Students' advice to tech educators

They should get into the online-safety business, two college students basically suggest. That was “one of the strongest messages for educators” from Darian Shirazi of University of California, Berkeley, and Lorrie Ma of Santa Clara University, speaking at a conference for education IT professionals from around the world, CNET reports. “Universities shouldn't try to restrict access to online information and social-networking sites like MySpace or Facebook. Rather, universities should educate kids on the positives and negatives of those sites and offer best practices for Internet use.” Good advice for parents, K-12 educators, and children’s advocates too. As for all the very personal info students are uploading to the Web, they made the point that “it would be even weirder if someone didn't exist on the Web.” Wouldn’t colleges and universities worry about students’ ability to use computers and technology if they have no presence on the Web? Ma and Shirazi suggested. Not that Ma didn’t have regrets about what she’s uploaded in the past – see her account at the end of the piece. See also the online-safety field’s latest thinking on kids putting out personal info online, in SafeKids.com’s Larry Magid’s “New Approach to Online Safety Education."