[350]MARCH 27 EVENT AT MTSU FOCUSES ON CHILDREN AND THE INTERNET

MARCH 27 EVENT AT MTSU FOCUSES ON CHILDREN AND THE INTERNET
Free Public Panel Discussion Addresses ‘What Parents Need to Know’

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 19, 2008
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Beverly Keel, 615-898-5150, bkeel@mtsu.edu

(MURFREESBORO)—It’s 8 p.m. Do you know what Web site your child is reading?
On Thursday, March 27, MTSU will present “The Internet and Your Child: What Parents Need to Know,” an evening panel discussion designed to provide parents with the facts they need to raise children in the Internet age.
The free public event, which will be held in Room 121 of the Cason-Kennedy Nursing Building, is part of the symposium “Accuracy, Privacy and the World Wide Web: The First Amendment and the Internet,” which is sponsored by MTSU’s John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies.
At 6 p.m., the “Frontline” documentary “Growing Up Online” will be shown. The film will be followed by the panel discussion on “The Internet and Your Child.”
Dr. Becky Alexander, MTSU assistant professor of education, will moderate the panel, which will include Anna Benson of Metro Nashville Public Schools as well as a representative from Nashville’s Harpeth Hall and several high-school students.
Alexander has taught undergraduate instructional technology courses for pre- service teachers for the past six years. She most recently presented information on the “Net Generation” at the University of North Carolina’s Teaching and Learning with Technology Conference. She joins a colleague, Dr. Willis Means, to present “Podcasting: What Are You Waiting For?” next month at the MTSU Satellite and Webcasting Center.
Continually seeking answers to the question of integrating technology effectively in the classroom, Alexander has had extensive teaching experiences with young children. For five years she coordinated an early literacy program, Reach Out and Read of Middle Tennessee, serving approximately 4,000 children a year. She has served as a council member on Read To Succeed, a community partnership created to promote reading in Rutherford County, and as a board member of the Rutherford Books From Birth, a program to give preschool children a free book every month.
She will be joined by her son, Eldridge Alexander, a senior at Riverdale High School, who can provide a first-person report about teens and the Internet. His interests include computers, video editing and technology in general, and he regularly works with his youth minister by setting up the audio equipment, recording, podcasting and creating and editing videos. He owns his own business, EZap Technology (www.ezaptechnology.com), and is regularly called for consulting on equipment purchases and multimedia presentations.
For more information about the session, contact Beverly Keel at 615-898-5150 or bkeel@mtsu.edu.


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IN BRIEF: It’s 8 p.m. Do you know what Web site your child is reading? On Thursday, March 27, MTSU will present “The Internet and Your Child: What Parents Need to Know,” an evening panel discussion designed to provide parents with the facts they need to raise children in the Internet age. The free public event, which will be held in Room 121 of the Cason-Kennedy Nursing Building, is part of the symposium “Accuracy, Privacy and the World Wide Web: The First Amendment and the Internet,” which is sponsored by MTSU’s John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies. At 6 p.m., the “Frontline” documentary “Growing Up Online” will be shown. The film will be followed by the panel discussion on “The Internet and Your Child.” Dr. Becky Alexander, MTSU assistant professor of education, will moderate the panel, which will include Anna Benson of Metro Nashville Public Schools as well as a representative from Nashville’s Harpeth Hall and several high-school students. Alexander also will be joined by her son, a senior at Riverdale High School, who can provide a first-person report about teens and the Internet. For more information, contact 615-898-5150 or bkeel@mtsu.edu.

For MTSU news and information, visit www.mtsunews.com.

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