Appropriate and Safe Use

of Technology

Presented by Lou Paff, January 7, 2011

At OES:

  • 1. Students use the technology resources at appropriate age levels:
    Early grades: technology is mostly used by teachers.
    By 2nd grade students begin using the Internet to study their heroes, the Pilgrims, and for their country studies. Mr. Paff finds suitable links for each subject studied and puts them on the grade study links pages for students.
    Internet/ technology use increase through the grades. 4th and 5th graders use Google Docs for much of their work.
  • 2. Supervision - children are monitored by the teachers as they use the Internet.
  • 3. The acceptable use policy, found starting on Page 16 of the OES handbook, is applied to our students at age appropriate levels.
  • 4. Filters are used to block sites that we don't want our students to access, such as porn, violence, and games. Our filters here at school have daily updates to give maximum protection. Keep in mind that no filter, either at school or home, is 100% sure to eliminate all unwanted sites at all times. Therefore monitoring students as they use technology is all-important.
  • 5. We have our LS Google Search Engine, which is good for younger kids: http://tinyurl.com/2ckbjwv

At Home:

LS kids may seem really tech savvy, but only a small percentage of students really are. Most students have only a superficial knowledge of Internet use. Therefore you can help your student by employing these methods:

  • 1. Be active participants in your child's use of technology - discuss technology use and set appropriate values with your children.
  • 2. Share with your child how you use your computer and what you use it for.
  • 3. Teach your child to always keep their identity private when on the Internet - don't fill out contest entries for example.
  • 4. Teach your child to never respond to email, chat comments, etc. that make you feel uncomfortable in any way.
  • 5. You can use filtering software at home. http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/ gives excellent comparisons of the program available. Remember, no filter is perfect, so:
  • 6. Have computers in "public" places in the home, such as the family room or other "social places" so you can monitor your child's use.
  • 7. In the Google search engine go to search settings and set SafeSearch Filtering to moderate. Better yet - have your child use the LS OES Search Engine that searches only educational web sites: http://tinyurl.com/2ckbjwv
  • 8. You can check to see where your child has been on the Internet by looking at a browser's history, or check the cookies on a browser to see where your child has been.
  • 9. GURL Watcher is a program you can purchase that allows you to track what your child has done on the computer. http://www.quicomm.com/gw_overview.html. We have this on the student computers here.
  • 10. If your child has online password accounts make sure you know the passwords.
  • 11. Social networking sites have a minimum age for children to create accounts; age 13 is typical. However children can easily get around this, so talk with your child about social networking sites, and again monitor their usage.
  • 12. Discuss with your child what games are appropriate and allowed by you. Also agree on how long your child can play games.
  • 13. Good home computer uses for your child include schoolwork, supervised typing practice, guided-research through the OES databases and links including the LS Google Search Engine at http://tinyurl.com/2ckbjwv
Upper School