Reducing the Risks in the Classroom
The following guidelines offer general strategies to help teachers reduce the risks associated with students' Internet use.
* Learn everything you can about the Internet.
Find out how the Net works and how to find your way around it. If your school or board offers teacher support or training courses, sign up. Use MNet's Web Awareness Workshop series for self-directed learning. Suggest that your board or school use these workshops for presentations to teachers or parent groups.
* Learn about your students' surfing habits.
Have students' complete MNet's Student Net Usage Survey form, at right, to assess where, how often, and for how long they go online. Then use their experiences as a springboard for classroom discussion. (We recommend visiting some of the more popular sites yourself.)
* Make sure that monitor screens are visible.
Ensure that students' computers are arranged so that you can see all screens - usually in a horseshoe pattern around the walls of the classroom.
The following guidelines offer general strategies to help teachers reduce the risks associated with students' Internet use.
* Learn everything you can about the Internet.
Find out how the Net works and how to find your way around it. If your school or board offers teacher support or training courses, sign up. Use MNet's Web Awareness Workshop series for self-directed learning. Suggest that your board or school use these workshops for presentations to teachers or parent groups.
* Learn about your students' surfing habits.
Have students' complete MNet's Student Net Usage Survey form, at right, to assess where, how often, and for how long they go online. Then use their experiences as a springboard for classroom discussion. (We recommend visiting some of the more popular sites yourself.)
* Make sure that monitor screens are visible.
Ensure that students' computers are arranged so that you can see all screens - usually in a horseshoe pattern around the walls of the classroom.
