Jonassen, Peck and Wilson show how students can construct learning through collaborating and communicating. On the other hand, parents are worried that children are in great danger if they go to online communities, especially girls. We've heard a lot of scary stories about pedophiles abusing little innocent girls who give out information in these chats. How do we provide an environment that allows children to share and collaborate in a safe, protected way? Ideas?

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2000

Answers

I feel that the best way to provide an environment that is safe for children on the internet, is to moniter them. Parents should be in the room with them. If the child is not doing anything wrong, then they should not object. This is the only true safe way!

-- Anonymous, November 14, 2000

Monitoring children while online is I believe the safest way. Of course there is also speaking to children about the dangers and there is literature. Myself with my son, I am always there if he chooses to go online, I also give him a time to go online that I know I will be available to observe what he is doing. It is important to let the children know about the information they are giving on line. Talking to children and making them aware of the realities that happens in this situation, I am sure they will listen although it seems at times they are not.

-- Anonymous, November 14, 2000

The internet has turned out to be a way for people and companies to take advantage of the little people. Just yesterday I received a bill from AT&T for 42.99. I do not have long distance, yet through the internet my sister went on line and made an international call. Why should I have to pay; if I don't have long distance why should it work through the computer. I fell the internet should be more policed. Young children should not be on the internet without parent or adult supervision. Parents should have a special password for certain chat rooms.

-- Anonymous, November 14, 2000

One of the best ways to monitor young children especially girls is for them to go online with web-tv. This way the computer is in the living room with the parents watching their activities. It is one of the better ways of monitoring the children. Another way is to set up the computer in the living room or kitchen where adults will be present and can monitor the screen. Another way is to install programs with a safety net on them which would prevent young children from entering into. The final line is that adults be present all the time when their children are online, especially young ones. Children should also be spoken to before using the computer about the dangers of the internet. Children should be aware that there are dangerous and sick people who use the internet in order to lure young children to meeting places which would be considred dangerous, Children should have a line of communication open with their parents and tell them if somebody is trying to set up a meeting with them. This way the parents can do something about it. Bottom line, parents have

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2000

Although te internet is an excellent source of information parents should always monitor what they are doing when on the world wide web sites that is only safe way to keep track. Unfortunly there are some crul people out there who like to target young boys and girls. Maybe in the near future the internet service can adapt some device that can detect when a minor is online and unsupervised and the computer will freeze on them and the only way to undo it is for an adult to type in a code that will release the computer.So as I have already said it is the responsibitly of the adult to be in the room when a child is on the internet.

-- Anonymous, November 18, 2000

We can provide an environment that allows our children to share and collaborate in a safe protected way. This can be done by following certain guidelines that will protect our children from internet dangers. 1. We can teach our children about things on the internet that concern us such as (pornography,violence and hate sites)and tell them to notify you immediately if they encounter such material. 2. Take advantage of the internet service provider's parental controls. These controls can block access to certain web pages, chat rooms and other internet resources that are not fit for children. 3. Purchase blocking software for your computer. These programs block access to certain objectionable sites and prevent children from disclosing personal information on the internet. 4. Be aware of the amount of time your children spends on line and monitor them occasionally to make sure that they are using the internet safely. 5. Make sure that in your child's school that student internet use is monitored by adults. 6. If a friend of your child has home internet access, find out from the parents if they will be monitored on line.

-- Anonymous, November 18, 2000

I feel that in order to protect children from pedophiles abusing little innocent girls, we should monitor the internet the same as cable T.V are any other T.V program. In adddition we should have family disscussion about the internet the same as we do with school problems, home work are any other family problem. Therefore you must also make sure children are able to talk to you about anything whether it is good are bad. This a subject that I think all family should talk about in order for the children to be aware of this kind of abuse.

-- Anonymous, November 19, 2000

First of all we must educate the children on the dangers as well as the positive aspect of the internet. The same way we educate children about not taking candy from strangers we can use the same concept,not everyone is nice and for that reason we all must be very careful not to give out any personal information to people we may come in contact with on the internet. We should definitely monitor the children but realistically speaking there will be times when children will be on the internet without supervision which is why we must give them the information and educate them on possible consequences and hopefully then they will have the tools to make informed desicions and we must trust in that. In any real life situation there is good and bad, but we can not shy away because of the bad we must be careful.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2000

It is true that using advanced computer technology gives the student a powerful way to construct his learning through collaborating and communicating as the authors state. One way to have a safe environment that allows children to share and collaborate on the Internet is monitoring their time on line by the adult person in charge with their education. That should be the teacher at school and the parent at home to carefully supervised a student. Next the educators must explain to the students to be aware of the dangerous situations that may occur talking to strangers and giving them personal information. Another way is to install software that blocks the access to unwanted chat-rooms. We have to do this extra work because it is very important for the students’ education to be exposed to unlimited opportunity available through the Internet access.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2000

We must be there with the children to facilitate the learning that is going on, and also to intervene if anything that shouldn't be is happening. I do not think that we should not allow our girls to go into online communities. I think that they should be aware of the dangers of this, but that they should not be restricted to using it. We have to support the students and be there to guide them through the use of these technologies.

-- Anonymous, November 28, 2000

I agree with many of the responses in that parents need to play an active role in their childrens lives. Although I believe this involves more than just monitoring him or her on the internet. It is simply impossible to watch everything they do. It is cruical to teach children rules they must follow both on the internet and in other areas. Many of the rules for the internet apply in many situations. Children have to learn the conseqences of giving personal information to strangers. As adults we have to guide children in the right direction in order for them make good choices because we cn't be with them all the time.

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000