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'The Connected Classrooms Program is a NSW Government initiative to provide the department's staff and students with new opportunities to connect with each other across enhanced technology facilities for sharing resources and data collaboration.' TLs applying for jobs in NSW will need to know about this, and will be at an advantage if they have some experience with it, it seems.

In 2010 in NSW support materials for teaching Digital Citizenship and Digital Safety have been developed for years 7-10 as part of the Digital Education Revolution - NSW.

Designed by DEET NSW to support teacher and staff awareness for personal use and also to implement into learning

NSW Dept of Education

New AUP online services NSW Schools

NSW Ed policy library has some good guidance on policy development for schools, particularly - https://policies.education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/associated-documents/digital-devices-guide.pdf

"Last November, a young man was ordered by a NSW court to pay A$105,000 in damages for defaming a teacher at his former school on Twitter. The decision, which only came to light earlier this week, should serve as a reminder to all users of the legal risks involved in using social media."

"NSW Police have been made aware of a Facebook page that has allegedly made disturbing death threats against baby-faced singer Jack Vidgen. Telephones don't stalk children, Social Media doesn't intimidate them either. People do. Investigate People. Don't blame the online community tools. Thank the tools - they shine a spotlight on all that is horrid in our society. We cannot heal until we know what is wrong with us and acknowledge and address it. And newspapers are not here to heal us, believe me!"

"Welcome to the Teacher Professional Learning (TPL) course Delivering Digital Citizenship. This course is designed to engage teachers with a range of resources, templates and tools to support the implementation of the Digital Citizenship program in their school. The course should take about five hours to complete. "

"A coroner investigating the death of teenager Jai Morcom after a schoolyard brawl has asked people to stop making unfounded accusations about Jai's death on social networking sites."

The ugly side of social networking.

"Kids today seem to be born knowing how to use technology, but they don't automatically understand responsible online behaviour. It's a new challenge parents face - teaching children how to be good digital citizens; how to use technology safely and responsibly, and how to evaluate, manage and use the information and tools they find online. Here are eight areas of digital citizenship that parents may consider and discuss with their children."

University of NSW researcher Nina Funnell has spoken to hundreds of young people aged between 15 and 18 about their sexting habits for a book she is writing and found sexting is an accepted part of adolescent dating culture."The common idea is that young people are doing this as a response to pressure or they're brainwashed by popular culture," Ms Funnell said.

This is a disturbing story. While the comments of PhD researcher, Ninia Funnell, make sense on one level, her comments about age and the law don't match the child protection law in NSW. As Michael Flood points out childhood curiosity can lead to unplanned consequences, which is one reason legislation seeks to protect children.

There is nothing here that is not covered by the new NSW DET social media guidelines but articles like this are a reminder that digital citizenship is not just for students.

Friedman identified a problem that education systems are only now beginning to wrestle with. Life is largely lived online, and schools do not prepare children for it. It's not just about keeping them safe from predators, cyberbullies, porn and identity theft: it's also about having an ethical framework, and the skills to assess the reliability of information.

Digital Citizenship is a suite of resources for students to support safe online behaviour. This resource includes game-based learning, lessons, videos, and parent and teacher support materials.

Quick survey - how many teachers know of this site?