When infusing ICT into lessons, there are several possible cyber wellness issues that students may encounter. One of them is the violation of copyright. This could happen during the group work should the students decide to search for information and images to use instead of using their own, and involves ‘downloading copyrighted works without permission from the owner’ (Lim, 2010, p. 132). They may become involved in the ‘copying of words, ideas images or creative works without giving authors due credit’ (Lim, 2010, p. 132). Hence, the teacher can stress to the students the importance of citing authors if their creations are being used and provide them with simple instructions on how to cite, or even direct them to an online citation generator. The teacher has to also highlight the seriousness of downloading copyrighted materials, that something on the internet does not mean that it comes free. The teacher can direct and instruct students on websites such as Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org/) to search for materials that they can use. Another way is to ensure ‘that the school has monitoring systems (technological solutions on who downloads what) set in place’ (Lim, 2010, p. 137).
The second possible cyber wellness issue is that of encountering with inappropriate content such as pornography or violence during their research. One approach is to ensure that the learning activity is conducted within a classroom. While the school may already have ‘appropriate content filters’ (Lim, 2010, p. 137) in place, the teacher should still walk around to ensure that no such content is being accessed. At the same time, teachers can work with parents to ensure that even in a home environment, students are able to use the internet in a safe way. For example, providing tips to parents, or helping parents install content filters on their home computers are possible ways.
References
Lim, W. Y. (2010). Cybersafety in the Face of 21st Century Learning. In C. S. Chai, & Wang, Q. Y. (Ed.), ICT: For Self-Directed and Collaborative Learning. Singapore: Prentice Hall.
