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School divisions and police forces team up for Cyber Talk |
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Wednesday, 09 January 2008 |
Cyber Talk.
By Sharon Ulrich
Taber Times
While it could be inferred today's youth speak a different language than those with years behind them, throw technology into the mix, as well as the unknowns therein, and the situation could be much more complex.
With online safety on the forefront, the Horizon School Division hopes to bridge that gap with Cyber Talk: Online Communication and Social Development of Rural Adolescents in Alberta, presented to the community by University of Lethbridge Researchers and Police Services.
The first part of the three-fold presentation will focus on the results of the Cyber Talk survey division students from Grade 6 through Grade 9 participated in last spring.
Supt. Cheryl Gilmore said the purpose of that study was to compile information relative to rural use, and whether or not student's use of online communication and social networking paralleled that of studies done with urban youth populations.
"The findings indicated that rural kids are very much accessing and using online communication as much as urban kids and in fact in some areas, are even more at risk," said Gilmore, who noted it will be a very informative presentation.
"The University of Lethbridge certainly has done what I would call very timely and relevant research in this area and important research in terms of its a whole new area keeping our kids safe. And there's been certainly provincially, and even nationally, an increasing amount of issues with online communication relative to bullying and invasion of privacy."
With a target audience from Horizon and Holy Spirit School Divisions, on Jan. 17, students in Grade 6 and up, parents of students of all ages, teachers and community members are invited to D.A. Ferguson middle school for the first of three regional community meetings.
With that, Gilmore noted the presentations are not only for parents of middle school and high school-aged students.
"There are social networks already that students use at the elementary age, and elementary-aged children access the Internet at an increasing rate, so it's not only a middle school/high school phenomena, even though that was the target audience of the study. The information provided really is useful to any parent and community member interested in how our children of all ages are accessing and communicating on the Internet."
The presentations are designed to deal with online safety, potential risks when online as well as some general rules to keep in mind for safety on the Internet, according to director of curriculum and instruction, Wilco Tymensen.
"When you start dealing with the Internet and so on, a lot of the times the kids are a lot more savvy than parents. They're much more familiar with it, and it's pretty tough sometimes for parents to be even aware of how to keep their children safe when they're not aware of what the dangers are. And really the goal here is to inform parents about the potential benefits but also the potential risks about the Internet and online issues."
Extending beyond the Internet, Tymensen referred to text messaging and Cyber Bullying, with indications the information is focused on the concept and risks of online communication. Along with websites such as Facebook and Nexopia, he remarked the online environment with virtual friends is becoming a primary form of communication for today's youth, a concept that is foreign for a lot of parents.
"A lot of times kids think putting their picture on Facebook, for example, is a secure sight and that only their friends can see that. And in actual fact, a lot of those different sights such as Facebook, kids have a misunderstanding of security issues. So part of this is just to talk about some of the potential risks of putting your personal information with pictures of friends and those kinds of things as well, out there."
Within the scope of the presentations, Tymensen remarked the focus is to create safe and caring schools.
"Because we're dealing with online issues and our community is becoming more global, when we talk about safe and caring schools, that's not just within our buildings but within our communities. And I think a big step forward with this is to really talk about the interconnectedness of our world and that kids who are in Vauxhall or Milk River are communicating online, not just with people in their own communities but with people across the world."
Presentations by the U of L and respective members of police services in the three regional meetings will also address how parents can monitor use of cyber communication and work with their children to help them be safe in their cyber communication, Gilmore noted.
"As well, at the end of the formal communication, we're going to provide opportunity for parents and youth who attend the presentation to access some of the social networks through our computers so we can teach them how to use them."
The Taber-and-area session is on Jan. 17 at Central school with a 7 p.m. start. The second regional meeting for Horizon South is on Jan. 31 at Erle Rivers high school in Milk River at 7 p.m., with the final session at Vauxhall Junior-Senior high school on Feb. 7 at 7 p.m.
For those unable to attend a meeting in one's region, attendance is welcome in a different region. For more information, call Dorthea Mills at 223-3547 ext. 10038. |
