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Part 2: Constructive school Net use in a nutshell (October 5, '01 issue)
As promised last week, here is a basic outline for age-appropriate Internet use in school. These recommendations - from educator, lawyer, and CIPA expert Nancy Willard of the University of Oregon's "Responsible Netizen" project - are timely, as US schools are working out - for an October 27 interim deadline - how to comply with the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). We also think the recommendations are an important service as talking points for a discussion required in the US but very much needed in schools worldwide. (But tell us what you think!)
[A note to parents: Nancy suggests to us that if we go to public hearings about CIPA and hear school administrators say, "We've installed this technology measure to ensure your child's safety," don't leave it there! Ask questions - such as, how filtering software will ensure that safety, not to mention constructive Internet use by students - because filtering just doesn't do the job (see Part 1 for reasons why).]
Elementary school:
- Safe Internet places/educational portals only (curriculum-based white lists of links compiled by educators, ideally those from own school district (not AOL@School, e.g., Nancy said).
- Over-the-shoulder teaching and supervision. "This is especially crucial if a school chooses to use the ICRA ratings approach," Nancy said. "But, as a Consumers Union study showed, 1 in 5 porn sites were not blocked [by the popular filters it analyzed]. So regardless of what system a school uses, more should be done to keep kids in safe places. We cannot expect elementary school students to have the necessary knowledge and skills to make safe choices."
Middle and high school:
- Still primarily use the educational portal, but allow access, as necessary, to materials "out there" on the open Internet.
- Implement 3-part Internet proficiency/safety education: 1) specific instruction about avoiding inadvertent access of inappropriate content (and what to do if accidentally accessed); 2) Internet safety and responsible-use rules; and 3) integration of discussions about sex, violence, hate groups, etc. into general school curricula where appropriate (e.g., sex education, social sciences, ethics).
- Decrease supervision as appropriate for grade level and individual students, especially with use of a good monitoring system (software and human) and with implementation of Internet ed program in #2. Use of an Internet proficiency test could be used to grant students who pass it a level of trust that allows minimal supervision.
All grade levels:
- CIPA-compliant filtering/blocking software. "My preference is the ICRA* system [International Content Rating Association, ICRA.org]," Nancy said, "because I believe that this effectively addresses the concerns about over-blocking and is an adequate technology protection measure if, and only if, the other components are in place." She adds that another benefit of using the Web rating system is that it costs nothing, freeing up resources for the rest of the program. But she also advises schools to check with local legal counsel on CIPA compliance.
- Monitoring software (which detects accidental vs. intentional use of inappropriate material and whether students are obeying school acceptable-use policies/contracts).
- Human supervision of Internet use, appropriate to grade level and individual students, but some human supervision in all cases.
- Internet training for all school staff who are involved in academics.
* To configure the Internet Explorer browser to recognize content ratings, go into or launch the browser, click on "Tools" at the top of your screen, then "Internet Options," then the "Content" tab. Then simply click on "Enable" in the "Content Advisor" window at the top there. Netscape 6 doesn't recognize the ratings (yet, we hope), but Netscape 4.7 does. ICRA.org explains how to set Netscape 4.7 under where you click on "Parents: How to Use ICRA" on its home page. (The site is in "frames," so we're sorry we can't give you the direct URL.)
For further reading
- Nancy's complete school planning guide for CIPA compliance is available here.
- PC Magazine's "Clean It Up" looks at about a dozen Internet examples of filtering hardware and software designed for home, school, and office - though it lumps school in with "the corporate market" for Internet filtering, which is exactly what Nancy Willard said schools need to avoid. Convenient is the Editor's Choice chart right on the first page (linked to here), with Cybersitter 2001 (home) and St. Bernard iPrism (work) leading the editors' ratings.
Here is Part 1 of this series.
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