Jeffrey Hight's List: Student Safety and Ethical Use of Technology in the Classroom

• some student populations do lots of online and computer work at home, but other schools serve students who don't have computers and Internet access at home, so the choices for after-school technology work are limited.
• Clearly, leveling the playing field outside school is a huge task.
• But one thing I've noticed that still strikes me as just as critical is the digital divide within school buildings.
• The disturbing thing I see, though, is that even in many technology-rich schools, there are still strands of students who barely access the technology in meaningful ways.
• The students who finish their "real work" early, or the really well-behaved students, get to the computers much more often.
• How do we address this version of the digital divide, inequity of access within a school --

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• I don't think access will ever be equal, but within schools there must be an equal opportunity.
• It struck me that what we strive for is sometimes utopia and so it should be, why accept pebbles when you desire the stars! However, here, now, today what we have to guarantee is best practice and our best must never be mediocre. In our divided world, tech or otherwise, while we must use our passion to strive for what is true excellence, we also have to ensure that each child, teenager and adult involved in education has equal access to the very best we can provide within our organisation now.

• Improved Literacy Skills:
• Authentic Audience:
• Sense of Classroom Community:
• Global Connections:
• ICT Skills:
• Home- School Partnerships:
• Appropriate Online Behaviours: Everyone will agree that teaching students to be safe online is an important issue. You can’t just do one off lessons on cyber safety. Cyber safety is not a separate subject. Through being heavily involved in blogging, my Grade Two class has opportunities almost every day to discuss cyber safety issues and appropriate online behaviours in an authentic setting.
• Confidence:

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