Reflection #2: The Importance of Being Safe on the Internet

Figure 1. Being internet smart

The digital safety project covered four separate topics including Internet safety and privacy, pharming and phishing, fair user practices (FUP) and copyright issues, and last but not least, cyberbullying. Although each topic may have its differences including a specific goal, I would still say each one fits well together in a cohesive, educational unit with some similarities. Throughout the presentations, I have come to realize how these topics go hand in hand with one another and why each require the same amount of attention. For instance, lacking knowledge about pharming or phishing can lead to putting personal information in the wrong hands and this information will no longer be private. "A criminal will use both tactics to obtain your user names, passwords, and potentially more (Phishing vs. pharming: What's the difference, 2018)." No one desires an invasion of privacy, but this usually occurs when people do not know how to go about being safe on the Internet. In addition, people tend to find themselves breaking copyright laws or being unaware of what actions to take when they encounter a cyberbully. Each issue is as important as the next, which is reason why I would choose not to disregard any topic and simply elaborate on each as needed.

Figure 2. Cyberbullying Website 

As a teacher, I would definitely like to incorporate digital safety into my lesson plans. I plan to not only give a brief lecture about each topic that includes definitions and preventions, but also create interactive activities that allow them to understand the material better. "Studies show that students learn best when learning is active, when they are engaged in hands-on classroom games and activities, and involved in what they are learning (Cox, n.d.)." The group that presented on pharming and phishing introduced us to a game-like quiz that tested our knowledge on determining the legitimacy of an email or website. This quiz gave me some ideas in terms of games for my future students. I will probably put my own group's website to use by using it as a reference for any lessons on cyberbullying (Figure 2). Another tool I believe will be effective as well is, of course, YouTube because it manages to grab the attention of students sometimes more than anything else. 

As far as web conferencing tools, the best and most common ones my group used were WhatsApp and Google Docs. My group was aware that by now, we should have a wide range of tool options, but somehow, we always end up back at the same ones because both are convenient and simply do the job well. WhatsApp allowed us to quickly get a hold of one another, discuss the details of our topic, find the right time and place to meet up in person, and much more. Google Docs made it possible for us to organize our thoughts and research findings before we actually transferred our information to the website. In fact, Weebly was a perfect example of why we refuse to seek out new tools. This tool was great at first, but we needed a bit of time to get comfortable with the controls and features, which is completely understandable because we were unfamiliar with the tool. However, by the time we were supposed to present our website, Weebly decided to give us problems such as failing to show changes we have made on the published site and deleting photos that we placed in it a few days ago. The problems we faced were so unfortunate and almost caused us to create a completely different website using another tool. I would never recommend this tool to anyone else because they should not have to go through the stress we endured.

For the most part, I do not see any need for changes in the assignment because it shed light on the types of Internet-generated issues we need to be more aware of and the ways of preventing them. If I were to suggest something, I might mention making the assignment strictly a video project because it would allow students to engage with their peers and technology in a completely new way. I was not sure if this was an option or if it might not have been chosen because time did not permit us to, but I usually enjoy video projects. Nevertheless, the presentations went well and surely taught me things that I have never even heard about or ever thought about but will now consider every time I surf the web. 

References

Cox, J. (n.d.). Improved learning with hands-on classroom games, activities. TeachHub. 

          Retrieved from https://www.teachhub.com/improve-learning-hands-classroom-games-activities

Phishing vs. pharming: What's the difference. (2018). Inspired eLearning. Retrieved

          from https://inspiredelearning.com/blog/phishing-vs-pharming-whats-difference/