CISPA - What is it? Links and Infographic

CISPA (Cyber Intelligence Sharing & Protection Act) recently passed in congress in the House. It is a bill that allows the US Government and businesses to work together and share information on cyberthreats. It has been said that this bill is too vague and will allow too much information to be shared to the government. Others say it is a needed law.

In either case, it's something that we should learn more about and discuss with our students.

Here are some links:

CISPA Wikipedia article

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act: CISPA explained

US House passes controversial CISPA cybersecurity bill, now on to the Senate

Below is an infographic from Paralegal.net that explains CISPA in more detail.

Internet Slang - Internet Dictionary - internet and slang words

The Internet Slang - Internet Dictionary is a site that has a list of slang terms, acronyms and abbreviations used on websites, Twitter, blogs, SMS and more.

The words are sorted alphabetically, and they post the newest additions on the front page. There are over 7900 acronyms listed so far. You can also suggest missing terms for them to include.

Slang that is offensive may have been substituted with asterisks or similar words.

This is a great site for students and teachers to learn the terms commonly used online.

Newest additions:

20 Things I Learned...

20 Things I Learned about Browsers and the Web is a online "book" from Google that describes 20 different things about the internet, web browsers, and online applications.

The book is well written, easy to understand, and nicely designed. Some of the "things" are: the internet, cloud computing, web apps, html/javascript/css, HTML5, 3D in the browser, staying safe online, plugins, and open source.

"20 Things..." is a great way to learn more about the internet and WWW and can be used with students to teach them about the internet.

Digital Literacy Resource

Digital Literacy is an animated, interactive web site that teaches students about digital literacy, safe use of the internet and more. The site is hosted by the Northwest Learning Grid.

The site is beautifully designed with swirling graphics and minimal menus. It starts by asking the student to select one thing that they do on the internet. It then brings the student to a quiz about using the internet for that task.

The quiz asks some really good questions about the internet and it's usage for the task it selected. The site then "grades" the quiz with some feedback and brings the student to a menu of tutorials about internet use. Some of the tutorials go over analyzing web sites and blogs for relevancy, accuracy, and objectiveness.

I found the site to be fun and easy to use with some great information for students.

How I use a website and blogs with my classes

I use a class web site, www.physicsmedic.org, and blogs with my classes to give them resources and to keep things organized. I use Google Sites and Google Blogger.

The main site is mainly static, containing my schedule, a links section, file downloads of class files and resources, and useful information for the students, as well as sections for new teachers and some educational technology resources.

I use blogs, with this as a start page http://mrandradesclasses.blogspot.com/, as a weekly or daily guide to what we are doing in class. I can post assignments, links to web sites, and reminders about tests and upcoming due dates to the blogs. I have my students subscribe to the blogs via email so that they get updates whenever I add something to the blog.

The students love having these resources available to them and it makes my life much easier and much more organized.

How do you use the internet in your classroom?