This week proved difficult for focused reading with my kids home, especially for a topic as complex as copyright law. I found I could only digest a few pages at a time with chapters 5 & 6 in the Simpson book. I still surprised how little I heard of these laws as I worked in 4 different schools in the last 6 years. I have witnessed many violations of these laws, as an unaware teacher's aide. I understand the reasons behind these laws, for the most part, but I wonder how often these laws are enforced. How does a district/teacher get caught? Is there an agency that monitors materials used in schools? I have the impression that enforcement is not routine, or more teachers would be conscientious of copyright law.

I set up my iSafe account this week and plan to get the certification process started this week-while it is quiet in my house! In my readings, I really liked the article by Anne Collier, "A Better Safety Net". She uses the phrase "Online Safety 3.0" to represent the use of safe social networking for students. Collier discusses how social networking and online gaming can be beneficial for many students. Social networking tends to fall into two categories, friendship- driven and interest -driven. Students learn social skills, explore interests, express themselves and develop technical skills. Online gaming and play is mentioned as benefiting the development of the brain as"players analyze statistics and probabilities, strategize, learn how to budget and market, and explore supply and demand" as stated by Collier. Interest-driven online users will have an opportunity to find a group to connect with, learning the important skills of collaboration in the process. Lastly, she believes school is the best place for students to learn how to use the internet responsibly, by incorporating new media literacy and digital citizenship into the curriculum.

Just a short note on the Doug Johnson reading. He is so right when he states that it is the contents of online materials that can be a problem, not the formant, (Facebook or MySpace for example). Social networking is just a tool that can be used for many purposes and students need to learn how to use these tools appropriately and safely. That will not happen if students and teachers cannot access interactive online social learning formats.