Community Level 6

Hey Everybody My name is Tek. I ’ m going to be your guide today! I ’ m a part of i-SAFE America, and we are concerned with helping you to be safe online. We want you to recognize and avoid dangerous, destructive or unlawful online behavior, and we hope to empower you to communicate what you learn from i- SAFE with others.

All right – Let’s talk Empowerment Remember - Empowerment means you own what you learn and can use it to teach others and make a difference.

So not only are you learning and sharing, you are getting rewarded for doing so! i-SAFE includes an empowerment activity in every lesson. By completing the activity you may be eligible for neat incentives and prizes. Check it out at – Click on the link to contests and Incentives. Empowerment is the Key to Learning!

The Plan Today you will be learning about the online community. For this lesson you will be designing posters comparing your community to the online community and also coming up with an online citizenship rule.

All Right – Let’s Get Started Who can tell me what the word Community means? Let’s brainstorm what we think this word means.

The community is the physical area where we live, comprised of places where we know and interact with real people. Community is also a group of people who enjoy the same things, or engage in the same activities, such as a club, team, or school.

The Cyber Community Cyberspace, the Internet, can also be thought of as a community called the cyber community. It is comprised of places (websites) in which real people interact.

Time for Discussion How do you communicate on the Internet? Where do you communicate on the Internet? How does Internet communication compare to communication in your physical community? How is it alike? How is it different?

A Few More Discussion Questions What rules and responsibilities do we have in our physical community? How do these rules help make the community work? Do similar rules apply to the cyber community? What rules affect the online community? How is good citizenship necessary in both communities?

Let’s take a closer look at how these communities are alike and different Make sure you have a copy of the Reference sheet on Communities to follow along with as we continue.

Community Travel Facts Traveling in the Cyber Community is a lot like traveling in the community you live in.

Since the Internet community is made up of real people and real places, it’s important to think about the safety issues it presents. Both communities contain inappropriate, as well as appropriate places to visit. Just like in the real community, inappropriate places in the Cyber community are unsafe, and should be avoided.

Websites that are inappropriate for kids and teens include: Sites that ask for money for any reason Sites that ask for your personal information such as name and address, Gambling sites Sites which contain adult content Sites which tell about violence or hate towards people.

You can get to inappropriate places just by clicking on links from searches, advertisements, or that seem perfectly appropriate.

Websites like this are taking away YOUR FREEDOM to travel where you want to go on the Internet! The important thing to remember is that it’s not your fault if you get to an inappropriate website by mistake.

The best way to handle inappropriate websites is to immediately exit. In some cases websites are created to prevent exit through a process called looping. If this type of website is found, it may be necessary to turn the computer completely off to exit!

As an Internet User, what are some of your goals and responsibilities? Are there rules that govern the Internet? Of course there are! The i-SAFE lessons will help you learn about many of them to help you become a better cyber citizen and to have a more successful and safe journey. Just remember – treat others as you would offline – with respect. Always remember, you are a member of this community!

I hope you learned something I know I did! All right – let’s get into groups. Your teacher will divide you up for our first activity.

Teacher’s choice: For a classroom with computers, return to the Cyber Community folder on the CD and select HTML Activities. Follow the link: “Begin Here”. Students should work in groups. When completed - Return here to Slide 24 for the conclusion. Otherwise – let’s continue on…

All right – Everyone in Groups? Good! Your task today is to create a poster with a Venn diagram comparing your physical community to your Cyber community. You’ll then come up with an Internet Citizenship Rule to put on your poster. I’m going to help you out and show you how to get started. Also – there is an activity sheet with the directions on it that your teacher can pass out.

Cyber Community Citizenship Rule: Venn Diagram Example Example: No face to face Example: There are rules Example: Face to face contact makes it easier to and responsibilities in bothcontact makes it more steal, be mean, etc. types of communities. difficult to act in a mean or illegal way. Physical CommunityCyber Community Differences SimilaritiesDifferences

So Get Started! Do your best on these posters! Once you are finished your group will present your poster to the rest of the class and discuss what you have learned. And once you’re finished, check out i-SAFE’s contests! Click on the link to Contests and Incentives at

So How Do you Know When You’re Done??? Have you: 1. Completed your group poster? 2. Shared your poster with your class? 3. Discussed as a class what you have learned about the cyber community? 4. Carried out the steps for your empowerment activity?

It doesn’t have to end here! Find out about DRiVE!

Take Action It’s Easy with the i-Mentor Training Network! The i-Mentor Training Network has short informative videos that will take you step by step through the process of accomplishing any of the i-SAFE Outreach activities you can do in your school and community. To watch the videos go to the i-Mentor Network located in the Kids and Teens section of the i-SAFE website at Visit the Kids and Teens section at to learn about the i-Mentor Training Network. It’s all online!

Take Action It’s Easy with the i-Mentor Training Network! The i-Mentor Training Network videos were produced for students like you, who care about online safety and want to DRiVE the message to other students, parents, and community members. By watching the training videos you will become a Certified i-Mentor and will be able to teach students, conduct the i-SAFE assembly experience, or be that important link to parents and community leaders by presenting the i- Parent Programs and Community Leaders Meetings.

1.Enroll online at by clicking on Create an Account. 2.Go to the Kids and Teens Section and Submit the Online Mentor Menu. 3.Receive your own Student Toolkit and materials to get started. Get the recognition you deserve as an i-SAFE Mentor Take Action