Instructional Web Activity

Chat Safety On-line

Objective

Students will learn about the dangers of chatting online.

Objective

Students will be able to explain these dangers and their implications.

Introduction

People all over the world are communicating via chat rooms on the internet. While this provides an inexpensive and fast way to communicate, it also introduces new dangers for each individual. Children, especially, are prone to fall victim to other chatters, as children are naïve about the dangers associated with chatting on-line. However, children will continue to chat using this method and it is therefore the job of educators to provide guidance and boundaries so that children may enjoy chatting safely.

Activity

You will need to visit the following websites and read the information presented. Upon completion of this activity, you will be required to integrate the information you read to provide guidance to young students.

Safety on the Internet - http://www.chatmag.com/help/safety.html

Protect Kids.Com - http://www.protectkids.com/youthsafety/imchatipskids.htm

Internet Safety Awareness - http://www.theguardianangel.com/chat_room_safety_1.htm

Assignment

Create a letter for parents, detailing the dangers involved with chatting and what you, the teacher, are going to do during class time to help students understand the dangers and provide them guidance on how to stay safe while chatting. You will also need to create a tip sheet, outlining at least 5 ways to avoid problems while chatting. Include on the tip sheet 3 annotated websites for parents to visit for more information on keeping their child safe as they chat.

Rubric

	1	2	3
Letter to Parents	Letter contains incomplete information and is not clearly understood.	The information in the letter is provided, but is not explained adequately.	Letter is well written and contains the information parents would be interested to know in regards to their child’s safety while chatting.
Tip Sheet	List contains 3 or fewer tips.	List contains 4-5 tips but is not concise or clearly understood.	List contains at least 5 tips, is well written and easy to understand.
Annotated Websites	Contains 1-2 websites, poorly annotated.	Contains 2-3 websites, but is poorly described and annotated.	Contains 3 well annotated websites.

More Websites

Some more websites to explore include:

Educational Chat Rooms- http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/edu/chat.htm -Look at this website for educational chat rooms, resources, etc…

ChatDanger.Com - http://www.chatdanger.com/ -This site provides more information for kids on the dangers of chatting and how to remain safe.