A Grown-Up's Guide to the Internet

| What to worry about | Parent Sites & Guides | Homework Help |
| Parent Resources | Teacher Resources |

Updated 06/04 Comments to skrab@esu16.org
Ogallala Public School web pages are made possible through ESU 16. All pages copyright, Ogallala Public Schools, 2004.

What to worry about…

The big three: e-mail, chat rooms & instant messaging (IM)

• The “bad sites” on the web
• Plagiarism & other “cheat sites
• Time wasters & off-task surfing

What the OPS school system does…

• Internet filter
• Internet orientation/rules session (based on the OPS District Internet Safety and Network Use Policy)
• Monitoring in the lab & in the classroom

What parents should do…

1. Limit time online, even if school-related.  Exceptions should be very rare and for very important projects.
2. Keep the computer in a public place. Walk by often.
3. Know your student’s online friends, especially in a chat room or instant messaging.  You should be able to point to a name and say “Who is this?”  If they can’t (or won’t) tell you, consider it a red flag.
4. Know the slang, especially in chat rooms or IM.  Your student may be saying things online that you would not allow them to say at home.
5. Look into the Internet cache.  Go to My Computer, and then C drive.  Click on Windows (show all files if it asks) and then to Temporary Internet files. If the cache is completely empty that could be another red flag.  Ask you student to leave the cache in place or explain why it’s been cleaned out. Most students do not bother with it, although some computers are set up to clean it out occasionally.
6. Encourage students to make productive searches using solid sites (not just going to a search engine like Yahoo and typing in “airplanes”).  Many teachers provide sites off of the OPS web page (www.esu16.org/~ops)
7. Consider a filter…but remember they are NOT foolproof.  Surfmonkey is just one example (http://www.surfmonkey.com/)
8. Make sure students know to never, ever give personal information out over the Internet.  Do not even encourage them “to just lie”…it’s just too dangerous.
9. Watch for viruses.  Be especially careful with attachments.
10. Set ground rules.  Write them down.  Refer to them often. There are many examples, such as the one at www.safekids.com/parent_guidelines.htm)

Other Helpful sites & guides for parents:

• www.fbi.gov/publications/pguide/pguidee.htm
• www.yahooligans.com/parents/ (especially helpful sections on Filtering and Privacy)

Homework Help

• OMS Library http://userweb.esu16.org/~omslib/resource1.htm
• Internet Public Library www.ipl.org/
• Yahooligans (http://www.yahooligans.com/)

• Ask Jeeves for Kids (http://www.ajkids.com)
  (The last two are filtered search engines intended for younger children, but can still bel very useful).

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Updated 05/04 Comments to skrab@esu16.org
Ogallala Public School web pages are made possible through ESU 16. All pages copyright, Ogallala Public Schools, 2004.