Be Safe – Be Ethical

• Your school should have an Internet acceptable use policy. Read it and review the appropriate parts with students from time to time. Also check the district’s harassment policy. It may have been written prior to the existence of the Internet, but it should apply to digital interactions as well. Be sure to explain how to avoid plagiarism and breaking the copyright law. Theft of information and access to sexually explicit material also predate the Internet. Doug suggests you give students guidelines rather than a lengthly list of rules. This will encourage more higher-order thinking. Ethical behavior doesn’t harm anyone or society, for example. You should also involve parents in this discussion. Topics should also include stranger danger, cyber bullying, and revealing too much information. Doug includes an excellent list of do’s and don’ts you can start with along with interesting scenarios.

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