Group items tagged

"A CYBER safety expert has slammed primary schools for letting students as young as eight use Twitter. Roxburgh Homestead Primary School is one of a number of schools to set up classroom Twitter accounts so students can share snippets of their work with the outside world. Parents have been encouraged to 'follow' the accounts for an insight into their children's school life."

Article showing both sides of the argument for letting younger students use social media (including Twitter) for learning.

An example of the power of Twitter for a Primary School to connect and communicate with the world.

"Over the last month I've started using Diigo as my primary tool for bookmarking links. Yesterday, Diigo released a new version of their browser extension. The updated extension includes some features that are quite handy. The most significant of the updates is a streamlined screenshot process. Now you can click the browser extension to take a screenshot of the page that you're viewing. "

Apps for teaching coding in primary school. Web based and Apple based apps.

A free open online course for primary school teachers to help prepare them for the implementation of the new digital technologies curriculum in Australia which will have compulsory computational thinking & coding from K-8. Started March 24. Register to join.

Good video for Primary school level with clear messages on how to be safe online

"In Digital Age, Learning Civics Means Doing Civics Traditional civic education has required students to memorize basic facts about American government, call it the what, who, and when model for civic literacy. The primary source of information has been textbooks, a source of literacy that has not always been the most accurate or inclusive. And while books (in various forms) will certainly continue to play a role in civic education emerging digital media platforms will be key in the effort to engage, invigorate, and create an informed citizenry. The rise of digital media offers a unique opportunity to add a more experiential dimension to civic education. Digital technologies can, of course, be used to teach kids basic civic facts, but they can also serve as an entry point into "doing" civics. This happened in a Minneapolis third grade class I visited earlier this year. "

"As I lamented in my last post, many of the fabulous Web tools out there are restricted to users 13 and over. This limits what Elementary/Primary schools students can access online to create content to collaborate. To save others at school some time, then, I have compiled a list of popular/well known Web tools that can and can't be used by children under 13 - 1), so we are legally covered in what we are allowing our students to use and 2), so they know what is available. Please note that generally the sites that allow for under 13s still ask for parental permission ( even Edmodo if you haven't read the Terms of Use) so a solid school user agreement is needed to use these tools. Some of the sites are not US based so are not bound by COPPA and CIPA regulations. It still requires schools to carefully check out what can be viewed on these sites to ensure they are appropriate to access."

Useful blog re net safety

"Welcome to Know IT All, Childnet's multi award-winning suite of education resources designed to help educate parents, teachers and young people about safe and positive use of the internet. Currently there are 4 KIA resources for Parents and Carers, Secondary Schools, Primary Schools and Trainee Teachers and all four resources include content for young people. You can access all these here online for free, or order on CD-ROM. "

Lyn Hays key note speaker Interesting slide show

Susan McLean - the Australian cybersafety advisor

I have heard Susan McLean speak to year 6s from our local Primary Schools. She is a really engaging speaker and had the students admitting to putting in false ages to get a facebook account.

"There are many resources available to help support schools to teach pupils to be responsible users of the Internet and to educate pupils to be as safe as possible when using online tools. Here are some resources to support teaching digital literacy:"

Denis Masseni, a Monash university lecturer and a director of Sponsor-Ed has written a report called "Why Schools are spooked by social media" (2010) which presents findings from a survey of 140 principals on the subject of social media. It's a positive take on SNS use in schools. This site links both the 34 page paper and a small radio interview (8 mins) which is well worth a listen.

Some interesting Australian resources on Digital Citizenship for both primary and secondary

This site has excellent posters for teaching students in primary and high school about using technology responsibly.

Downloadable posters from Common Sense Media.

An excellent short video visually explaining 21st Century Skills - useful for primary school aged children

Hi All, A very generous and proactive educator Eleni Kyritsis has been a strong advocate for connecting students to outside experiences and learning. Eleni shares here in this blog post about different ways she has provided those opportunities for students. Worth a read https://elenikyritsis.com/connecting-classrooms/ Cheers Raff