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=Home > Group A Workspace > Learning Activity 7-C-2=

= The Case of The Mysterious Blogger​ =

Your fourth grade class has been blogging for about two months now. They have shared several writing projects on their class blogs, including revisions of some short stories with illustrations. To protect your students’ identities, all students use only their first name and first letter of their last names (e.g., Kayla F., Joseph R.) Your students have commented on each others blogs, and a few parents and other teachers have added comments as well. Your students have become accustomed to this feedback from your internal audience. Today, one of your students, Aaron, asked you about a comment on his blog. Someone complimented him on his story but Aaron doesn’t recognize the name. You review the comment and the link provided, and it appears to be someone from Canada doing educational research. Aaron asks what he should do next.

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Aaron did the right thing by notifying an adult right away. There are other things Aaron can do. Make sure you always discuss these online safety tips with all of your students when using online tools in your classroom. =====

=Steps To Online Safety: =
 * 1) Always communicate with an adult (parent, teacher) about what and where you are using online.
 * 2) Have a parent help you check and manage your privacy settings.
 * 3) Besides the idea of copyrighting the contents on site; the teacher may want to place a notice about the purpose for the blog and that it is being heavily monitored by adults and that inappropriate comments are not acceptable.
 * 4) The teacher may also want to list his or her contact information for blog inquiries.
 * 5) Filter comments and links by having the teacher approve them before they are added to the site.
 * 6) Students should be sure to log times and actions when online for future references.
 * 7) Any information from unkown visitors should be copied and kept in a secure location by the teacher. It is important for the teacher to keep record of the unrecognized users name, web address and comment.
 * 8) The teacher may need to reassign blog identities and use pseudo names for the blogs to further protect the identiy of his or her students. Parents would obviously have access to this data.
 * 9) Remind students to never give personal information out on their blog.
 * 10) Tell students to never answer comments on blogs if they do not know the person.

=Resources for Educators & Parents on Blog Safety:= [|Blog Stalker] [|Teacher Guide]