Cyberbullying Your Own Kids to Punish Them post thumbnail

Cyberbullying Your Own Kids to Punish Them

Canadian Cyberbullying Educator and Speaker Lissa Albert and I have been chatting about some parents engaging in controversial and arguably questionable behavior to “send a message” to their teenagers about appropriate and inappropriate behavior. These instances have gone viral, and Lissa has done a great job of providing a backdrop of this practice as well […]

Facebook for Educators, and the issues we need to consider post thumbnail

Facebook for Educators, and the issues we need to consider

I have been chatting with my colleague Nancy Willard from Embrace Civility in the Digital Age about Facebook in schools, and how they should and should not be used by educators. These are her recent thoughts with some of my input added…just to get some more discussion going on this issue. We both think that […]

What is the story with IsAnyoneUp.com? post thumbnail

What is the story with IsAnyoneUp.com?

One of the Internet’s latest privacy controversies surrounds the rapidly-growing web site Isanyoneup.com.  The site, which launched in late 2010, is essentially a hybrid of social media and amateur pornography – described by some media outlets as a blog for “Revenge Porn.” The blog features thousands of posts containing extremely explicit photos of naked men […]

Resources to Teach Your Students about Cyberbullying and Online Responsibility post thumbnail

Resources to Teach Your Students about Cyberbullying and Online Responsibility

Now is the time to start thinking about what *you* are going to do to educate your students about cyberbullying, digital citizenship, online responsibility, and overall safety. A key to any educational effort is consistent reinforcement of the messages you want students to incorporate into their daily lives. Convening an all-school assembly on these topics […]

How young is too young for Facebook? post thumbnail

How young is too young for Facebook?

This is a common question I receive from many parents: “At what age should I give my child a cell phone or allow them to be on Facebook?” Of course this is not an easy question to answer since every child is different and parents themselves are probably in the best position to determine the […]

Guidelines for Online Communication between Teachers and Students post thumbnail

Guidelines for Online Communication between Teachers and Students

The state of Virginia has recently proposed guidelines for public schools in order to prevent sexual (and other forms of) misconduct between educators and students. Justin and I have blogged about this issue here and here in the past – and it continues to be a topic of strong interest and controversy as we work […]

A Student Guide to Personal Publishing post thumbnail

A Student Guide to Personal Publishing

Sameer and I recently wrote a concise “Student Guide to Personal Publishing” which was published by Jostens (the class ring and yearbook company).  They contacted us looking for information they could provide to students, parents, and educators about being safe and responsible when publishing material both online and off.  While we regularly discuss these issues […]

A Student Guide to Personal Publishing post thumbnail

A Student Guide to Personal Publishing

Sameer and I recently wrote a concise “Student Guide to Personal Publishing” which was published by Jostens (the class ring and yearbook company).  They contacted us looking for information they could provide to students, parents, and educators about being safe and responsible when publishing material both online and off.  While we regularly discuss these issues […]

A Student’s Guide to Personal Publishing post thumbnail

A Student’s Guide to Personal Publishing

This handout discusses issues that students should consider when creating offline or online content and then publishing it for others to see. It also provides guidelines that can inform how best to make and share ideas, opinions, and multi-media in a way that does not lead to negative repercussions. Patchin, J. W. & Hinduja, S. […]

What is your Online Reputation? post thumbnail

What is your Online Reputation?

I have been talking a lot lately about online reputation with teens.  I think it is important for youth to recognize that anything they put online and anything they do offline that gets posted online, could end up being immortalized on the World Wide Web.  I advise students to start thinking about their online reputation […]