Gen Y, Online Safety, Internet, Kid, Children

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KEEPING GEN Y SAFE ONLINE
FIREPROOFING STRATEGIES FOR EDUCATORS
Presented to Oregon School Counselors Association
October 15, 2011
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Keeping Gen Y Safe Online
Fireproofing Strategies for Educators
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Introduction
The way Gen Y young people use, interact and socialize on the Internet and new media is very different
from any other previous generation. In our quest to help them use these technologies responsibly, we must
make an attempt to understand that culturally, they are “digital natives.”
This requires an approach that is focused on preventing threats and responding to real incidents, just like
firefighters do in keeping the public safe. This approach is focused on strategies that are proactive as far as
possible and reactive as best as possible. We call this the REACH-OUT approach. It consist of 8 strategies:
# 1 Reach out strategy
Long before a fire occurs, firefighters reach out to the public to understand their safety needs and concerns.
If they have specific needs, you can help them in resolving these needs. Educators can do the same by
reaching out to digitally at-risk kids to understand their challenges. Consider also reaching out to:
! Ideas:
Parents of tech-at-risk......................................................................................................................................
Teachers of tech-at-risk students......................................................................................................................
# 2 Evoke the code strategy
Sometimes, firefighters have touted the fire safety code to gain compliance from reluctant citizens. Educa-tors
can also evoke this strategy in reminding Gen Y students of the consequences of inappropriate online
choices. It may not always be effective, but it is worth using as a fall back strategy if others are not working.
! Ideas:
School Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)..............................................................................................................
School district/state regulations.......................................................................................................................
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3. # 3 Assess your risks strategy
You can’t fight a fire, unless you know what is burning. In like manner, educators can conduct anonymous
surveys to understand what kinds of cyber threats are common in their school and local community. Based
on this, they can design targeted programs. There are over 12 threats on the rise today. Here are two:
! Ideas:
Flamming..........................................................................................................................................................
Happy slapping ................................................................................................................................................
# 4 Call to arms strategy
The focus of this strategy is to sensitize students about the dangers of inappropriate Internet and social me-dia
usage. Educators can organize sensitization campaigns in partnership with student leaders. By so doing,
the students will tend to participate more because they are stakeholders. Consider these ideas:
! Ideas:
School poster post ..........................................................................................................................................
School viral video contest ...............................................................................................................................
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# 5 High road strategy
Educators can also use incentives to encourage positive online behavior. Instead of penalizing, you can
provide rewards and incentives for good behavior. This can go a long way in reducing “fire fertilities” or cy-ber
threats through the monitoring and reporting efforts of students. Consider incentives for:
! Ideas:
Anonymous incident reporting..........................................................................................................................
Good cyber citizenship ....................................................................................................................................
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4. # 6 Offer enrichment assets strategy
By offering enrichment assets to Gen Y kids, educators can dissuade or divert kids from inappropriate use of
technology to other enriching activities. Besides blocking specific inappropriate websites, educators need to
provide other useful alternatives both online and offline. Consider other engaging tech options like:
Photography club..............................................................................................................................................
Video production club........................................................................................................................................
# 7 Utilize local resource strategy
In every community, there are potential resources that can be mobilized for firefighting programs. Such re-sources,
must be sought for and mobilized. The first challenge is to identify them. Educators can identify
local resource people and organizations that support cyber safety programs:
Local cyber police...........................................................................................................................................
Local Internet Service Providers (ISP) or telcos.............................................................................................
# 8 Tech- mitigate strategy
Technology can be used in fighting fires. So is the case in promoting cyber safety. With respect to helping
Gen Y online, educators can advise parents and schools to consider using tools that monitor the misuse of
technology privileges with cutting edge applications geo-locations, bullying or social mentions. Consider:
Google alerts to monitor kid ‘s name..............................................................................................................
GogoStat app iphone monitoring cyber bullying..............................................................................................
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Conclusion
To keep Gen Y safe online requires a proactive effort in identifying, mitigating and responding thoughtfully to
incidents. It takes both social and technological fireproofing strategies to keep Gen Y safe online today.
Every educator who is able to reach-out and prevent cyber threats, will go a long way in keeping them safe.
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List of References:
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5. ! About the Trainer & Speaker - Gideon F. For-mukwai, MA, CEM !!
Originally from Cameroon in Central Africa, Gideon F. For- mukwai, is an author,
speaker, and entrepreneur. He is a graduate from the master’s degree program
in Interactive (Social Media) Journalism at the Reynolds School of Journalism
(RSJ), University of Nevada, Reno. While completing the program, he was the
winner of the 2009 public speaking competition at the University of Nevada,
Reno.
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In October 2011, Gideon finished a year-long grant project on cyber safety for Boys & Girls Club of
Truckee Meadows, Nevada. He trained over 4,000 students and 450 educators on cyber safety in schools.
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He has delivered programs for companies such as Shell Eastern Petroleum, Gillette South East
Asia, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, US Social Security Administration, Washoe County Public Libraries, Worforce
Central Florida, JC Penny and more.
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Gideon worked previously as a fire officer with the Singapore Civil Defence Force. In 2003, he
founded XtraMile Solutions, a communication, presentations skills and resiliency training company in Singa-pore.
Eight years later, XtraMile has trained thousands of students and executives in countries such as
Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Zimbabwe, US and Canada.
He is the author of Facing Adversity with Audacity. In his free time, he has volunteered to speak at youth
camps and juvenile detention facilities in Asia and America.
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