Along
with the rapid development of technology, the use of technology by people has
become more prevalent these days. Many of us have
become very dependent on technology as it plays a very important role in our
daily lives. According to Ramey (2012), “Technology is being implemented in almost every
section of our lives.” Even children are being exposed to the use of gadgets
such as laptops, tablets, mobile devices, and etc.
They are able to learn how
to easily navigate through these devices and use it for educational purposes.
Although they are able to operate such devices, most children are unaware of
the dangers of the digital world. Therefore, it is essential to educate
children about digital safety.
There are many issues concerning
digital safety. For this reason, each group in our class was given a topic
pertaining to digital safety that we must conduct research on. My group and I
were assigned the topic of “Copyright Issues and Fair Use Practices.” The other
topics included digital safety and privacy, cyberbullying, textual harassment, and
pharming and phishing. After learning about all these issues, I can say that I
was exposed to a great deal of information that are beneficial to me as a
student and as a future educator. There were several laws and proper ways of safety
practices that I was not aware of regarding these issues. It is important for
both students and educators to be aware of these digital safety issues so that they know how to handle these situations, whether they encounter them at home
or at school.
Learning about these issues has
helped me become a more technologically proficient professional. As a future
educator, it is important that I share this awareness with my students.
Since I
am an Elementary Education major, I would want to present these topics in a
very appealing manner in order to capture the attention of my students. I will
provide several examples through stories and media such as pictures and videos.
Also, similar to how my group and I presented our topic to our class, I would
also want to integrate some audience interaction using multimedia tools. This
will allow me to also assess the students’ learning and understanding of the
topics. By teaching children about the dangers of the digital world, we are
preparing them for success. They will be knowledgeable on how to retrieve and
use information taken from the Web appropriately. Students will understand the
importance of taking precautions when entering the digital world.
In addition to designing lessons
that will educate my students, I would also extend the lessons further to
include their parents. According to Gawron (2012), “We must teach families
simple tools to insist on, and have them extend the culture of cyber safety to
the homes.” Parents must work hand in hand with schools if our students are to
function in this digital world. I think the school would be a way to help
educate parents with little computer knowledge on how to enforce technology
standards at home. To reach out to parents, I would host informational
workshops or Parent-Teacher Meetings where we would discuss the dangers of the
digital world and safety practices. One topic I would like to emphasize on
would be cyberbullying as it is common among the youth these days. I would
encourage parents to perhaps, monitor their child when it comes to their usage
of technology and be aware of the factors cyberbullying can cause to their
child. In these workshops and meetings, I would even invite other educators to
attend, whether they would like to be presenters as well or learn more about
the issues regarding digital safety. Again, it is vital to spread the awareness
of these issues to our communities, whether at home, school, or work.
Although we did not use Wiggio for this
assignment, my group and I did utilize other different technological tools to communicate
with each other in order to complete the tasks. We used communication apps on
our cellphones, such as Whatsapp, as well as emailed each other. There are a
plethora of communication tools that students can use to allow everyone to
participate in this group project, and should be encouraged to use any they
desire. I think this assignment is highly essential to the course and students
should be encouraged to take these issues seriously because despite the fact
that technology can be of great use to our daily lives, there are also possible
negative consequences that can occur in the cyber world. For this reason, we
need to learn and be taught how to handle these issues properly when
encountered. By raising awareness about these issues, students become
knowledgeable and safe when they access the power of the digital world.
References
Gawron,
H. (2012, June 13). The Importance of Internet Safety. Retrieved November 22,
2016, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/internet-safety-importance-heather-
wolpert-gawron.
Ramey,
K. (2012, November 25). 10 Uses of Technology in Our Daily Life - Use of
Technology. Retrieved November
22, 2016, from
http://www.useoftechnology.com/technology-today-tomorrow/.