A new report suggests that many schools are not adequately preparing students to be safe in today's digitally connected age, and it cites basic online safety and ethics as two areas in which students need more education.
The report, "State of K-12 Cyberethics, Cybersafety, and Cybersecurity Curriculum in the United States," was published by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and sponsored by Microsoft.
Cybersmart Detectives is an innovative online game that teaches children key internet safety messages in a safe environment.
Children work online in real time liaising with community professionals to solve an internet-themed problem. The activity is based in the school environment, and brings together a number of agencies with an interest in promoting online safety for young people, including State and Federal Police, internet industry representatives and child welfare advocates.
Cybersmart Detectives is an innovative online game that teaches children key internet safety messages in a safe environment. Children work online in real time liaising with community professionals to solve an internet-themed problem. The activity is based in the school environment, and brings together a number of agencies with an interest in promoting online safety for young people, including State and Federal Police, internet industry representatives and child welfare advocates.
ACMA site. Cybersmart provides activities, resources and practical advice to help young kids, kids, teens and parents safely enjoy the online world. Cybersmart also offers training and resources for schools and materials for library staff. Developed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, Cybersmart is part of the Australian Government's cybersafety program
"Connect.ed is an innovative, self-paced cybersafety education program offered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) as part of Cybersmart.
Connect.ed provides teachers with the flexibility of a self paced environment to learn about current online behaviours of students, potential risks involved in these activities, a teacher's and school's duty of care and the appropriate tools, resources and strategies to help students to have safe and positive experiences online."
a wiki set up to support presentations for parents about Internet safety. It contains links to a range of resources that parents may find helpful in a dealing with their children's use of the Internet
The good folk at St Mary Star of the Sea College in Wollongong, Australia have put together this great Slideshare presentation for an education session for parents at the school. As the say in the Slideshare info,
"The college works with parents to create a healthy and safe environment for learning and growth." and with well presented information like this they are certainly headed in the best direction.
Free Brainpop video on digital citizenship. Four other free videos are included in the series: blogs, cyberbullying, digital etiquette and online safety.
It is relatively easy for someone to SCARE parents away from the Internet. There ARE bad things and people making bad choices on the Internet, but there are many compelling resources and interactive tools available which can be used for learning and communication. In this wiki presentation, Wes Fryer focusses on practical things parents can do with children of different ages to promote safe online behavior and also help young people develop the ethical capacities to make good decisions as well as remain open to communicating about their online experiences with others.
Australian online safety site CyberNetrix offers computer-based activities that have been designed for secondary students from years seven to nine as a cross-curricula, cross-year level resource. There is a teacher guide and 11 downloadable student activities.
The purpose of this Resource Sheet is to provide information on resources available for parents regarding online safety for their children. For another NCPC Resource Sheet relating to online practices see: Images of Children and Young People Online (Horsfall, 2010).
ThinkUKnow Australia is an Internet safety program
delivering interactive training to parents, carers and teachers through primary
and secondary schools around Australia using a network of accredited trainers.
"Bullying.org's purpose is to prevent bullying in our society through education and awareness.
We provide educational programs and resources to individuals, families, educational institutions and organizations. We make available online learning and educational resources in order to help people deal effectively and positively with the act of bullying and its long lasting negative consequences."
Andrew Churches extrapolates from ancient Rome in this excellent discussion on 6 tenets of Digital Citizenship. As he says,
"The internet is a little like the proverbial elephant that never forgets. Our digital footprints are not like the footprints on the beach, washed away by the next wave or rising tide. Rather they are like footprints left to dry in the wet concrete of the footpath."
"Students understand the power of social media but are they making good decisions about what to post online? How can we, as educators, help them understand not just the immediacy of their posts but also the permanence of online communications? Learning is becoming more digital and educators at all levels should be instrumental in building students' understanding about how their online presence impacts both their personal and future professional lives. Educators are also instrumental in helping students develop lifelong habits to create and maintain a positive online identity. You can look to the 2015 ISTE White Paper, Building and Keeping a Positive Digital Identity, to help kids be more intentional in what they post online. This paper applies ISTE standards to the idea of building and maintaining a positive online identity. It poses five questions adults can use to kick-start meaningful conversations about online behaviour and identity."
Bullying. No way! is developed and managed by all Australian education authorities for use by Australia's Government, Catholic and Independent school communities.
On this area of the Digizen website we outline the three major areas of the advice, Understanding, Preventing and Responding; and provided links to current resources.