During the recent California School Library Association Annual Conference in Pasadena last month, the organization held the first ever “Cyber Sunday,” an event open free of charge to the community with some of digital literacy’s top experts providing sessions on many different aspects of digital citizenship. Shirley Shoda, a Mira Costa parent and library volunteer attended. I asked her to write a guest posting:
“My main reason for attending Cyber Sunday was to learn about ways to protect my family on the net. I signed up for a session called Parent Support: Young Children Online.
“The first portion of the session was covered by Daryl Hulce, Program Administrator for USA-SOS Internet Challenge. This program is an Internet Safety Program for 3rd thru 8th graders, backed by the FBI and is designed primarily for participation by schools. The students answer a series of questions to earn points. The schools then compete against other schools to win a prize. Some of the topics include Virus Protection, On-Line Predators, Reputable Sites, and Social Networking. (There are 17 topics in all). The program is designed like a game, making it very kid-friendly.
“The second portion included an introduction of Nooks for Books by a rep from Barnes and Noble, explaining how this technology can be used in the classroom and at home. Everyone in the audience actually got to play around with a Nook!
“In addition to these talks, I received some helpful handouts, such as “A Parents’ Guide to Facebook”, presented by ConnectSafely.org, explaining about how kids can socialize smartly and safely on the web. It covered topics like “Why you should be honest about your age”, “How to choose friends wisely”, “Configuring who can see what you post”, and “Limiting who can see your info or search for you”. These topics were extremely informative not only for my children but for me as well.
“Cyber safety will continue to be a hot topic in our household as we use the web more to connect with others. I feel that having attended Cyber Sunday has definitely helped me become better equipped in protecting our privacy and ensuring our family’s safety online.”
Thanks so much for contributing, Ms. Shoda.