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Are Your Students Savvy Cybercitizens?

February 25, 2002

ASCD Education Bulletin

So, you want your K-8 students to be comfortable using the internet as an educational tool, but you're concerned about their cyber-safety and whether they're finding the best content. McGraw-Hill Education and the CyberSmart School Program understand the challenge of successfully integrating technology resources in the classroom, while at the same time encouraging ethical behavior among students. That's why they created Cybersmart!, the only curriculum that teaches students how to use the Internet safely, responsibly, and effectively.

Correlated with the National Educational Technology Standards, the CyberSmart! curriculum consists of 65 standards-based lesson plans organized in five units: Safety, Manners, Advertising, Research, and Technology (SMART). With CyberSmart!, students learn how to evaluate and compare informational Web sites, how to recognize commercial messages, and how to protect their identity and privacy. CyberSmart! also teaches students guidelines for good manners in cyberspace, including tips for e-mail, instant messages, chat rooms, and message boards. Students also learn how to respond to unsolicited e-mail and handle uncomfortable situations online. Beginning next month, CyberSmart! will be offered free of charge to educators and students across the country.

The CyberSmart! School Program is a nonprofit organization devoted to empowering children to securely and responsibly take full advantage of computers and the Internet. The CyberSmart! Curriculum was created by Jim Teicher and Mala Bawer, Executive Directors of The CyberSmart! School Program and is co-published with Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. Other CyberSmart! activities include professional development for educators and related programs that encourage and facilitate safe and effective technology use.