RCPS High School Internet Safety Curriculum

Overview

Integrating Internet Safety and Digital Ethics into the high school classroom includes:

  • Periodically throughout the year observe national, state and local net safety events with specialized activities.
  • Tie lesson content with cyber character education. Classroom lessons and lab time provide "snippets" on net safety focus points.
  • Upper teenage level discussions of social issues of the web and how they relate to their social lives offline.

General Activities Include

  • Watch videos and engage in discussion about net safety topics.
  • Use current events and classroom related topics to initiate discussion on their relationships to the internet, digital ethics and cyber character.
  • Teachable moments including web based research for all classes, language arts activities, Health/PE(Family Life), Social Studies/Government projects.
  • Use web2.0 tools for collaborations with other students including blogs.

9-12 Focus Points

  • Cyber Character: Social Networking
  • Cyber Security
  • Online Communications: Email, IM, Chat Rooms, Blogs, Gaming
  • Cyber Predators
  • Intellectual Property & Fair Use
  • Career/Job ethics in relation to cyber character

Focus Point #1   Cyber Character: Social Networking

Objectives:

  • Students will be able to draw correlations between cyber and physical communities.
  • Students will be made aware of the laws and rules applicable to cyber and physical communities.
  • Students will distinguish between appropriate vs. inappropriate online materials.
  • Students will discuss issues related to cyber bullying and cyber ethics.
  • Students will critique privacy issues as they relate to safe website design.

Activities/Resources:

  • Discuss the computer safety rules that are posted in the lab and the division Acceptable Use Agreement.
  • Use web pages to explore various risks that teens may encounter on the internet. (See high school resources below.)
  • Photojournalism, Communications classes: Spotswood High School video clips on net safety for voting in class "which one did you like best and why"
  • Students can create their own public service announcement after viewing PSA from web. Example: SHS PSAs
  • Government class (Grade 12): Resource Officer "Class Action" covers topics including personal information online and cyberbullying
  • English class (Grade 9): 9th grade Orientation by Media Specialist and ITRT includes discussions on research, passwords, online communities
  • Discussion on passwords and compromising your accounts. Video Netsmartz: Broken Friendships

Terminology: cyber bully, cyber harrassment privacy, "social networking"

Focus Point #2   Cyber Security

Objectives:

  • Students will discuss issues related to identity theft, malicious code, phishing and pharming, and spyware.
  • Students may also relate current event issues to Homeland Security, National Student Watch, and Acceptable Use Policies.
  • Students examine issues with privacy and protecting personal data.

Activities:

  • Discuss the computer safety rules that are posted in the lab and the division Acceptable Use Agreement.
  • Government class (Grade 12): Resource Officer "Class Action" covers topics including personal information online and cyberbullying
  • Language Arts Project(essay, video story/PSA, blog discussion group) on identity theft using the FTC page for content
  • Discuss of student use of tool: Google. Google and Other Mashups ... "What are they doing with your information?" MasterPlan and the Power of Google

Terminology: identity theft, malicious code, phishing, pharming, spyware, fraud, urban legend

Focus Point #3   Personal Safety: Online Communications, Email, IM, Chat Rooms, Blogs, Gaming

Objectives:

  • Students will learn what they should and should not do to keep themselves safe while engaging in online communications.
  • Students will understand the danger of choosing the wrong friends to interact with online.
  • Students will understand issues concerning misinformation including fraud, urban legends and spam.

Activities:

  • Discuss the computer safety rules that are posted in the lab and the division Acceptable Use Agreement.
  • Computer Literacy classes discuss gaming ethics and interactions with malcontents known as griefers and cyberbullys
  • Government class (Grade 12): Resource Officer "Class Action" covers topics including personal information online and cyberbullying
  • Sociology class or health class (9th): harrassment and appropriate verbal communication(Netsmartz video (You Can't Take It Back)
  • English class (Grade 9): 9th grade Orientation by Media Specialist and ITRT includes discussions on research, passwords, online communities
  • AirDogs game from WebWiseKids.org
  • Discussion of online crime, urban legends and fraud using www.snopes.com

Terminology: AUP, "urban legend", hoax, "good vs bad password", harrassment, griefer, dissing, cyberbully

Focus Point #4   Personal Safety: Cyber Predators

Objectives:

  • Students will be made aware of characteristics and grooming processes of online predators.
  • Students will research current statistics on internet safety and predator activity on the web including DOPA.
  • Students will examine the types of "risky behavior" that attract predators. The "Top Five Risky Behaviors to Avoid"

Activities:

  • Sociology class or Health/PE class: View and discuss Katies story: WebWiseKids.org - Katie's Story Video-Top Rated-Real Person
  • Class Discussion on how young people represent themselves online. Use MySpace as a resource to start a conversation about contemporary fashion, ideals, and media images.
  • Sociology class, family life class or any class teaching communication: Use the document "Online Predators and Their Victims" as a reference point for class discussion, short papers, etc.
  • Using Danah Boyd's article at Knowledge Tree, discuss why the web makes it more dangerous to live socially in public.

Terminology: cyber bully, disclocure, privacy, "social networking", "privacy setting", stalker, DOPA

Additional Resources for High School Classroom Use

Related Standards Of Learning

  • C/T 9-12.3 The student will demonstrate knowledge of ethical, cultural, and societal issues related to technology.
  • C/T 9-12.4 The student will practice responsible use of technology systems, information, and software.
  • C/T 9-12.6 The student will use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources.
  • C/T 9-12.7 The student will evaluate and select newinformation resources and technological innovations based on the appropriateness for specific tasks.

Back to the Main Curriculum Page

Special thanks to Karen Campbell, Instructional Technology Coordinator for Harrisonburg City Schools
in collaboration with the ITRT for Rockingham County Schools