Social Media Safety

In the 21st century, people all around the world communicate through social media. As a potential teacher you should be aware of the social media policy. I as a teacher candidate would want to make sure that I am aware of the policies and have notified the students the essential rules and regulations that they must follow when active online. As a teacher, it is crucial to remind students that when using the internet for any in school assignments, that they are putting information online in their own words rather than copying. If they do choose to copy information from other sources, they must reference such sources in their work to avoid plagiarism.

Cyber bullying is a serious offense that takes place over digital devices like cell phones, computers, and tablets. “Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else”[1]. Understanding the severe damages cyber bullying may cause to students, it becomes so important to not only discuss but teach students how to avoid cyber bullies. With this said it is also important to teach students to respect others online and think about their comments before posting them, this will restrain them from becoming a cyber bully themselves. Cyber bullying usually begins when students begin to converse with strangers online, hence it’s crucial to teach students not to talk to strangers online because people may not be who they are claiming to be.

“Although the Internet has transformed the way our world operates, it has also served as a venue for cyberbullying, a serious form of misbehaviour among youth.”[2] Hence, it important to teach students what precautions they must take to avoid online harassment. Firstly, it is important not to share passwords with anyone, not to share any personal information with anyone and not to impersonate someone else online. As a future teacher, I will allow for a lot of online assignments that will require them to create passwords. Hence, I will instruct my students to not tell anyone (i.e., parents, teacher, peers) their password. Further, students often fear to notify their teacher when they are being harassed online, however it’s important to teach students to let the teacher or a parent guardian know when they feel uncomfortable with someone else’s actions online.

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Nonetheless, as a teacher candidate, it is also important to become aware of the guidelines for mobile use in a classroom. “Today’s smartphones are microcomputers with the capacity to provide many of the advantages that technology can afford in terms of accessing a broad, deep and meaningful education.”[3] For educational and instructional purposes students should be assessable to mobile use while the teacher carefully observes and mandates their online usage. I believe mobile devices like Smartphones, Laptops, Netbooks, Tablets and other similar devices should be used at school to support learning as it has results in a positive effect of student understanding. However, the use of this technology is at the discretion and supervision of each classroom teacher. In other words, unless directed by the teacher all devices must be turned off or put away during classroom and instructional time. It is important that all cell-phone usage in the classroom be strictly guided by teachers in their respective classes for instructional use only.

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[1] What Is Cyberbullying. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it/index.html

[2] Kowalski, R. M., Giumetti, G. W., Schroeder, A. N., & Lattanner, M. R. (2014). Bullying in the digital age: A critical review and meta-analysis of cyberbullying research among youth. Psychological bulletin , 140 (4), 1073.

[3] Mobile phones in the classroom: A helpful or harmful hindrance? (2018, April 22). Retrieved from https://psychlopaedia.org/learning-and-development/mobile-phones-in-the-classroom-a-helpful-or-harmful-hindrance/