According to the resolution passed by the Congress, June is the National Internet Safety Month. 35 million US school children have Internet access and one-third of students in grades five through 12 can circumvent Internet filters. Also in the news, a Superior Court judge has granted a new trial for a Norwich substitute teacher whose faulty computer popped up pornographic images in her classroom. These facts pose many questions for educators as they try to best incorporate technology for teaching while at the same time keeping students safe from inappropriate web exposure.
In reality there is no 100% foolproof method, but there are filtering and security solutions that can be installed, web policies that can be imposed and student-safe search engines that can be used. Students need to be taught about internet safety – like what to do if they come across questionable online material, not to give out personal data and to use discretion on social sites.
Even tough school is out for the summer, many technology educators use this downtime to upgrade IT systems and review technology policies and procedures. While the internet itself remains a force to be reckoned with, using internet filtering and restriction products as well as educating students and faculty about the issues of the internet is becoming a mandate in schools due to legislative and ethical concerns.
Even more to network level internet filtering products, there is a classroom level of protection ready to keep students on task with their assigned curriculum while avoiding the internet’s dark side. Computer lab instruction and monitoring software, such as NetSupport School, gives instructors an additional layer of protection from the Internet and works in tandem with internet filtering software.
With the extension of NetSupport School’s previous URL monitoring to the teacher’s monitor, teachers now cannot accidentally surf an inappropriate website while their screen is visible to the class. NetSupport School also offers teachers the chance to impose SafeSearch settings on most search engines, regardless of settings on individual computers. Instant messenger monitoring and restriction also comes as standard and gives teachers have full control of chats, ensuring they don’t occur with unknown people outside of the classroom. The internet and IM settings of NetSupport School witxed new desktop security functions preventing students from using unauthorized USB drives, gives technology educators more safe, more focused lessons in the lab.
As the use of computers and the Internet in schools grows, so does the need for managing the learning process in networked classrooms. With the release of NetSupport School 9 from NetSupport, teachers can now lead a computer-based class with tighter control over what appears on student screens and over how much content gets sent to school printers. Building on 12 years as the leading classroom instruction and monitoring solution, NetSupport School 9 has features that minimize operational costs, improve student monitoring and provide even greater security for both the students and their data (http://www.netsupportschool.com).
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