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Everybody knows about the dangers of the Internet and it was a hot topic in the media a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, much of what was said is actually true. Vast amounts of the information on the Internet could be deemed unsuitable for minors and indeed illegal in some countries. Anybody who has mistyped some of the more common web addresses or used unmoderated Search Engines without following the rules in our tutorial on searching the web, will be aware of the links that unexpectedly pop up. As teachers we have to understand these dangers and be aware of the ways in which they can be dealt with.
The following list are just some solutions to help prevent children accidently finding unsuitable material on the Internet. They are by no means a complete solution, but they indicate the minimum steps a school should take to ensure the security of both children and teachers using the Internet:
1. Establish a clear set of rules
Children should be taught from the earliest opportunity that they are responsibe for their actions on the Internet and that any rules exist to protect them.
As a minimum, rules should include references to making appropriate use of the technology, and never revealing private or personal information about children. Check out the rules on the Ambleside Primary School website for other ideas about rules.
It can be expected that a Local or National code of conduct will develop that will help protect teachers and educational establishments in this most sensitive area.
2. Monitor children's use of the Internet
The most reliable method of making sure children are safe is to work with them or near them. A regular glance at the screen will ensure that things are going OK and in a classroom situation make sure that the screen is visible and not facing away from you.
3. Control the links children use
A well designed website should provide children with all the safe links they need. Failing this a comprehensive set of well chosen links in the Favourites (Internet Explorer) or Bookmarks (Netscape) menu should suffice.
4. Use a proxy server
Many of the educational Internet Service Providers offer a proxy server / site filtering service. This prevents children accessing undesirable sites even if they type in the exact address. The I.S.P. has a list of known "bad" sites and will automatically prevent them being requested. These can be effective but will not screen, medical sites, teenage online magazines and tabloid newspaper sites which may also contain unsuitable material.
5. Invest in Internet safety software
There are several software packages available that claim to prevent access to unsuitable materials on the Internet of which Netnanny and Cyberpatrol are perhaps the best known. These programs are available to try for free but rely on you having to pay to download an up to date database of "unsuitable sites." It may soon become statutory for schools to install such software such as these regardless of their failings.
6. Use the appropriate search tools
Yahoo should never be used with children in schools. Despite this 95% of vistors using Search Engines to find the Ambleside Website use Yahoo, many of them Educational establishments. (It's amazing what we know about our visitors - we even know their ISP details, computer configuration and even where they were before they came to us!!)
The very best tools for searching the Web with children are ASKJEEVES FOR KIDS and YAHOOLIGANS. Become familiar with these superb sites and what they have to offer and teach children to use them ALL THE TIME!
7. Get sneaky!
You can shock children by revealing a list of all the sites accessed and keywords used each day. Software such as Secret Boss will e-mail a teacher with the latest list each day regardless of any attempt by the children to delete the history files and delete the contents of the cookies and Temporary Internet Files folders.
The first time you do this you will gain lots of Web Ninja points with the children and have absolute control - until they crack your password and disable it!