All That Glitters Is Not Gold! Advice to Parents

Parents, we cannot just accept that children will be engaged in educational activities when they go online. Children need to be monitored as there are many online predators; therefore, we need to instruct our children on how to properly use the Internet. Children need to be reminded:

• Not to disclose personal information,
• Beware of cyber bullying,
• Beware of predators, do not chat online with strangers,
• Ignore pop ups stating "You have one $1 million,"

Students also need to be reminded of information to keep handy when evaluating a website:

1. Examine the content to determine what bias the site contains.
2. Determine how reliable the site is.
3. Determine the accuracy of the information on the site.
4. Review the information and process it in a meaningful way.
5. Determine the authenticity of the author.
6. How current is the information? When was it produced?
7. What are the aims of the site?
8. Does the site achieve its aims?