Digital Safety Reflection

As a future Early Childhood Educator I will have a huge responsibility to keep my students safe while they are on the internet, because of their ages they may not be able to understand what they need to do to stay safe while on the internet.
I will introduce relevant digital safety topics with my students, but I have to make sure that the information is developmentally appropriate for them.  The age range of my students will be from birth to 8 years old or Pre-K throught 3rd grade, so what I teach about digital safety will depend on their age or grade.
I will most likely talk to my students about digital safety issues such as privacy, and not giving out personal information and I will also introduce what cyber bullying is and what to do if they are being bullied through the computer.  The older students will most likely be able to be taught more in-depth lessons regarding digital safety, privacy, cyber bullying and touch on some of the basics about advertisements, viruses and other internet dangers.

The other digital safety topics we covered in our course will probably not be developmentally appropriate for this age range, but I can share information on the other digital safety topics with their parents, such as phising and pharming.  But the most important information they need to know is how to keep their child safe while they are online.  The following link to the article "10 Simple Steps to Internet Safety" by Caroline Knorr can help parents find good starter websites according to the child's age, understand essential internet safety for their kids, teach responsible online behavior and encourage digital citizenship.

In the article "The Internet and the Early Childhood Classroom" written by Lisa K. Schanen, gives excellent advice to teachers on how to integrate the internet into the classroom and curriculum, advice on how to evaluate websites, strategies that schools and teachers use to keep students safe while on the internet and the importance of supervision and guidance from the teacher while the child is using the internet.  

The following video is a little out dated, but it still can be an effective video for young children to watch to help them understand the concept of digital safety and in a simple way it teaches them about the dangers that are on the internet.  

References:

Schanen, L. K. (2003, March). The internet and the early childhood classroom. Retrieved from
           http://www.pbs.org/teachers/earlychildhood/articles/internet.html

Knorr, C. (2012, May 15). 10 simple steps to internet safety. Retrieved from 
          http://www.commonsensemedia.org/advice-for-parents/10-simple-steps-internet-safety

Healy, G. (2007). Internet safety - lesson for very young children [Web]. Retrieved from 
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuaJcjxBK3U&feature=related