As someone who was a teacher for 9+ years, I was ashamed at how little I actually knew about the details of the laws that support our students' online safety prior to this module. While I have always known that there were laws in place, I was definitely enlightened by all of this week's material on COPPA, CIPA, SOPPA, and beyond. There are so many dangers lurking on the internet, and as educators, it is important to review and discuss the laws that are keeping students safe. The internet can be a scary place and as this video puts it,"The internet has opened new doors to authentic learning, but the dangers for students are real."
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Image Source: Brenda's Thompson's Pintrest/Rezzly
CIPA, or the Children's Internet Protection Act, was signed into law in 2000 (updated in 2011) and is regulated by the FCC. CIPA is designed to protect students from online predators, inappropriate content, and cyber bullying. CIPA mandates that all U.S. educational institutions that are receiving E-rate funding have policies in place to protect their students. This also means that all online activity regulated by the school or library must be monitored and that students must be educated on digital literacy.
COPPA, or the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, was developed in 1998(updated in 2013), and is regulated by the FTC. COPPA aims to promote student safety by ensuring that parents(or grownups as I like to say)have full control over what information is collected about their child(ren). COPPA holds online websites and applications accountable for the privacy of users under the age of 13. Under COPPA, students are unable to submit information about themselves online without parental consent. Guardians should always be suspicious of applications and websites that do not ask for minimum age requirements.
After reading the material provided this week, I was also introduced to more details on SOPPA, or the Student Online Personal Protection Act, which became effective exclusively in Illinois on July 1, 2021. This helpful PDF details SOPPA and how it requires all public schools in Illinois to have signed agreements with operators that collect student data, both paid and unpaid. SOPPA also says that all public schools must "maintain reasonable security practices."
Image Source: Online Safety Tips
Thoughts and Feelings
Although I am not currently in the classroom, I do plan to be in the future and believe that our students' privacy is of the utmost importance. While I do think that the laws that are currently in place are extremely necessary to maintain student safety, I do worry that there are still ways for students to skirt around these regulations. Like I mentioned before, I felt rather uneducated about these laws before reading through this week's materials. I was teaching elementary school at a public school receiving E-rate funds for two years and was unaware of what an E-rate was before this week's reading. I have handed out several AUPs (or RUGs) to students to bring home, but I would not have been confident explaining them to guardians. I believe that it is extremely necessary to educate the teachers within a district about these laws for them to be the most effective.
CIPA is necessary, but as this video highlights, monitoring a student's personal device can be extremely tough. This is even true when it comes to district provided technology. One of the suggestions that was presented in the video was to create engaging lessons so that students are less likely to send inappropriate content on their phones. Imagine you have a classroom of 30 students. Can you truly monitor each student device effectively while trying to engage a large class? This puts an extreme amount of added stress on the classroom teacher. I think it is essential to have a strong district wide monitoring system in place to fully adhere to CIPA rules.
Even while being monitored, I have had students find a way to pull up extremely inappropriate content. In 1:1 environments where devices are provided, I have had students look up vulgar content when on their own WiFi codes at home and share with students in class. There is a lot of gray area here and I would love to read about more ways to address these concerns. After reading the case of Levy vs. Mahanoy, I was reminded of how many times my students discussed using Snapchat at home. This case begs the question: What content is off limits when posting on a personal device concerning an issue with school? I think that there will be many more cases like this that are a result of being in the CIPA gray area.
The researcher danah boyd believes that COPPA is encouraging kids to lie and thinks that the internet creates a space where "everyone is 14". I couldn't agree more with danah based both on my research and my own experience (I found this interesting NPR article where she discusses her research on online behavior. I think I'll have to read her book soon). There are several examples of students using websites and apps that are not age appropriate; a tragic one is mentioned here. I have had several under age students openly discussing the use of Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook. Like this article mentions, many parents and guardians are often the ones who allow their students to access the online platforms. Last year before Youtube was forced to change its policies, my students were bombarded with inappropriate ads and were often allowed to click on videos with vulgar language while in school. Our content filter did not block Youtube because it was used for educational purposes, but this wreaked havoc in the classroom.
In this day in age, it is extremely important to protect our students from all of the dangers lurking online. CIPA, COPPA, and all of the other laws in place to protect our students are helpful, but other steps need to be taken to maintain online safety. Students' guardians need to be vigilant in protecting their kids by ensuring they are not using apps underage. Districts must educate teachers on the laws that are governing the schools. While teachers can do their best to monitor student devices while they are in school, guardians must take the reigns while at home.
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI found your blog post so relatable! I agree, I have been in education for years... but never did the research on student internet safety (which, as educators, we should have some base knowledge)! I also found your point about students personal devices to be the hardest to monitor very pertinent. We are talking to our students daily about the consequences that can occur from posting dangerous or inappropriate content on social media. However, this is a constant battle. As many of us educators know, the follow-through at home can be inconsistent. I agree that it is important for us to stay educated - and for us as educators to provide resources to guardians.
Hi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your honest when it comes to safety regulations and your students. I myself feel the same way. I feel that teachers need to be debriefed on professional development days on these topics and not merely be sent an email once in a while. Sometimes the days can get the best of us and it is hard to sit and read through expectations and guidelines. The face that we feel that we are miseducated shows our concern for our students. I could not agree more with you. Thanks for sharing.
I'd highly recommend danah boyd's book! The statistics are about 10 -15 years old now but it will definitely give you content that still is relevant today. Thanks for a great reflection.
ReplyDeleteHello Jessica,
ReplyDeleteThere are so many laws and policies out there that educators often aren't informed about. The issue is that so many decisions are made by government leaders and not clearly communicated. SOPPA, for example, had technology departments scrambling, as it was rolled out rather swiftly. This policy, that requires special permissions and posting of any site that collects student information, is an example of how chaotic policies can be. Safeguarding student information is absolutely essential. However, informing educators of policies surrounding student data must be clearly communicated at all levels. The same standards should also apply to social media companies, as there often isn't strict requirements regarding meeting age requirements (such as uploading a form of ID or proof of date of birth). Of course, requiring this type of proof could also unlock potential issues in terms of cybersecurity with regards to user's personal information.
You did a great job covering COPPA and CIPA. Exceptional work!
Have a great weekend!
Sincerely,
Ryan