Foot- The Socially Networked Classroom Ch. 3

The topic of internet safety that this chapter brought up is something that as teachers we need to be fully aware of. We are in charge of our students while they are at school and if we choose to use the Internet in our classrooms or for outside assignments we need to make sure that we are aware of the risks and work to ensure that those risks are attended to. I liked the idea of using blogs in the classroom but making them private. This is a good idea because this way you don't have to worry about who is viewing students' blogs and contacting them. I also think that if a teacher is going to use the internet in anyway, they need to set time aside for a lesson or two about Internet safety and cyber-bullying.

One thing that I didn't think about before reading this chapter was the restrictions that some schools have on Internet usage. I remember trying to use the Internet in school for research purposes and finding it very frustrating. My school had very strict control over the sites that we were allowed to visit. As a student I saw that as an obstacle to me, but now I see it as an obstacle as a future teacher as well. It is something that we need to be aware of as we choose how often to use the web in our classrooms.