Comparing children's e-safety strategies with guidelines offered by adults

Abstract

The ways our children are using Internet have changed significantly within the last five years: the Web experience is more personalised, social, open, self-regulated and oriented towards ripping, remixing, sharing, following, reflecting. As a result, also e-learning has recently become more social and open, involving the use of personal learning environments or social networks. We believe that the schools are not ready for this yet, as strategies and regulations supporting open learning are not up to date. It may seem easier to restrict the use of e.g. Twitter or Facebook rather than integrate them into the learning process. In 2011, we carried out the qualitative analysis of 201 e-safety related short stories presented by students (aged 12 to 16), parents, teachers, school IT managers and police officials, collected through the Safer Internet in Estonia EE SIC campaign. 2/3 of the stories are fictional - they may be based on urban legends which however appear to refer to real stories. 1/3 of the stories reflect real incidents. We mapped typical behaviour patterns and beliefs regarding privacy as well as the regulations and limitations concerning the use of social networks at schools. Our study shows that typical safety incidents are not solved adequately when existing regulations are used by the schools. We found that most of the solutions used by schools to ensure e-safety are either technical or purely regulation-based, only some schools appeared to have studied or elaborated on pedagogical or behavioural aspects. Problems are defied by limitations and regulations, while actual safety incidents (whether in- or outside school) remain largely unsolved (or even undetected). Thus there is an urgent need for information and working guidance mechanisms for managers, teachers, parents and students. These matters must be solved before schools reach the critical mass in using e-learning, social networks and modern gadgetry as parts of curriculum. ©Academic Publishing International Ltd.