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Monday's Internet Edition, January 05, 2009.
EGUSD announces new Internet Safety Video Contest
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Photo by Andrew Greene
Elk Grove Unified School District is educating students, such as nine-year-old Chelsea Peppenger, on how to safely use the Internet. Peppenger is one of the students eligible to enter an Internet Safety Video Contest being held by the EGUSD.
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By Andrew Greene
River Valley Times Staff
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The Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD) announced that it is now accepting entries from students in grades four through 12 for the 2008 Internet Safety Video Contest in collaboration with the United States Attorney’s Office.
EGUSD Communications Director Elizabeth Graswich said that all students are "invited to produce a video that promotes the safe and ethical use of the Internet.”
Graswich continued, “The video contest is one component of Elk Grove Unified’s Internet Safety Initiative. The initiative includes a three-pronged approach to educate staff, parents and students about cyberbullying, online predators and other safety tips. It also presents an opportunity to reinforce Internet safety while allowing students to express their creativity.”
There are four categories students can enter: Public Service Announcement (PSA), School News and Events, Instructional/How To and Documentary. The first category is limited to entries of one-minute in length, while entrees into the other three may not go over three minutes. Video titles and credits are not included in the time limit. Entries must be submitted on mini-DV tape, CD-ROM, DVD in Quicktime, Windows Media Player or Real Player format.
Graswich said that the submissions will be evaluated by three criteria: “originality, technical components and clarity of the message.” The three grade-level divisions to be awarded are grades from four to six, seven to eight and nine through 12. EGUSD will notify the winners by telephone in November and be presented with their awards at the Board of Education meeting on December 16.
C.W. Dillard Elementary School’s computer resource teacher Matt Morse said that he is “absolutely sure” that some of his students will join the competition and explained that Internet safety is important to the district. “In my seven years teaching computers, I’ve never seen anything inappropriate happen on a school computer,” Morse said.
Morse explained that there were a number of reasons using computers at Dillard Elementary is so safe, “We really have some great people at district headquarters who do a really good job of tightly controlling what sites the students can access. Anything that may be inappropriate is blocked and, also, I monitor from my computer all of the websites that the children are using,” said Morse.
The teacher said that family involvement was another key. “Forms that guardians must sign go out explaining Internet safety and etiquette. And before the form is sent home, we go over it in detail with the students so that they clearly understand the rules,” said Morse.
Morse continued, “If a student were ever to attempt to get to an inappropriate website, they would lose all computer privileges for a month and all Internet privileges for the school year. Of course, parents would be notified and a meeting would be held. The kids know the rules.”
Although cyber bullying at the school is almost impossible due to the blocking of email and messaging websites, Morse said that the teaching of ethical computer habits is essential since those methods of behavior carry on into the students’ everyday lives.
On its website, EGUSD defines cyber bullying as, “being cruel to others by sending or posting harmful material or engaging in other forms of social aggression using the Internet or other digital technologies.” Similar to cyber bullying is cyber threats, which the district defines as “either threats, distressing material or general statements that make it sound like the writer is emotionally upset and may be considering harming someone else or harming himself or herself.”
“Safe Kids Worldwide,” an international nonprofit organization committed to improving the safety of children worldwide, describes online predators as those who use the Internet to exploit vulnerable people. A 2006 study by the “Crimes Against Children Resource Center” found that over a five-year period there was an increase from 25% to 34% in encountering unwanted exposures to sexual material along with a rise from six percent to nine percent in cases of online harassment.
Other potential dangers that children and their families face are the threats of identity theft and harmful programs such as spyware and malware. Cosumnes River Elementary School fourth-grader Chelsea Peppenger said that she knows how to be safe online. “I only go on kid sites and never to adult sites,” she said.
To educate families, the district has created a new Internet safety blog, 2webwatchers at http://2webwatchers.edublogs.org. This blog contains an area where students, parents and staff can ask questions and post comments about Internet safety. The district’s technology integration and web specialists, Gail Desler and Kathleen Watt, co-facilitate the blog.
About the competition, Graswich said, “This contest is an innovative example of how our district has taken the initiative to be a leader in educating others about the importance of Internet safety. The district has built upon its success last year of cyber safety classes for parents offered through the Elk Grove Adult and Community Education Department and professional development Internet classes for staff.”
Contest entry materials are available at http://2webwatchers.edublogs.org.
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