Carmel Clay School Safe Connects Pilot Program

Net Literacy is grateful that the Creekside Middle School Principal Tom Harmas, Carmel Clay Schools Director of Information Sciences Sue Moeschl supported a novel Internet safety education program taught on a “student-to-student & parents” at Creekside Middle School in the evening last week; the beginning of the Safe Connects program we discussed a couple of weeks ago when we last met.  The following summarizes the Safe Connects program.

Introduction:  During the last eleven months, nine students representing three high schools developed a curriculum, PowerPoint presentation, collateral materials to be taken home for the parents to use to discuss with their children, and a youth and parent survey of the program.  The students, under the leadership of Youth Vice Chair Morgan Starks, developed the program “from a 4th-5th graders perspective, receiving input from Mrs. Snapp, Internet-oriented law enforcement officers, Purdue University’s CERIAS instructors, parents, the United Way, and the Creekside Middle School PTO.   Since Internet safety is an issue that is increasingly concerning to parents and student alike, we applied and received for a grant from the United Way’s “Youth As Resources” to deploy this program to Hamilton County school districts as our pilot program. 

First Pilot Presentation:

In April 2006, Safe Connects conducted our first pilot program at Carmel Clay School’s Creekside Middle School.  We received 47 completed surveys from those parents and students attending the 7:00 presentation in the Creekside school auditorium.  As depicted below, the program was a significant success.  Please note that this was a self-selected sample (e.g., those that read about it in the paper or saw it on the school’s website were cognizant of the program), is not statistically significant, and can not be projected to a larger universe.  That notwithstanding, it appears as if the presentation satisfied the significant majority of the attendees. 

Current Status:

To expand the program to the next phase, we have applied for grants to have 50 IPS students expand the program together with Safe Connects and other Net Literacy/Safe Connects student-volunteers.  This would occur during a one month program in July – we have partnered with IDOE, CERIAS (Purdue University), Bridges to Success (a United Way program) and IPS schools.  The summer camp would teach selected Freshmen and Sophomores leadership and Internet safety skills.  From there, we plan to develop a curriculum for 2nd and 3rd grade students, 6th – 8th grade students, and 9th – 12th grade students (and their parents).  To execute the program, we have dedicated $90,000 of committed advertising spots and $3,500 of Net Literacy’s unallocated funds.  We have also received an additional grant from Lilly Endowment Fund for approximately $7,000.  This funding excludes Net Literacy’s other four programs.  If successful, we plan to teach the Safe Connects program first in Marion County and in Fort Wayne Community Schools beginning in August – where we have existing relationships with the schools.  In addition, we have been working with the largest Indiana cable operators that will show the Internet safety program on the PEG channels across the state. 

Conclusion:

We next presented this program to all 4th through 6th grade students and their parents at in Carmel – and the survey results were similar.  Both parents and students requested more detailed information about virtually every subject that was covered in the program – but our program was designed to create awareness, direct students and parents to this website, and provide collateral material to stimulate family discussions. 

We will next present the program in Westfield, Fishers, Noblesville, and other parts of Hamilton County (where Net Literacy has a strong relationship with the Cities and Towns) and in accordance with the Youth As Resources (a United Way organization) grant.   

Sample of Survey Questions:

Many were repetitive – but here are 20 representative requests for additional or more detailed information about Internet safety.  This can be incorporated into our program as we fine-tune it to meet the requirements of the IDOE, students, and their parents. 

Students:

• More about everything
• Myspace and hacking
• Myspace and spyware
• Identify theft
• How to spot Internet predators
• Hackers
• Instant Messaging issues
• More about e-mail dangers

Parents:

• Much more detail about everything
• Firewalls, pop-up blockers, check on children’s history to determine how they are using the Internet
• How to check to see if my child is using Myspace and check previous IM conversations
• Adware, spyware, chatrooms, and Internet predators that encourage youth to attend “face-to-face” meetings
• Want safeconnects.org website completed so can obtain additional information
• More specific “dangerous” examples told by students
• More specific examples that parents could discuss with their children – especially Internet predators
• Instant messaging dangers
• More detail about the dangers or profiling
• Myspace
• How parents can use parental filtering and track their children online
• Chatrooms and blogs

Student Survey           Date _____________   Grade  (4/5/6) _________

1.  Did you learn information about Internet safety that you hadn’t known previously?
     Yes ________   No _________

2.  Would you recommend your friends attend this type of program?
      Yes ________   No _________

3   Do you feel or believe that your parents may have learned information about Internet
     safety that they hadn’t known previously?
     Yes ________   No _________

4.  If there were one or two things that you wish we talked about or explained in greater detail, what would they be?  
     
________________________________________________________________________    

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
Please deposit this survey in the box at the door.  Thanks!

-------------------------------------------(cut)-----------------------------------------------------------

Parent Survey           Date _____________   Student’s Grade  (4/5/6) _________

1.  Did you learn information about Internet safety that you hadn’t known previously?
     Yes ________   No _________

2.  Would you recommend other parents attend this type of program?
      Yes ________   No _________

3   Do you feel or believe that you child may have learned information about Internet
     safety that he or she hadn’t known previously?
     Yes ________   No _________

4.  If there were one or two things that you wish we talked about or explained in greater detail, what would they be?  
     
________________________________________________________________________    

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
Please deposit this survey in the box at the door.  Thanks! 

© 2005-2006 Net Literacy Corp. (www.netliteracy.org)  All Rights Reserved.  Some Trademarks and Trade Names are Properties of Their Respective Owners.  This program may not be used without the advanced written consent of Net Literacy.

Passwords and Profiles

1. Passwords are words or phrases that you can easily remember. Things you might want to protect with a password include: ___________________  or ______________________.
2. Only tell passwords to _____________. Don’t tell passwords to ____________ or __________.
3.  A profile is a small description of you that everybody can view to learn more about you.

Net Predators Directions:  Write down three things that you should NOT do when on the computer, which will help to avoid net predators.

1.

2.

3.

Netiquette Language/Conduct Worksheet

Directions:  Please list at least three factors that should be considered when having a conversation on line.

1.

2.

3.

Directions:  Write a short conversation between two people on a subject of your choice which uses proper netiquette.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

In the conversation above, what two or three factors did you make certain that you remembered?

1. 

2. 

3.  

Chain Emails Chain e-mails are e-mails that can be funny, but also can be dangerous!  These e-mails want people who get the e-mail to send it on to more people.  Sometimes they can be funny, but hurt people.  Other times they can have bad things in them.  Some can be bad and steal your mom’s or dad’s credit card number, or your address.  Other chain e-mails are sent simply because they contain jokes or urban-legends that make you laugh.  A lot of the time, it’s considered junk, and some people don’t like getting chain e-mails because they can clog your e-mail inbox.  The best thing to do when you get a chain e-mail is delete it promptly.

Language and Conduct

Sending e-mails can be fun, but knowing how to send good e-mails is very important.  Like writing a letter you send someone using the post office, e-mails also need to be good. Make sure you spell things correctly and make sure you send it to the right person.

Be sensitive to others because on e-mail, you can’t tell if someone is happy or mad.  Usually, writing in CAPITAL LETTERS says that you are mad or shouting – it can be funny, but it can also make other people feel bad if you shout when they are sad.  Overall, don’t only use CAPTIAL LETTERS.  Write only what you would allow others to see – sometimes people snoop into other people’s e-mails and can find out secrets.  Save secrets for face-to-face talking.   Answer e-mails quickly when people send them to you – people don’t like waiting for answers.  Don’t forward chain e-mails or e-mails that are mean or have bad things in them.  Don’t reply to junk mail, but have fun sending e-mails to your friends and family.

Emails

The main thing to remember in email is that you should only open emails from places you know and trust.  You would never open a mysterious package on your doorstep that came from somewhere unknown, so why would you in email?  Also, think if the person that is sending you an email should be sending you one.  You would never get a personal email from the president without first contacting him, so any messages from him would probably not be legitimate.  Look at the following people and cross out any email and chat sources that would not be safe:

Grandma	Best Friend Joe	Urgent EBay Notice
Bill Gates	Mom	Fred Smith

Viruses

Virus Directions:  Circle all of the people that you could open emails from to try to avoid getting a virus on your computer.

Community Website like Myspace

1. Why should you discuss using this type of website with your parents prior to registering?
2. What dangers can be created by providing too much information on community websites?
3. How can using a community website potentially impact your success when appling for scholarships, colleges, and jobs?
4. How does a community website like my space make its money?
5. When anything makes you uncomfortable while online – what two things should you immediately do?

THANK YOU YOUTH AS RESOURCES FOR MAKING THIS PROGRAM POSSIBLE

© 2005-2006 Net Literacy Corp. (www.netliteracy.org)  All Rights Reserved.  Some Trademarks and Trade Names are Properties of Their Respective Owners.  This program may not be used without the advanced written consent of Net Literacy.