Making Safe and Productive Connections Online
by Chris Gustafson
When students explore the best side of the Internet, one site leads to another, providing an in-depth understanding of a topic. However, online information networks can also lead students down blind alleys of false data, into dead ends of malicious downloads, or spin them in self-referential circles. Just clicking links is simple, but motivating students to target safe and productive on-line connections must be taught with every lesson.
Why Students Need Help Making Safe and Productive Connections
Some students are experts at using on-line time to make connections that lead to unsafe sites or research dead ends.
- "Wikis are the best!"
Students are often confused about how wikis work and may access unreliable information. - "Cool, I can click this download to get a free cell phone."
The inability to distinguish between reputable and unreliable links can take a student to sites that could download spyware or other unwanted or damaging software. - "Payday loans, that's like micro-credit, right?"
Clicking ads or paid search returns can create confusion about the concept being taught. - "Look, I can play this vocabulary game and feed hungry people."
Sounds too good to be true? Students need tools to distinguish scam sites from genuine offers.
Teaching On-Target Connections
Help your students create a safe and productive information network by following these guidelines.
- Teach and require the use of powerful key words and combinations of key words to target initial results. Point out the folly of typing "Africa" into the search box when the topic is wildlife of the Sahara desert.
- Model reading the information under each search return to decide whether opening the link will provide reliable information. "Mr. Lee's 6th Grade Class Egypt Reports" is unlikely to be an appropriate research link for a high school geography student.
- Demonstrate research using reliable Web sites and the links they contain. Discuss going to Web sites of respected organizations and businesses, where students can find depth and breadth information. Researching evolution on pbs.org provides links to videos, FAQ pages, Darwin's diary excerpts, and more.
- Repeatedly model the importance of clicking the About Us tab on a Web site to learn more about the bias of the site. Wonder aloud how reliable a site is that doesn't provide any About Us information.
- Require students to cross-check information and organizations using a variety of sites to confirm the validity of their research. Don't accept work that's based on information from just one site.
- Introduce students to snopes.com to sort out rumor and truth on the Web. For example, ask students to confirm whether lemmings jump off cliffs because of population pressures.
For more information about staying safe while making connections and building networks online, see "How to Stay Safe While Building Your Online Network."
