Help – How do I educate others about being a Responsible 21st Century Digital Citizen?

Recently I was able to set up a class blog. Getting it set up had its challenges, but now I have a new obstacle and I would appreciate input from other schools and educators about how to answer my administrators questions.

“How do we deal with the safety issue?” Before I published the blog, I set a letter home to parents asking permission for students to participate. The administration approved the letter. Those were returned and the parents seemed fine. I had told the parents it would be password protected and at present it is protected for those who can comment, but others can look at it if they know where to go. Since it is hosted on our school server it would not seem that many people would find it in a google search. I am not posting names of students by photos but, plan on using first names only if we need to identify a student’s work. However, students need to sign in to their school account to comment so first and last names are posted and they can write a classmates name as part of a post, ie. I like how Joe and John are sitting together reading. I am moderating the comments, but do I take out names? Do I tell the students not to identify classmates by their names?

My administration is concerned about the “predators” that take photos and turn them into kiddie porn. How do I answer that? It’s not a problem and it doesn’t often happen will not be acceptable answers. Is there data that is available?

I have seen other school blogs where student names, first and last are posted or just first names. What is the policy at your school?

I did a google search of 2nd grade blogs and found some that are password protected and some that are open to anyone. What is the advantage of one over the other? Is their an advantage?

I want to keep my students safe and protect their privacy, but I also want to educate them and their parents and others at my school on how to be a Responsible 21st Century Digital Citizen. Please leave your comments on what is happening at your school.

Thanks!

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