![Picture](/uploads/2/6/8/7/26872695/872223683.png?240)
I know what you are probably thinking... Can we really allow students to have the capability to access all that is online? How do we keep our students safe while surfing? How do we maintain that the material is age appropriate? How do we stop predators? There's probably a few more questions to think of regarding internet safety and keeping students safe while using the internet, however the answer to these questions are available. I have been working in the school setting for a long time and there is software that is available that helps limit what students can do while surfing. For instance, I'm in Crooked Creek, Alaska right now and during the school day, sites like Facebook and YouTube are blocked during the school day. This is to ensure that the students don't goof off all day long and take up the limited amount of bandwidth. They also have a system in place which doesn't allow the students to access sites the have pornographic images, as well as blog sites that are non-educational. This helps keep age appropriate material in the school setting and keeps students from accessing things they aren't supposed to. To keep students safe from predators, there are many websites that have been made to help inform students about the dangers out there. There are also spam blockers, anti-virus software and tutorials to keep students safe. A great site to get information on keeping students safe is www.edutopia.org