Digital Safety Reflection

If there is one thing that this project has taught me, it is that I still have so much more to learn.  Easily the youngest of this summer semester's small class, it stands to reason that I likely have the most experience when it comes to the Internet amongst my classmates.  I was in my early teen years when I was first exposed to it, and it has been over a decade since then.  My relationship with the Internet has only grown stronger.  And yet during this last project with my partner, I found myself shocked over all the information I had researched.

My partner and I were to present on the subjects of pharming and phishing.  Before this assignment, I never even knew what the two terms meant - or that they existed at all.  I had always referred to the ideas under the blanket phrase of identity theft.  Little did I know that there were very specific ways of obtaining one's personal information.  Without this assignment, I would not have known that pharming deals with the hacker actually deal with redirection to fake websites (Pharming).  It is so much easier to fall for a pharming attempt, because I tend to believe that once I am at the website, and it looks legitimate, then I am safe.  Thanks to this project I can consider myself blissful in my newly gained knowledge.

Screencaptureof our Prezi presentation

For this project, we decided to make use of one of the presentation tools we had both been avoiding for over two semesters - Prezi.  Personally quite comfortable with Miscrosoft's PowerPoint, I always refrained from straying to newer (and perhaps even greener) pastures because it had always looked so complicated, and I never truly had the time to learn how to use it, and use it to its full extent.  Even after this project, I cannot claim any real mastery of the tool.  Certainly, I know my way around the canvas now, but only in the way a tourist knows her way around Times Square using a map she bought off a shady street vendor that had been rained on with the ink all smeared.

Click here for the full-size version!

Regardless, Prezi proved to be as exciting and enticing as others lauded it to be, though I do have one regret.  Apparently, Prezi does not upload animated .gifs.  Originally I had created a background with Photoshop for the presentation that was meant to animate (as seen on the right), but once I uploaded the image, it remained still.  Nevertheless, my partner and I produced a presentation I can still be proud of.    Our combined efforts created not only a Prezi presentation, but through the use of Jing and Screencast, it can also be presented without either of us actually needing to be there!  Despite the technical complications during class, we still plowed on and was able to provide our classmates with the research we had collected.

The other presentations were just as informational and eyeopening.  I thought the topics addressed were relevant and important to grasp, not only as adults, but as educators.  The entire unit seemed to cover all the grounds.  As adults, we now have better knowledge on how to protect ourselves thanks to the presentations on phishing, pharming, and privacy.  As educators, the presentations on cyber-bullying and fair use practices are invaluable.  I found the presentation of cyber-bullying, specifically, to be very helpful.  I am reminded of the handful f workshops from school that addressed the issue, which only just goes to show how prevalent it is becoming.  Now educators and parents must not only worry about face-to-face bullying, but must now also look for signs and ways of prevention against bullying that happens online, where it is much easier to hide the evidence.  Years ago, cyber-bullying wasn't nearly so mainstream.  According to the website, StatisticBrain, 52% of students report being cyber-bullied... which just so happens to be the exact same percentage of teens who do not tell their parents when the cyber-bullying actually occurs (2012).  It is terrifying to realize just how prevalent cyber-bullying has become.

If I could only create one lesson that could be centered around digital safety, I would want to focus on that.  I would shock students, first of all, with the statistics, before drilling into their heads just how even the slightest thing can be construed as cyber-bullying.  It seems to me that teenagers nowadays are not fully aware of the gravity of their words.  The media desensitizes them into believing they can say whatever they want to say with no repercussion.  I have had students say phrases that would normally be considered harassment or threatening, but when confronted about it they always insist they are simply kidding.  What they do not seem to understand is that it might not be so funny to any other party involved.

One activity I would love to have my students do is one that forces them to truly think about the words and phrases they are saying.  I would have a list of dangerous or offensive words or phrases commonly used and I would ask the students to write down what they think each mean.  Then I would implore them to write a new sentence to convey the exact same meaning.  This can show them that they need not use such harsh language to say what it is they want to say.  It is a meager assignment, and certainly does not fully address the issue of cyber-bullying, but I feel it is still a good start.  Hopefully by making the students more aware of what their words mean, then they will be able to recognize forms of bullying when they witness or experience it.  From there, we can then address prevention, reporting, and how to deal with it.  I feel this activity can be a good first step.

References

(2012, March 21).  Cyber bullying statistics.  Statistic Brain.  Retrieved June 22, 2012 from http://www.statisticbrain.com/bullying-statistics/

Pharming and phishing information site.  Pharming Phishing.  Retrieved June 17, 2012 from http://www.pharming-phishing.com/

Images

Screencaptures were taken and resized by Jonah Santiago.

The animated .gif was created by Jonah Santiago.