Week Eight

So, here we are at the end of our Educational Technology adventure! I now know more programs and resources that pertain to education than I ever would have discovered on my own and, through this blog, will be able to retain those resources until I actually become a teacher and am able to utilize them.

This week's major focus is security, which, in our increasingly technology-driven society, is one of the most important concerns of the times. From teaching students to be vigilant concerning who they are interacting with online to reminding ourselves that, with so much of our personal information "out there," it becomes easier all of the time for someone to get their hands on that information and use it for ill.

I don't really have a school computer lab experience to talk about here, but I can expound at length about the security practices at the bank where I currently work. The banking industry is fraught with regulations, ones that come with heavy fines if disregarded or circumvented, that concern the security of our information, given that we are the safeguard of the financial lives of, literally, hundreds of thousands of people. Therefore, our network is heavily secured and password-protected at every level, to ensure that the only people who access our systems are those who should be accessing them.

Downloads are absolutely forbidden and restricted so that no one can install something on to one of the computers on our network without the program being vetted and permission being given. As such, incidences of malicious software being introduced into the system, usually only occur when someone opens a corrupt or malicious file that comes through in an email. Even if that happens, our virus protection software performs scans that allow for detection of such occurrences.

Given these experiences, I try to be really aware of security concerns and hope that, as a teacher, I will remain ever-conscious so as to protect myself, my students, and my school from the consequences of online practices that do not follow wise security measures.

I think that the biggest security concern for educators should be informing our students about the reality of Internet predators who may even use completely legitimate web platforms to contact children. It is a matter of utmost concern for me that, no matter how vigilant we teach our children to be, that some of these issues can never really be completely prevented and, as such, I hope that I am able to encourage safe Internet usage as I teach my students that the web can be both an excellent thing and a bad thing, but that, if we use it correctly, we only ever need know it as a resource that informs and improves our daily life.