RSA #3

Preservice teachers and inservice teachers may have never heard of the term "C3" before, which is becoming a very serious problem when talking about the integration of technology in the classroom at any level.  C3 stands for cyberethics, cybersafety, and cybersecurity.  These three outline the risks to technology and the internet that teachers need to be aware of.  Cyberethics refers to how someone conducts themselves online through comments and also includes plagarising.  Cybersafety includes the knowledge of internet prowlers and how to minimize exposure to things that can be harmful to a computer or its user. Cybersecurity is the technical aspect of everything including accurate virus protection and firewalls that protect users.  In the research, it was found that most teachers were unaware of these threats and only were confident in teaching about a few of these.  One of the main points that the article brings up is that the teachers that are coming out of colleges are primarily what are called "digital natives" and have grown up with technology all their lives.  However, in the majority of cases, these "digital natives" didn't know much more than those termed "digital immigrants", who grew up in an age where computers were not available at all times.  One of the last complications brought up was the fact that no matter what, the content of C3 is always changing.

It was very interesting to read this article only because it made me think a great deal about the teachers in my own building.  I remember a few teachers that got viruses on their computers because they clicked on a wrong button when it popped up or thought that a site was okay when it wasn't.  It was because they didn't know what to look for.  If the teachers don't know what to look for, then the kids certainly don't know what to look for.  In the article it mentions several different parts of C3 that teachers should learn about and talks also about who the responsibility lies with.  Many beleive that this should be the responsibility of the parent, and with some cases, I do agree.  We are not going to be using a child's cell phone in the classroom, so parents are in charge of setting the boundaries on its use.  If we are using wikispaces or blogger in the classroom though, I feel that it is in fact my job as an educator to teach the students what is and isn't okay to do online.  Overall, it was a very interesting article that brought up a lot of good points.

Pusey, P., & Sadera, W. A. (2011). Cyberethics, cybersafety, and cybersecurity: Preservice teacher knowledge, preparedness, and the need for teacher education to make a difference. Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, 28(2), 82-88.