Abstract:
The Internet provides students with a multitude of resources for learning,
communicating, and entertainment. Children should develop skills to identify not only
good information but biases, misinformation, and safety and security threats. All children
should understand how to protect themselves online, their personal information when
engaging with others online, and the potential consequences of their actions in online
information sharing through social networking sites, e-mail, gaming, and instant
messaging to name a few. To this end, the Virginia Department of Education, Office of
Educational Technology produced Guidelines and Resources for Internet Safety in
Schools (October 10, 2006) which requires all K-12 schools to integrate an Internet safety
component into each school division’s instructional program.
This case study reviewed the collaboration efforts of one higher education
institution’s effectiveness in assisting the middle school education community in
Rockingham County and Harrisonburg City schools through a community partnership
with the Virginia Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology, James
Madison University (JMU), and the Harrisonburg City and Rockingham County school
districts. This collaboration centered on whether higher education (with JMU serving as a
subject matter expert in information security education), and its K-12 resource Cyber
Citizenship for Kids Guide, could lead a grassroots community-centered campaign for
Internet safety and provide a solution which met the requirements of these Guidelines
and Resources for Internet Safety in Schools as outlined by the Commonwealth for their
K-12 community.
To achieve this end, middle school teachers, school administrators, instructional
technology resource teachers (ITRT), counselors, resource officers, school media
specialists, JMU staff, and Virginia Department of Education’s Office of Educational
Technology staff participated in a combination of surveys, interview questionnaires, and
telephone and personal interviews.
This research determined that this community partnership on cyber safety
education between higher education and K-12 institutions in Rockingham County and
Harrisonburg was perceived by stakeholders as feasible and effective. Several aspects of
this county-wide community partnership effort to enhance K-12 cyber safety awareness
can serve as a credible statewide model in providing Internet safety education to K-12
throughout the Commonwealth.
