Internet Safety and Awareness (For Educators)

A few weeks ago I posted a draft of an “Internet Awareness and Safety” presentation I was working on for Laguna Beach Unified School District. (Thank you again to those who offered comments or feedback.) On September 5th, an updated version was actually presented to the entire district faculty during a professional development day. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to be there myself due to a prior commitment, but thankfully Lainie McGann was was able to present in my place. Together with LBUSD IT Director Victor Guthrie and LBPD Detective Zach Martinez, they delivered the presentation below and hosted a brief Q&A session.

Here are the materials that were used on Sept. 5th, including a 60 minute version of the presentation and accompanying handouts:

Internet Awareness and Safety (ppt)
Internet Awareness and Safety (pdf)
Agenda (pdf)
Technologies (pdf)
Benefits (pdf)
Concerns (pdf)
Proactive Strategies (pdf)

Note: I am now developing a slightly different version for parents. In fact, I’m working on a mailer for the parent events today. :)

Because I wasn’t at the September 5th presentation, the event itself was not as much of a learning experience for me as it would normally be, but the process of researching and improving this presentation has been extremely educational for me.

For instance, since developing these materials, I discovered this new service for parents: Social Shield – Helping Parents Protect Their Children on Social Networks (Via Christine Olmstead, who tipped me off to News – Uniting parents, Web designer gives them a social shield.) There are several commercial products (including seminars) available there, but there are also a host of free resources. I was most interested in the books recommended by the site. I’m ordering the books, and hoping to use some of this material (or at least point people toward the site) in the upcoming parent events. I’ve even sent Sean Percival, developer of the site, and email inviting collaboration. :)

I hope these materials and links can be helpful to others. Please leave a comment or shoot me an email if you have any questions, comments, or concerns about any of this.