Media Behaviour/Online Safety

This one is a pretty straight forward answer for me.

If we encourage students to use technology that connects them to people electronically, we have a responsibility to teach them both about online safety and appropriate behaviour. We also have a responsibility to create rules and policies that clearly explain to students and parents what our expectations. As an institution we need to have clear and consistent consequences for behaviour that does not meet our expectations. As the media for communication are in flux, we need to regularly revisit our policies to ensure that they are relevant.

If parents make computers or text messaging available to their children, they have the same responsibility. If they send their child to a school that makes use these media, they have the same responsibility. Parents also have a responsibility to attempt to monitor their children's online behaviour, just as they would with their real-world actions.

Most importantly, education about media behaviour needs to be an ongoing aspect of students' lives. At school it cannot be confined to a single class or meeting. At home, parents cannot expect that one conversation will be sufficient. We would not expect a one-off conversation to be enough to teach students about sharing or listening to others. As digital media become a larger part of students' lives, we must view media behaviour as being analagous to other very basic concepts of socialization.