Technology educators are challenged by a society-wide atmosphere of concern - characterized by some researchers as a technopanic - about children's safety and security on the Internet and in using connective technologies. A growing body of research about predation as well as cyberbullying is putting the risks into perspective and replacing fears with facts. Still, educators, administrators, and district officials are confronted with parental fears and hyperbole in the news media. This panel is designed to help educators and administrators make the case to school and district decisionmakers that teaching in and with virtual worlds is safe, as well as compelling for students. Panel members will include Peggy Sheehy, an educator with extensive experience in teaching in Teen Second Life (TSL); students who have participated in TSL learning programs via the nonprofit organization Global Kids in New York City; James Bower, a University of Texas professor and neuroscientist who has created the Whyville.net virtual world; Yasmin Kafai, a University of Pennsylvania education professor specializing in children's learning in virtual worlds and other technologies; and a Quest Atlantis research team member in the Indiana University education department (where the Quest Atlantis virtual world/research project is run).

Outline

Panelists will explain: the specific security measures used in the virtual-world services with which they work; characteristics of both the environment and their instruction in it that make students' learning experience there safe and constructive; and how they made the case for student security in their own experience, where relevant. Panelists will each be asked to offer their advice for persuading parents, administrators, and community officials that in-world learning is safe. The student panelists will appear live on-screen from Global Kids headquarters New York City.

Each panelist will have 8-9 minutes to relate his/her experience, leaving approximately 15 minutes for Q&A with the audience.

Supporting Research

* Prof. Yasmin Kafai's research, U of Penn (http://www.gse.upenn.edu/%7Ekafai/projects/index.htm)
* Prof. James Bower's research, U of Texas, San Antonio, including Whyville.net (http://bower-lab.org/)
* Dr. Bronwyn Stuckey's research involving Quest Atlantis (http://www.bronwyn.ws/background/)
* Alice Marwick, New York U, on technopanics (http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2152/1966)
* Online-safety studies from the Pew Internet & American Life Project (http://pewinteret.org), Crimes Against Children Research Center (http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/internet-crimes/), and Dr. Michele Ybarra of Internet Solutions for Kids (http://is4k.com/publications.html)

Presenter Background

Panel moderator:
Author, journalist, and online-safety advocate Anne Collier is founder and president of the nonprofit Net Family News, Inc., whose two projects are ConnectSafely.org and NetFamilyNews.org. Anne is co-author of MySpace Unraveled: A Parent's Guide to Teen Social Networking (Peachpit Press, 2006) and a member of the Internet Safety Technology Task Force, formed by 49 state attorneys general and MySpace.com in January 2008 and run by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. For more on Anne, see her bio page (http://www.netfamilynews.org/bio.html).

Panelists:
* Peggy Sheehy (http://neccls.wikispaces.com/Bio+Page?f=print)
* Yasmin Kafai (http://www.gse.upenn.edu/%7Ekafai/index.htm)
* James Bower (http://www.monitortalent.com/talent/Jim-Bower-Profile.html)
* Bronwyn Stuckey (http://www.bronwyn.ws/background/) and the Quest Atlantis research team (http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/site/view/Researchers#62)
* Global Kids in New York City (http://www.globalkids.org/?id=9)