As our class has been discussing technology with young children, the issue of protecting children's privacy has come up more than once. The question I have for this entire group is how to use new technologies to encourage children's literacy, build their self-confidence, and communicate with parents and other family members -- while still protecting children's privacy.

Of course, careful teacher monitoring of what children are posting online is a key step. But there are other issues. Here are a few I can think of:
--How early should we begin teaching internet safety to young children, and what kinds of messages should be taught to young children?
--How can ECE professionals inform parents (who are at different levels of comfort and familiarity with technology themselves) about their children's use of technology, and how do you ensure that they are comfortable with what their children are doing online? Are there ways to help get them "on board" with the use of technology in early childhood?
--How can we honor young children's need for privacy around web-based tools? How do we avoid "pushing" children who are not ready or comfortable using technology, while still encouraging them?

Any thoughts on privacy issues would be welcome. I don't have good answers to these questions. Do any of you who are teachers have ideas to share?

During Spring 2009, students in my Creative Activities for Young Children class will be exploring technology tools that could be used in early childhood settings. As part of a class assignment, they will be tagging sites for this group and posting information in this forum about a specific tool they have explored in depth. We are also collecting our group's findings on a wiki at CHFD5130.wikispaces.com, and would welcome you to visit us.

One of our goals is to help build the collection of sites for this group, so others can learn from what we are discovering. We would also like for this process to be an open dialogue. We'd love feedback, questions, and ideas about the tools we are sharing, and want to hear your opinions and experiences. We hope these posts will be helpful to the entire ECETECH community, and will give you more ideas for your own work with technology and young children.

Thanks for allowing us to join and support this community, while learning about how to use Diigo!

Diane Bales
CHFD 5130 instructor
The University of Georgia