2. PERSONAL USES OF THE INTERNET
I currently use the internet for the following:
Online banking
Online shopping: Amazon
Getting a Master’s Degree
Work and personal email accounts
Finding information and images to use for school
and work
I currently do not use the internet for social reasons
such as chatting, Twitter, or social networking.
I easily use the internet four hours a day.
3. PERSONAL SAFETY ON THE INTERNET
I use the internet for sensitive information, such as
banking, and it would probably be wise to change
my password.
It is rare that I share any information on the internet;
however, I have been uncomfortable a few times
when I had to use my social security number online.
All accounts can be hacked, so I know that it is
important to minimize the number of accounts that
are linked to important information.
4. PERSONAL SAFETY ON THE INTERNET (CONT.)
In order to maintain the integrity of my computer, I
installed Avast for free.
Additionally, I do not click on unreliable links, nor do
I respond to phishing scams, which are explained
by Anderson (2008).
Because I do not engage in any social media, the
risks of image sharing, being tracked though my
cell phone, or having my information stolen from a
website are greatly reduced.
These risks are especially important for young
people to be aware of, as netsmartz explains.
5. PERSONAL ETHICS ON THE INTERNET
I must admit that my practices concerning images
are not entirely ethical. I often use them without a
source, even though it is obvious that the image is
not my own.
I do cut and paste off of the internet, despite the
fact that this is discouraged by Fryer (2003). I
do, however, provide a source for that work.
I have never infringed on copyrights by
downloading music or other files illegally.
6. ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY
My school is a charter school, and to my
knowledge, we have no written acceptable use
policy.
Because we have no written policy, I have been
using the “common sense” policy.
All students are turned so that I can see their computer
screens.
Only mature, hard-working, trustworthy students are
allowed to use the computers.
Students do not use the computers without supervision
and permission.
All students must be on-task at all times.
7. THE MCS POLICY
My school technically falls under the MCS umbrella.
The MCS policy places a significant burden on the
students and parents in order to ensure that the
internet is used ethically:
“MCS will make reasonable efforts to supervise
students’ Internet and e-mail use, but will not be
responsible for claims and liabilities arising out of such
use.” (Form No. 14197)
Reasonable efforts are not defined at any point in
the document, and there do not appear to be
instructions for the teacher concerning how to
provide reasonable efforts.
8. BLOCKING OR FILTERING
My school has few blocks or filters.
For example, I cannot engage in a job search at
work, but last year, a student was caught viewing
pornography on his personal laptop while at school.
There are obvious gaps in the filter.
I know, from my conversations with other teachers
and my own education in MCS, that MCS has many
filters and blocks on their network, to the point that
it compromises the usefulness of the internet.
9. ACCEPTABLE USE POLICIES
The Soulsville Charter
Memphis City Schools
School
No document. Eight page
Teachers are required document, including a
to directly supervise release form for
students who are using students, parents, and
computers. employees.
Requirements for Requirements for
students are unclear. supervision are
unclear, although there
No disclaimers; anyone
are requirements for
could be responsible
students.
for consequences of
use. Numerous disclaimers.
Seems to be outdated.
10. CURRENT IMPLEMENTATION OF ETHICS
Students are required to cite information that was
obtained from the internet or other written texts.
Students must use MLA formatting for listing their
references and in their citations.
Frequently, this actually looks like students providing
references at the end of their project without ever
having cited these sources in their project.
Plagiarism is detected using my own personal radar:
I compare the work to what I know about the
student’s writing and knowledge.
I have been less concerned with the source of
images.
11. RIGOR OF PRACTICES
The rigor for textual citations is
appropriate, according to Fryer (2003), but it should
be better implemented.
Fryer strongly discourages cutting and pasting text
from the internet, but I know that my students do
this. Even if they do use the citation, they still need
to list it as a quotation.
The expectation for images is set too low. All
images should be cited, especially if they are
copyrighted (Fryer 2003).
12. FUTURE SAFETY AND EHTICS PRACTICES
My instructions to students about how to cite their
work need to be more specific so that students will
cite all of the information that they get from a
source, in order to respect intellectual property
(Anderson 2008).
I should require citations for images, especially if
there are more than 5, or students should explicitly
state that the image is open source in order to
avoid confusion and copyright infringement
(Anderson 2008).
13. FUTURE SAFETY AND ETHICS PRACTICES
(CONT.)
I should continue to monitor students directly when
they are using computers in order to ensure that
they are being used appropriately and safely.
I will discuss with my school leaders about creating
an AUP.
I would suggest that we base our AUP on the one
provided by iSafe, rather than the one written by
MCS.
14. REFERNCES
Anderson, R. S. (2008). Excerpt from Chapter 5: Literacy in
the Information Age. Technology to teach literacy: A resource
for K-8 teachers. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice
Hall.
Fryer, W. (2003). Copyright 101 for educators. TechEdge.
Retrieved from
http://www.wtvi.com/teks/02_03_articles/copyright.html
------. Acceptable Use Policies. Carlsbad, CA: i-SAFE
America, Inc. Retrieved from
http://www.isafe.org/imgs/pdf/education/AUPs.pdf
------. Memphis City Schools E-mail and Internet Acceptable
Use Agreement. Memphis, TN.
------. Netsmartz videos. Retrieved from
http://www.netsmartz.org/RealLifeStories/JuliesJourney
