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As a school teacher-librarian, I’ve certainly had the experience of helping students deal with inappropriate use of digital media. Some of this inappropriate use has been intentional, some has not. When students inadvertently access websites that are inappropriate, they often have feelings of surprise and embarrassment. Often, they self-report to me that they have accessed something they should not. In one situation, I received a very apologetic email from a student. He was using a school Chromebook at home as part of a multi-week research project. Some of his friends, thinking it would be funny to use a school device to access adult content online, took the Chromebook from him and used it to go to multiple sites that were certainly not age-appropriate. The student was mortified and immediately sent me an email telling me what happened and asking for forgiveness. He was certain that I was tracking his internet use on the device (I was not, although systems are in place that I could have been), and wanted to make sure that he did not suffer consequences for the other boys’ actions.
I thanked him for his honesty and ensured him there would be no consequences. In hindsight, I’m actually glad that the students believe that they are being monitored when they are using school devices outside of school. We hadn’t actually discussed this practice with the students, as this had been a pilot project and his class was the first to use these particular Chromebooks. In future classes, I think I will make sure that the students know that the school has the ability to monitor their use. Hopefully that thought will help them make good choices.
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