Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens

About Nancy Willard

Readers might want to know a bit about me. As you will shortly see, I resemble the Tolkien saying: “Not all those who wander are lost.”

Education and Professional Experience

I have degrees in elementary and special education (B.S. 1975 U. of Utah and M.S. 1977 U. of Oregon) and taught 4th – 6th grade “at risk” students in Medford, Oregon. Following this, I went to law school and graduated from Willamette University College of Law in 1983. I practiced law for a while in the area of computer and technology law. I returned to the education field in 1990 to assist schools in integrating new technology. I became affiliated with the educators who were developing the Oregon Public Education Network, the statewide educational network.

As the Internet was coming into schools, there was a need for Internet use policies. Conveniently, I had the necessary background in youth behavior, law, and technology in schools to understand the issues. In 1995, I published A Legal and Ethical Analysis of K-12 Internet Use Policies online. This document was later published in the BYU Education and Law Journal. My work provided the basis for the Internet use policies for many school districts across the country.

My work since 1995 has been focused most specifically on issues pertaining to youth risk online and effective management of Internet in school. In 2000, I testified to the Children’s Online Protection Act Commission on educational strategies to address youth access to pornography. Later that same year, I presented similar testimony to the National Academy of Sciences committee that produced the report Youth, Pornography and the Internet. I was also an expert reviewer for that report.

Most of my professional work is in the field of education – providing professional development for educators around the issues of effective Internet management in schools and youth risk online. I have presented for the National School Board Association, National Educational Computing Conference, NSBA’s Technology and Learning Conference, the U.S. Department of Education’s National Safe and Drug Free Schools Conference, and many other regional conferences.

Please visit my website for professionals, the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use .

Publications

In 2004, I self-published a book for schools entitled Safe and Responsible Use of the Internet: A Guide for Educators. This material is now available on my web site. In 2006, I self-published a book on cyberbullying. The new edition of this book, Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social Aggression, Threats, and Distress, was published by Research Press in January 2007.

Mom

Clearly of most importance, I am a mother of three children – Jordan is 15, Allegra is 13, and Bakul is 11. (Bakul is adopted from India. I found his picture on an online Waiting Children web site.) With my children, and their many friends who like to visit our house, I have had many opportunities to “test” my recommendations and have in-depth discussions about online issues.