TUESDAY is Safer Internet Day

What's special about Tuesday 5th February, 2013?

It's the 10th Annual "Safer Internet Day"! 

... Hooray!

What perfect timing for our lovely Year 5 students as they begin their program of innovative learning with iPads... In honour of the occasion, this post will recap some of the issues addressed at our Cyber Safety Boot Camps and offer you a 'starter collection' of resources to support your home campaigns for good Digital Citizenship, including internet safety.

Revisiting Resources from Boot Camp evening:

"Let's Fight It Together" - video
This video clip depicts a boy dealing with cyberbullying. A crucial point to draw out of any discussion about this scenario is the importance of reporting incidents to a trusted adult. Situations can escalate and become unbearable if a victim does not seek help early.

"Jigsaw Assembly" - video from Think U Know
What constitutes personal information? How do we keep our personal information private? See what you can learn from this girl's frightening mistakes.

"Never Seconds" Blog
A great example of the value of web 2.0 technologies as tools to learn, communicate, collaborate and  share. See how a 9-year-old girl has used her blog to make changes for the better in our world, starting with reviewing her own school lunches.
Tip: The blog was launched last April. If you take a look at this page and read from the bottom up, you will get a better picture of how it all began.

The Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship
Mike Ribble describes each of the nine elements of digital citizenship. Consider which are the most important for your child at their current stage... Comment below if you wish to share your thoughts.

The Digital Compass
We borrowed this discussion activity (from Mike Ribble's book) on Boot Camp night, looking at familiar scenarios involving technologies and discussion the actions taken. You can use the digital compass to discuss any technology-related dilemmas. The discussion of how and why you selected each response is most important. Completed worksheets are being collected at school for regular discussion throughout the year. Please use the comments below to suggest any tricky digital scenarios that may be beneficial to discuss at school or at home.

Image Source: Copyright 2007, ISTE ® (International Society for Technology in Education), Digital Citizenship in Schools, Mike Ribble and Gerald Bailey, iste@iste.org, www.iste.org. All rights reserved. Distribution and copying of this excerpt is allowed for educational purposes and use with full attribution to ISTE.

Children have much to learn from the discussions they have with their parents about these issues. The current parents of 21st century students had no need or opportunity to learn about digital citizenship at school. But we have a wealth of world experience and bucket loads of common sense to draw on. To borrow the words of a 19th century philosopher:

“It is a thousand times better 

to have common sense without education

 than to have education without common sense.”
Robert G. Ingersoll

Other Useful Websites with "Digital Citizenship" Resources:

CyberSmart
A national cyber safety and cyber security education program managed by the Australian Government's ACMA - Australian Communications and Media Authority. Resources such as Hector's World and the CyberQuoll program are used throughout the school for digital citizenship education.

Think U Know
A UK website from the wonderful people at CEOP - Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.

Information for Queensland Parents 
Further resources from the Queensland Government - Department of Education, Training and Employment.

Cyber-Safety Button
A free installation for MacOS or Windows from the Australian Government - Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.

Stay Smart Online
Website for home users from the Australian Government - Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.