Literate--and Safe--on the World Wide Web

True Internet literacy goes beyond teaching students how to navigate the web. As we give our children the freedom they need to become web literate, how can we keep them safe?

by Kimberly S. Roempler, ENC Instructional Resources

It took me a while to make the decision, but I finally got high-speed Internet access at home. My nine-year-old daughter Kelly had been bugging me to replace our slow computer and phone-line Internet access with the stuff she has at school-bright blue and fast! I bought her a see-through blue iMac and a mouse with a red light that looks like a laser.

According to Kelly, the blueness, see-throughness, and "laser" were the selling points. The cable modem hook-up guarantees instant access to the Internet at any time of the day. Of course, those details have nothing to do with Kelly's Internet literacy. That is a job for her teachers and me.

True Internet literacy goes beyond teaching youngsters how to navigate the web. We also must help them learn to choose wisely from the almost infinite amount of information that can be found on the monster that is the World Wide Web. Thinking of it that way brings up a very important, related issue: As we give our children the freedom they need to become web literate, how can we keep them safe?

Information Literacy

As part of its Nine Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning (http://www.ala.org /aasl/ip_nine.html), the American Association of School Librarians writes that students who are information literate:

• access information efficiently and effectively;
• evaluate information critically and competently; and
• use information accurately and creatively.

We all need information literacy skills to help us judge the value and the truth of the information we receive whether it is through books, magazines, newspapers, television, radio, or the Internet. Children and teenagers need these skills because they spend enormous amounts of time attending to media messages. Without guidance, youngsters may not realize why the message was created or how the message-maker intends to influence them.

I have found two excellent web resources to help teachers and parents provide that guidance. The Cable in the Classroom web site (http://www.ciconline.com/) focuses directly on the issues teachers face. WebSmartKids.org (http://www.websmartkids.org/) is aimed at parents, but the site provides food for thought for teachers as well. It is also a valuable resource for teachers who want to help parents guide their children's Internet use at home.

Both Cable in the Classroom and WebSmartKids.org gave ENC Focus permission to print excerpts from the advice they provide online. We encourage you to visit each site, and the sites listed in the box below, for more information.

Advice from Cable in the Classroom (http://www.ciconline.com/)

Typing a keyword in a search engine can easily result in more than 50,000 hits. With so much data at their fingertips, how do youngsters decide which web sites provide accurate information for a school report or when they are just browsing at home? Cable in the Classroom recommends teaching students to ask the five Ws: Who? What? When? Where? and Why?

Who is the site's author? If the information sounds authoritative, children have a tendency to assume it's true. But anyone can create a web page. Have students look for links to the author's biographical information to evaluate that person's credibility.

What is the site's purpose? What is it trying to do-sell products or services? Present information? Advocate ideas? Entertain? Is it ad-supported or sponsored by an organization that is trying to exert influence in some way? Make sure students understand that the purpose of a web site may not be obvious.

When was the web site last updated? If it hasn't been maintained, the data may no longer be accurate. Does the information agree with other sources on the web or in print?

Where does the site originate? Because of the global nature of the web, you may want to dissect the web address (Uniform Resource Locator or URL) or search for an address through the internal links to determine the country or organization of origin. Nationality may or may not have some bearing on the message.

Why does the site exist? Designing a personal home, hobby, or class page can illustrate the editorial thinking that goes into presenting information on the web. It reminds students to think critically about the motivations that can influence the messages they find on the web.

Advice from WebSmartKids (http://www.websmartkids.org/)

As mentioned earlier, WebSmartKids.org addresses its advice primarily to parents, but teachers can adapt the recommendations for classroom use. Articles and resources mentioned can be accessed directly from the site.

How much time does your child spend online each day?

Adult involvement is the key to responsible web behavior and to the development of information literacy skills for the Internet. Put the computer children use in an area of the house that everyone shares. (In the classroom, make sure that monitor screens can be seen from other parts of the room.) Communicate to youngsters that you're interested in their computer-using habits.

With whom does your child communicate online?

The anonymity of the online world, combined with its interactive nature, makes children vulnerable. Explain to your child that you will monitor Internet use and Internet friendships.

What are your child's favorite places on the web? What sites has your child bookmarked?

If you want to help your child visit useful, reliable, interesting sites, visit such sites together. You could even begin a family (or classroom) email newsletter by sending your child an email message each week with a description of an excellent site you've discovered that you think your child will enjoy.

Is your child able to tell from the URL the site's title or sponsor? Both are clues to whether the information at a site is reliable or valuable.

Literacy begins with the basics: to be literate in print, children must learn which way to hold a book, where (and what) the title is, and the meaning of authorship. Information literacy on the Internet includes such basic skills as learning how to tell who hosts the site, who wrote the site, and when the site was last updated.

Does your child follow the teacher's and school's guidelines about using online information or services to complete homework?

Many schools use their own web sites to post these guidelines. If you and your child are not sure about your school's policy governing Internet use, be sure to find out. If your school doesn't have such guidelines, volunteer to head a committee to create them!

Does your child understand copyright rules for online information?

Review the rules for attributing online information with your child by reading "Right and Wrong Online: Teaching Your Children Ethics in Cyberspace" in The Parent's Guide to the Information Superhighway (http://www.childrenspartnership.org/).

Does your child know what to do when he or she encounters sexually explicit, violent, or hate-based content on a web site?

Prepare your child for undesirable sites by discussing the existence of the sites before your child ever sees one. Discuss why people put such content on the Internet, and what children should do if they come across the content, such as leave the site, tell or show a parent, and then report the site. Go to the WebSmartKids site to report offensive sites via links to the National Center for Missing or Exploited Children's CyberTipline, or to the FBI's field office in your community, or to your state police. The GetNetWise site has links to state police headquarters.

Does your child know how to use the Internet safely-how to protect privacy and report upsetting content?

Teach your child to use the Internet safely. Discuss the rules for safe surfing and post them near your family or classroom computer. Think about the places where children have access to the Internet. What are the child safety policies at each of these places? Make sure children understand the rules and know how to follow them in each situation.

Taking this Advice at School and at Home

Kelly and I have spent a tremendous amount of time together browsing many of the sites listed in Roempler's Recommended Resources (see pages 6 and 7) and talking about what sites are appropriate for her and why. For now, I have limited her Internet search engine to Ask Jeeves for Kids (http://www.ajkids.com) and her browsing to Yahooligans! (http://www.yahooligans.com). She has a list of sites that she is able to visit without me sitting down beside her-they are all in her Bookmarks folder for easy access. I even had her sign a contract for online safety.

The rules we follow at home are similar to those that have been established at her school. Her teacher confers with all the students' parents about the issues surrounding Internet use for children.

The Internet is not going to go away. On the contrary, it is likely to become more pervasive and even to replace books, magazines, and newspapers as our primary source of information. With our guidance, our children can safely add web literacy to their list of life skills.

Kimberly S. Roempler is ENC's Associate Director of Instructional Resources. She has been a teacher educator and a teacher of high school physical science. Email:

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