Teaming Up for Safer Online Learning

Child Learning Online

Learning technologies are changing fast, accelerated by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Students now spend a significant part of each day learning online and working with school-issued technology. In this new reality—where digital learning is pervasive and evolving—parents and schools must work together to keep kids safer online.

Digital learning is here to stay, so let’s make it safer!

Prior to the pandemic, 45% of American schools reported having a computer for every student. (NCES, 2021). Today, as many as 80% of K-12 students have and use a school-issued device, according to a recent national poll by Morning Consult.

Viewed one way, this is an extremely positive development: more digital access = more learning opportunities!

  • 93% of K-12 parents and 98% of educators agree that the internet is a useful tool that should be used to enhance learning.

Parents have understandable concerns about these new technologies, though.

  • 71% of K-12 parents report concerns about their child accessing explicit or harmful content on school-issued devices.
  • 80% of K-12 parents agree unrestricted internet access on school-issued devices can be harmful to student mental health.

Taken together, it’s understandable that:

  • 92% of parents believe it is necessary to have online educational technologies in place to prevent students from accessing harmful or explicit content.

See more findings from Morning Consult.

Thankfully, most schools do have internet safety plans these days.  In fact, schools are required under the Children’s Internet Protection Act to have an online safety program in order to receive certain funding. But, while these safeguards are critical, they aren’t necessarily enough.

“We need to get proactive now about internet safety… Completely banning the use of internet and social media is no longer a realistic option because a lot of schoolwork has transferred online… We all [parents, kids, and educators] need to educate ourselves and start productive dialogues.”

Maya Kruger, South Lake Middle PTSA, PTA Connected Smart Talk Participant

Safety starts with a conversation

Parents, teachers, and school administrators need to be on the same team to ensure students’ online safety as well as theirprivacy. That requires open and active communication.

As a parent and former educator himself, GoGuardian Head of Privacy and Data Policy Teddy Hartman understands the balancing act that school districts must navigate as they deploy technology intended to keep students safe while also maintaining transparency. “As a first step,” Teddy says, “schools should publicly share any education vendors they work with and the types of data privacy protections both the school system and vendor have in place.”

Beyond that, educators and parents can help one another by holding community dialogues about the school’s digital safety technology plan. 

Start a digital safety dialogue in your community

National PTA recently teamed up with GoGuardian to create a resource for parents who want to promote improved online safety in their child’s school.

Check out our resource: Protecting Students Online

Inside, you’ll find a list of questions you can ask to better understand your district’s current digital safety plans and to open a dialogue in your community.

We hope this information sparks healthy conversations that help school communities put quality tools and support systems in place to keep our kids safer in a changing digital world.

GoGuardian has been a Proud National Sponsor of PTA since 2018 and is supporting the release of our updated National Standards for Family-School Partnerships—going live this month! GoGuardian and the National PTA are committed to student success. Together, they are working to engage families and educators on solutions to best support student mental health and online safety.

Ask the Right Questions to Support Student Online Safety

November is Parent Involvement Month, and there are few topics needing our attention more than children’s online safety. But it’s not always easy to know where to begin. What type of digital safety measures should we expect schools to have in place? How do you know if your school or district is following best practices?

We can help! National PTA recently teamed up with education technology provider GoGuardian to create a straightforward resource for parents who want to promote effective digital safety practices in their school community. Inside, you’ll find a list of questions you can ask to better understand your district’s current digital safety plans and to open a dialogue about digital safety in your community.

What’s in your school’s digital safety plan?

Check out this new resource from National PTA and GoGuardian!

Why understand student online activity?

1. Safeguard student mental health and safety.

80% of K-12 parents believe that unrestricted access to the Internet can be harmful to student mental health.

More than 88% of K-12 parents support the use of online tools that help detect signs of students considering self-harm or violence. 

2. Protect children from harmful and explicit content.

71% of K-12 parents have concerns about their child accessing explicit or harmful content on a school-issued device.

92% of K-12 parents believe it’s necessary to have online educational technologies in place to prevent such access.

3. Keep students on task while accessing digital resources.

93% of K-12 parents believe the internet is a useful learning tool that schools should use to enhance learning.

90% of parents believe it is necessary to have online education technologies in place that keep students away from digital distractions.

Source: The statistics above were drawn from a recent blind survey by Morning Consult of a nationally representative group of nearly 2,500 K-12 parents, teachers, and administrators.

Meet Our Sponsor

GoGuardian has been a Proud National Sponsor of PTA since 2018 and is supporting the release of our updated National Standards for Family-School Partnerships—going live this month! GoGuardian and the National PTA are committed to student success. Together, they are working to engage families and educators on solutions to best support student mental health and online safety.

Cultivating Online Safety with Proactive Parents and Schools

The internet can be a wonderful tool to learn and explore new concepts, as well as a way to connect with people and cultures far away. However, we also know that the internet can be a serious source of distraction and danger, especially for its youngest users. These risks are why setting boundaries and encouraging balance for online use is so important.

Parents often feel overwhelmed by the drama that seems to accompany the technology in kids’ back pockets. And they’re certainly not blowing the issue out of proportion. A 2016 Common Sense Media study found that a whopping 50% of teens feel addicted to their phones, and one-third of families reported fighting about negative effects of phone use daily.

We Are Not Powerless
But rest assured, as parents and educators, we are not powerless in the fight to help our kids become healthy, well-adjusted adults with actual social skills beyond Snapchat. In fact, research shows that we can make a huge difference in our kids being able to navigate the online world well, especially when it comes to helping with conflict resolution. In a 2015 CNN documentary, sociologist Robert Faris, a school bullying and youth aggression researcher says, “Parent monitoring effectively erased the negative effects of online conflicts.”

Engagement is Key
Most parents I’ve talked to want to do a better job setting boundaries and talking to their kids about online safety, but they sometimes don’t know where to start. One tool we recommend is an online resource called The Smart Talk. It’s an interactive tool that families can use to set boundaries in “stone” and talk about what responsible tech use in their home should look like. We’ve found it to be a great template to cover several online safety topics as a family, and it really assists you in unearthing your own values regarding technology as you work through it. It doesn’t just help you create a contract, it helps create conversation.

Working Together: Parents & Schools
Online drama affects schools and homes alike. That’s why it’s so important to find ways we can work together to build healthy structures and expectations for kids’ online activity. Sometimes we only respond when a negative situation blows up, but if we can make the switch to become proactive in our school communities, we will be better able to prepare kids to make good choices online. One proactive strategy is to plan a PTA event for National Safer Internet Day, Tuesday, Feb. 6. This is a great way to foster community and discuss strategies to keep kids safe online!

Seize the Day
We’ve often heard the distance between Kindergarten and Senior year is one blink—it goes by quickly. With technology evolving every day, and our kids growing up in the blink of an eye, it’s time for us to seize the day in developing strategies for internet safety, both at home and in our schools. Let’s work together to proactively teach our kids that boundaries and balance online are crucial to their successful futures.

Sarah Siegand is an author and co-founder of Parents Who Fight, an online safety campaign to give parents tools and encouragement to protect their kids online. She is a member of her local PTA in Nashville, TN.