Helpful Safety Tips for the Internet
Using the internet is part of our everyday life, and we can use it for school (such as this website), research, interactive assignments, and personal uses, such as email communication, social media and shopping, etc. Even though the internet is part of everyday life, there are some precautions that I want you to be mindful of, as responsible students in my class. The more you know about internet safety, the better prepared you will be as a student.
Here are some guidelines to follow for Internet Safety:
My tips for internet safety have been inspired and adapted from the following resources: Staying Safe While Staying Connected and Netsmartz.org's Safety Pledge, Cyberbullying Page and Basic Internet Safety Page.
Here are some guidelines to follow for Internet Safety:
- As students in my class, I expect you to be responsible and well informed about which websites you trust. Never go to a site, unless it is a site that you, your teacher, or parents are familiar with. Beware of clicking on ads or pictures.
- Use academic and credible search sites to help filter your search results. Research for school is inevitable, and you will have to do it. I’ve included an option for you in my resources below.
- Please think before you post, send, or share! Think to yourself, “Is this something that I would want to share with others?” If it contains something inappropriate, unkind in any way, or something that would be unsafe, or even something you might feel uncomfortable with, it’s probably best not to share it with your friends, or the the online world. People can get hurt and yours or someone else's reputation could be ruined.
- Never share your personal information with anyone over the web! Do not share your name, address, school address, or anything else over the internet.
- Don’t communicate with strangers over the web or social media.
- Be kind! Cyberbullying is a real thing. I’ve included a website below in my resources to help you identify Cyberbulling.If you are being bullied or being feel uncomfortable with how someone is treating you online, tell an adult immediately.
- On a lighter note, use reliable sources for your research. Wikipedia may not be the most reliable web search page to use. It can be modified by anyone, so the information may not be accurate!
- Give credit to where credit is due. Citing someone else’s work as your own is plagiarism. Take the plagiarism webinar in the Resource Section to learn more.
My tips for internet safety have been inspired and adapted from the following resources: Staying Safe While Staying Connected and Netsmartz.org's Safety Pledge, Cyberbullying Page and Basic Internet Safety Page.
Resourceful Internet Tools
Check out the following 3 tools for relating to internet use and safety.
Sweet Search is a safe search engine for students to find credible information on the topics they are researching. This search engine contains 35,000 search results that have been personally reviewed the team at Sweet Search.
What is plagiarism? Whenever we use information from other sources, we must quote it! I highly recommend you complete this free tutorial from the Vaugn Memorial Library. It will take you about 10 minutes to complete
Your digital footprint is essentially the trail that you leave across the internet, in the types of internet activity you engage in (social media, web postings, etc affect this). This can be a good thing or bad thing, depending on what type of trail you’ve left. Complete this checklist to make sure your internet footprint is in under control.
How familiar are you with internet safety? Or Cyberbullying? Watch videos and take quizzes to increase your knowledge about internet safety.