Online Education Push Fuels Internet Safety Classes

By THE DENVER POST

Tanya Petty thought taking her children out of school and homeschooling them would protect them from bullies and other dangers.

Her three children take online classes from their living-room computer, and Petty now understands that bullies, predators and other dangers still exist _ but in a different form.

“It’s eye-opening,” said Petty, whose children are enrolled in Connections Academy _ a virtual public school for kindergartners through ninth-graders.

Petty says her children spend up to six hours a day online, and though the home computer has filters and her children have been taught not to provide personal information, the family’s electronic mailbox still gets troubling correspondences.

One recent e-mail was obvious in its intent, she said.

“It was a dating-type thing,” Petty said. “They were soliciting for a date. … It was an obvious solicitation for sex.”

As increasing numbers of students take online classes, lessons in Internet safety are becoming key parts of curriculum.

“Obviously, we have a bunch of kids starting at the age of 5 sitting on the Internet all day; it’s important to have a good Internet safety program,” said Sarah Ault, principal of Connections Academy.

Cyberbullying has become a growing problem among teens on the Internet, Ault said. And the Internet has become the roost for predators seeking young victims.

“It’s creepy,” said Petty’s 10-year-old daughter, Elizabeth.

A bill passed earlier this year in Colorado’s legislature requires that online education programs provide Internet safety programs.

The 350 students enrolled in Colorado Connections Academy are required to pass special units that teach safe and responsible use of the Internet.

Lessons start with kindergartners, who learn not to communicate with strangers. By ninth grade, they are learning how to identify predators and the legalities of copyright infringement, Ault said.

“The main point is to keep our kids safe,” she said.

The school works through a program designed by iSafe, a nonprofit foundation based in California with a mission to “educate and empower youth to make their Internet experiences safe and responsible.”

Internet safety is particularly important for children in cyberschools who are generally online twice as much as students in traditional schools, said Teri Schroeder, chief executive officer of iSafe.

“They are in a situation that they are spending a whole lot of waking hours in a virtual environment,” she said. “You look at the fact that they are online longer, and they are more at-risk.”

The curriculum teaches not to post information on websites, don’t respond to messages from unknown senders and keep parents informed about what is being said.

Schroeder said many parents are naive about what is happening online.

“The parent thinks their child is safe because they can see them,” she said. “We always say, ‘It’s midnight somewhere on the Internet, do you know who your child is with?’ I may see my child, but I don’t see the other side of it. I could be working on MySpace and my mom is in the kitchen cooking. If I have too much identifiable information on my page, I have basically posted my face on a billboard that the world can see.”

(c) 2008 Charleston Daily Mail. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.