How to Keep Online Learning Secure? Tips for Internet Safety

Security

The transition of teaching kids online has brought great difficulties for the teaching staff. Regardless of the age group of students, gathering kids online and hoping that they would sincerely participate in online teaching in such unfortunate times seems like a fantasy. But more than having a disciplined session with students online, the concerns of having a secure one is more in demand. 

On school campuses, worrying about the safety and security of students had little to do with the use of technology and safer internet. But the coronavirus pandemic happened and schools were shut down in the United States the teaching staff and management of the school have more problems to deal with. 

With the coronavirus pandemic not slowing down yet, it’s safe to say that we are not heading back to normal life anytime soon. This makes it highly crucial for teachers to know whether they are teaching their students in a safer zone. And if as a teacher, you have doubts regarding the platform you are teaching kids on or the devices you are using to connect with kids online are not as cyber secure as they should be then you need to learn a few things. 

Thanks to experts from Bestpctips.com. Below mentioned are some of the points that upon learning can help you with making online learning more secure for your students and yourself as well:

Right Technology and Apps

First comes first, make sure you are on the right track of achieving a safe platform for teaching kids online. You need to know whether you are using the right applications and devices for this purpose.

Most of the school districts have their own approved applications or platforms used for educational purposes. If this is the case in your teaching experience as well, then it’s well and good. However, if it is not like this then you need to be careful while choosing non-education platforms and tools to connect kids online.

There are several platforms and applications available online to download or access that might look like an easy and free platform to teach kids remotely, but not all of these applications are safe.

Another thing that you need to make sure of is whether you are using the right internet in your home. Several internet service providers in the United States can fool you into buying their packages with their cheap rates. While their prices are a delight to look at but they compromise your internet security big time.

Nevertheless, there are also a bunch of high-speed internet service providers that come with reliable connections and affordable rates. For instance, Spectrum internet with its Spectrum internet plans is a win-win situation for these looking for a secure internet connection at pocket-friendly rates.

Understand the School’s Policy

The school management was shaken by a pandemic storm as soon as the virus started spreading in the United States. With time, many school districts have come up with better plans to cope with the situation.

Therefore, to make sure you are following all the right steps to teach online you need to be on the same page as the school management. If you think you are missing out on some details then you need to have a conversation with your school management beforehand.

Never Share Student’s Name Publically

One thing that you should avoid doing for sure as a teacher is sharing students’ names on public platforms. For instance, if you are an art teacher and you are allowed to put your student’s work on your social media profile or page then you should avoid putting their name online.

While you might be thinking that it is inappropriate to put students’ work without crediting their name then it is downright needed for their security.

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Similarly, you should not put photographs with the faces of your students online. Make sure you crop their faces or put emoji in pics you are uploading on social media platforms.  

School-Related Email Address

Another major aspect of online learning that should be kept in concern is how you are communicating with kids online. While in school having communication online wasn’t required as much as it is now. So make sure you use a school-related email address to communicate with your students and not your email address.

This is because the most common cyber scams people fall for are phishing scams. So while it is impossible to separate out professional and personal emails from personal email inbox it gets more tricky when phishing emails with malicious links are sent.

But if you have a professional email address for communicating with your students you can easily identify which emails are a scam.