"Designed for students in Grade 7 and higher, the textED.ca website provides a fun, interactive platform for children to learn about the short-term costs and the long-term ramifications associated with texting."
The Web and cell phones help us communicate, connect and learn in ways we never could before, but they've also forever changed how we interact with others. Things we used to share in person - and in private - can now be broadcast to thousands, instantly. Sometimes we type things we would never say to someone's face. As a result, new issues like forced sexting, textual harassment and cyberbullyiing have emerge
"If you're not actively building your identity and establishing a presence online, you're letting search engines cobble together information, good or bad, and write your public story. You need to establish and maintain a healthy online identity."
Online safety must be relevant to youth, or we're talking to ourselves. It must accommodate the growing body of research on youth risk and what kids themselves say about how they use digital media, and it must be respectful-of both young people and the new media conditions they're ably exploiting.
The video is a great way to introduce kindergarten through third grade students to online safety. I like how this video compares the online world with the real world. This helps students understand the rules in a way that goes deeper than just following the rules because we say so.