Division plans to expand WiFi access to all schools

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This article was published 24/03/2012 (5267 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Online predators, sexual exploitation, sexting and Internet blackmail.

These topics might be difficult for parents to discuss with their children, but as the Canadian Centre for Child Protection says, it’s absolutely necessary to ensure online safety.

“They need to have some explicit conversations with their kids around the capacity of the technology,” said Noni Classen, director of education with the CCCP. “The permanence of it, the public nature of it, to be careful what they’re sharing … they need to be told that if someone’s asking them to send naked pictures of themselves, they’re not to send them, and that’s potentially also illegal.”

Age-appropriate lessons are important for parents to begin at home. In the Brandon School Division, Internet safety lessons are introduced in the curriculum to students in Grade 2.

“That’s where they start to be taught about the importance of keeping their personal information and photos off the Internet, talking about avoiding becoming a target of victimization,” said Meadows School counsellor Dayna Galatiuk.

There are different risks for different age groups. Younger kids in grades 3 to 5 play online games, and parents might not realize there is often a chat component.

“We can see in those situations, individuals who may be exposing them to inappropriate content or conversations,” Classen said. “It’s important for parents … make sure that they’re monitoring that and letting the kids know to be coming off, if anything seems weird or if anything is making them uncomfortable or anyone’s asking questions.”

As children get older, social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter become a part of the mix. Classen said it’s important for parents to explain the public nature of the space.

“They can easily lose control of what happens to the content and there can be incredible humiliation because it’s a very public space,” Classen said.

“They need to be very careful about what they’re choosing to share and what information about their friends they share.”

The age of children logging onto Facebook seems to be getting younger and younger.

“I’ve seen kids as young as Grade 2 on Facebook,” Galatiuk said. “Kids are pretty tech-savvy nowadays, but I’m not really sure a six-year-old or a seven-year-old can really, truly understand the implications, or truly understand the scariness … They don’t believe that there are creeps out there that would lie to get your personal information … or try to lure you.”

Parents and teachers need to build up a child’s life skills, so they understand boundaries and what the role of an adult is, Classen said.

“We’re seeing a lot of kids being exploited by individuals in their early-20s or mid-20s,” Classen said. “It all happens under the guise of a relationship, so they need to talk about healthy relationships.”

Crocus Plains Grade 11 student Justin Thompson said he was taught to be careful online right when he first started using computers, around the age of 10. He said he makes sure his privacy settings are adjusted on his Facebook page.

“Obviously you don’t just open your Facebook account to whoever and anyone, just keep it to friends that I have,” he said. “It’s more using intuition and logic as to what to do and what not to put.”

More kids now have their own smartphones, which means technology is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“It’s not about where you are keeping the computer anymore, because these kids are connected all the time, wherever they are,” Classen said.

Smartphones are becoming more of a challenge in the schools. A division-wide firewall filters school computers from inappropriate sites or images, as well as social networking sites. But when students bring smartphones and connect to the cellular network, there’s no way to monitor what the students are doing.

“If they’re connected to our WiFi environment, we can sort of manage where they go … just as we would if it was a computer on our network,” said Brent Ewasiuk, director of management and information systems technology with BSD.

“But if it’s on a cellular connection, it’s beyond our control, and even though they’re sitting inside our buildings, those devices do present a challenge.”

Ewasiuk said he hopes technology evolves to the point where the cellular connection is turned off automatically when entering a school.

“It’s actually not that far away,” Ewasiuk said. “We’re starting to see some … companies bring their product to the market now, unfortunately the first ones to market always command the most money… it’s not a cheap solution, but it’s a necessary solution.”

» jaustin@brandonsun.com