictures Weather Do More With Reuters RSSRSS Feed Widgets Mobile Podcasts Newsletters Interactive TV Partner Services Career Centre Professional Products Financial Media Support (Customer Zone) About Thomson Reuters RPT-FEATURE-Murder brings scrutiny to fast-growing Craigslist Sat Apr 25, 2009 12:28pm BST Email | Print | Share | Single Page [-] Text [+] "There's a whole field of law emerging which is online media liability law and the question is how much liability do we place on companies that host information other people post online," said John Palfrey, a Harvard Law School professor. "The general policy approach we have taken to the Internet starting a decade plus ago was to say there is basically no liability, but these recent cases put to the test that policy," said Palfrey, who is a co-director of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

Many administrators, teachers, and parents simply associate MySpace and FaceBook with the term social networking, possibly adding Twitter to the mix and generally writing off the technology as an unsafe liability. However, we all need to expand our view of what social networking can be. Kid-friendly social media also doesn't need to mean Club Penguin and Webkins.

Real-time image search.

A comparison of MySpace and FaceBook Safety Features

A mind-mapping of cyberbullying as a classroom conversation starter.

RiP: A remix manifesto is a documentary film about copyright and remix culture. You can contribute to the film, and follow the conversation.

A fact sheet from the Identity Theft Resource Center identifying three kinds of identity theft: financial identity theft, criminal identity theft and identity cloning.

Facebook's 200 million active users will soon be able to share their status updates, photos and other personal information without checking into the site.