Reading Reflection #1 -- Should students use their real names on the web?

There are two sides to this article as every question does. In school we teach our students to be who they are without being afraid, but on line it is a different story. When it comes to online material most teachers teach them to use a false identity and to many teachers it is just a sense of security. If their work is being published online and has good history and comments then no one would really know who the person is publishing it. By giving a true identity to the students work we are teaching our students to be wise in everything they do online with published and comments they provide. We want our students to have the best communication skills in school and one way if doing this is being themselves, everywhere including online. By providing the safety of our students is very important and we want them to be safe as possible especially online because it is like putting your finger prints or portfolio online for everyone to see. It can be dangerous and one way in helping our student be safe and by not using our really names online helps and protects the students. Having a false identity does not give penalties to our students when they do something wrong. Using false identity might be god for a step and help them see how careful they need to be as adults when they do start to use their really names. There have been many stories of how students need to change accounts because of various reasons and that should not be the case when they are young.

In my own personal opinion I don't know, but it depends where online. On some for the website I don't trust I use a somewhat false identity, but on websites that are trust worthy I use my real identity. At first I didn't trust anything online with my identity even if my friend would like to put pictures on Facebook I said no. I was had for me because I was taught that online was bad because anyone was able to steal your stuff and identity. I have had my stuff stolen online and it is a hassle to get it back. I don't know what others think, but sometimes it just depends on the morals we grow up with.

NETS for Students does not address in giving their identity online, but working together and publishing work is recommend for students. NETS forces on all the positives of online experience, but we can't guarantee it for our students. Having knowledge on technology needs to acquire  for each student, but providing their identities is not mention in NETS just positive work.

Wees, D., Maas, D., (2011). Copyright law and technology. Learning and Leading with Technology. 38 (8), 6-7