Skip to main content

Legal Matter

The internet and social media is huge in our students' lives. Even my fourth graders, who are under the age of 13, are always talking about Tik Tok, Snapchat, Messenger Kids, and more. So many of my students have said to me they rather stay inside and be on their phones or playing video games, than playing outside with their friends. Hearing them say this is mind blowing to me. For one, my fourth graders shouldn’t even be on social media websites as they are well under the age of 13. Also what kid doesn’t like to play outside? 

CIPA & COPPA

With kids being so active on the internet, there have to be laws in place to protect students while they are in school. There is CIPA (The Children's Internet Protection Act) and COPPA (The Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act). Under CIPA, if a school is receiving funding by E-Rate there are some things the school needs to do. 

  1. School districts need to have filters on their internet so students do not have full access to all things on the internet. 

  2. Schools should teach students about how to be safe while online

COPPA is what helps protect our younger learners, anyone under the age of 13. This law helps ensure their information will not be collected. 

What do I think?

My initial thoughts about these laws are that I am happy that there are laws in place to protect our students while in school using the internet. However, part of me is wondering if these laws are truly enough. From what I understand from the Universal Service Administrative website, E-rate funding is given to schools and libraries who apply for fundinging. Therefore, I assume that not all schools and libraries receive these funds because I am sure not all of them apply. Therefore, not all schools and libraries are protected by CIPA. Does this then mean not all schools have filters for students using the internet? Do not all schools teach their students how to be safe while online? 

The Magic of 13

I have also tried to find why the age 13 seems to be the set age when it comes to things related to children and the internet. 13 is the age that COPPA will protect you until. 13 is the age you can sign up for social media. What makes a 13 year old so much different from a 14 year old? They are still not legal adults. Why are all students, while in school, not protected? Or at least until they are 18. I think we should be protecting all children.


I also agree with Danah Boyd’s comment regarding COPPA teaching kids to lie. I 100% agree with his comment because I see it first hand. I teach fourth grade which is nine and ten years olds. I have had some various cyber bullying incidents reported to me by students. When having to contact home, parents have told me “I didn’t know my child was on Tik Tok” or “My child isn’t 13. How did they get access to that?” I then inform the parents that they can lie about the year they were born to sign up for these platforms. My school district actually had a detective from a local police force that deals with cyber bullying and predatory incidents come and talk to students under 13. The detective talked to the students about the many reasons why they should not lie about their age, the dangers of social media, and more. I think if the age was raised it would make it harder for younger children to be able to have access to social media. If we raise the age it will also protect more students under COPPA.


Reflect


Overall, laws are always a lot to wrap your head around. As an educator we want our kids to be protected and safe while using the internet. Period. The Internet is a huge part of school systems now and we need to make sure technology in education is used for that purpose. To engage and enrich our students. We then want to make sure we teach our students how to safely use the internet when they are not with us.


Labels:

Comments

  1. Janet MontalvoApril 20, 2024 at 10:08 AM

    Hi, Ashley! I enjoyed reading your blog. We have similar thoughts for these laws, that they are not enough to protect all children. I think you raise some important questions, especially if schools are not funded by the government, what kind of internet protection do they have?

    I also believe that lying about your age is so easy!! I'm glad that your school addressed the situation with your students. I also think it's important to have these conversations with kids at every grade level, so that they continue to learn about the dangers of the internet!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Frameworks for Tech Integration

Technology in the Classroom! Technology is within all of our classrooms at some capacity. It is the way we as educators incorporate technology into our classrooms. One model a district may use is the SAMR model. The model has four levels of utilizing technology in the classroom. The four levels are: substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition.  Source: Giphy What is SAMR? S - substitution. This is exactly what it sounds like. You are replacing things that can be done with a paper and pencil with a digital version of it.  A - augmentation. This level is one step above substitution. In this level you are still in a sense substituting those paper and pencil activities however adding a little twist to it. The biggest idea that resonates with me is gamified activities such as playing a Kahoot. This can be done paper and pencil is more fun with the use of technology and its features. M - modification This level is where transformation begins to take place. You are no...
8 comments
Read more

AI In Education

  AI in Education  AI in education is becoming a bigger thing. AI is Artificial Intelligence. AI can complete human-like tasks, more so that are technology related. It is everywhere nowadays. Teachers are using AI to help support their lessons and students. However, there are so many different websites and tools that educators can use with AI that it can be overwhelming. I myself haven't used AI too much. I understand many things have AI built into it now. Such as Instagram with their “Meta AI”, but that’s about it. I would love to learn about more tools I can use in the classroom to support my planning and students' learning. With that being said, I took some time to explore three different AI tools for educators and I am going to share with you my thoughts! MagicSchool AI  Last school year, one of my colleagues presented on MagicSchool AI . She highlighted so many cool and fascinating things that it could do. I couldn’t wait to use it! I book marked the website right th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Technology's Impact

  Examine your Relationship with Technology My Overall Relationship with Tech Technology is a big part of my life. I use technology for all sorts of things. My district is a one to one district so I use technology daily for my job. I am currently taking online graduate school classes therefore I use technology for my own education. I use technology to create and organize things for my upcoming wedding. I also use technology in my personal life for fun like scrolling on Tik Tok or using my Kindle to unwind and read. I am not going to lie, I do feel like I use technology too much. Especially once you write it all down and see how much you use it. It makes me take a step back and realize maybe there is something I can do about that.  The Tool that has my Heart  Source: Blog Owner's Instagram There is a certain piece of technology that holds more meaning to me than others and that would be Instagram. Instagram is a social media platform where users can post pictures, videos, ...
Post a Comment
Read more