Internet Safety

The issue of online safety is an issue that needs to be addressed in Education, as the internet and digital devices provide connections with the world outside the classroom. While there are many positives in making connections, training our students to develop good habits and to discern unsafe situations is both a concern and a need each time they go online.

At our last Professional Development Day on Blogging, there was discussion around this issue. There were some great ideas and resources shared through the course of the day.To introduce the day we looked at a Primary Tech post on Teaching Children about Digital Footprints. Kathleen Morris discusses how many of websites and lesson plans focuses on the negative aspects of digital footprint. While this is a concern, Kathleen maintains that there needs to be balance in the way we approach our teaching of digital footprints. Students need to be shown appropriate ways to use the internet and to be aware that their behaviour can have consequences even when it is online.

In our discussion, some suggestions were made to help students be accountable for their behaviour and to ensure students are staying within the guidelines that they have been taught.

• having peer monitors for blogs, who check each others posts and comments.
• have a checklist of what a blog post or comment should contain. 
• discussing and promoting good quality comments through sharing and discussion.
• having a specific purpose for blog posts and comment which is using them for an academic purpose not a social one, 
• identifying good Netiquette in blog posts,

Listed below were some of the resources identified as being useful to teach Internet Safety. 

Do you have any ideas for teaching Internet Safety? Do you know of any great resources to share?

What is a good Comment?

Writing comments on blogs is an important part of blogging as it gives students feedback and questions about what they are learning. It helps continue engage students in the process of the learning process using writing as a way of expressing their thoughts. It helps consolidate what they have learnt.

As part of our Family blogging Month we will be awarding good comments two points. A comment that is error free and adds something to the conversation by either asking a question, an observation or thought will be awarded two points.

How to Comment on a blog:

1. Choose the post that you wish to comment on 
2. Go to the word "comment" and click on it. A text box will appear.
3. Type in your comment, remembering to check your spelling, punctuation etc. 
4. Choose in the drop down box, which identity you will post as.
5. Click on the word "Publish"
6. An anti-spam word and number will appear which needs to be entered into the box. 
7. Your comment will appear after approval.

Why do you think its important to write comments on a blog? Are there any tips that you could add to writing a good blog comment?

Family Blogging Night

It is something of a challenge to keep up with the many changes that happen with Technology, especially when many of us are so busy in our family lives. The opportunity to discuss and learn about online safety came with our Family Blogging Night. The purpose of the night was to educate parents about online safety and how to write a good comment on a blog.

Police Liaison Officers Mark Scambery and Allan Clapham shared with parents about the current trends that they are seeing with online behaviour and how we can help students to behave appropriately online. A good quote from the night was "Online behaviour has offline consequences", which is a good thought to teach to children about the way they need to approach using the Internet.

Some websites that Allan suggested were http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/ and http://www.staysmartonline.gov.au/. 

Our fantastic Year 6 class had created a video on cyber safety. They showed some great examples of what good happen. 

The next part of the evening was  learning about what blogs are and how to write a good comment. Blogging has been a good opportunity to teach online safety in a way that is safe, non threatening and hands on. Students learn to use the Internet as a tool and a blog promotes students  work to an audience outside of their immediate community. 

Writing a good comment is the first step in understanding the appropriate language and phrasing needed to communicate clearly on a blog. It is a thoughtful response to the post that has been written. It teaches students to stay on the topic when they are writing. They also learn that they need to edit their work so that their meaning is clear. When publishing comments, we teach the students to only use their first name, for safety reasons.

During family Blogging Month we are hoping that many parents and other family members post comments too. We are hoping to see many fantastic comments posted on blogs as this will encourage our students to improve in their writing.

A big thank you to all the parents who attended the evening as well as a big thank you to our Police for giving their time. 

What did you learn about being safe online? What are some tips that you have for online safety? 

How to Comment on a Blog

Blogging has been described in previous posts as being like a conversation. A conversation is an interaction between people sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings between one another. The process of a blog is much the same.

To participate in this process effectively, students need to be trained in how to write a quality comment, that is both academic in nature and one that furthers the interaction of the blog post.

To make a quality comment on a post, some things to remember are:

• That the comment is like a letter- it needs to address the blog writer and end with who is writing the comment.
• Edit your work before posting. Check that you have spelled everything correctly and that your punctuation is accurate.
• No Spam please! Remember to make a comment that will contribute to the conversation by adding a question or new thought. Avoid using slang words or lots of icons. 
• Use only your first name so as to protect identities. If you are a family member, identify the child that you are related to is enough to identify you. For example: Hayley's Mum

What are some other ways that could contribute to a blog post? Do you have a good writing tip that could be shared?

Blogging Guidelines

As part of our planning day recently, our blogging team discussed the importance of having uniform guidelines for our school community. The guidelines aim to facilitate good online habits and behaviour. A key part of blogging is training students to know what is appropriate behaviour. By making the guidelines available to both parents and teachers means that this behaviour can be reinforced both at home and at school.

 As a starting point we looked at the following website http://4kmand4kj.global2.vic.edu.au/guidelinessafety/blog-guidelines/

 This blog has a good example of guidelines which they teach to their students and use to inform parents.

  It is an important step to discuss the guidelines with our students and parents, informing them of the online behaviour that will help create good online behaviour that is safe and responsible. The way students interact online will help establish a good digital footprint. A digital footprint is everything that students post online, so it is important that they are positive. Our students, although very familiar with the use of technology doesn't necessarily mean that they will know what is appropriate or inappropriate when online.

 Teaching Blogging guidelines: 

• Have students brainstorm ways of staying safe. They could discuss this in small groups or as a whole group. 
•  Discuss the question How do we stay safe on the internet? Record their answers using a camera or have them create a short video explaining their answer. 
•  Read through the guidelines on the blog together as a class and discuss each point. 
• Reinforce the guidelines every time students go online.

MACC Blogging Guidelines | Create infographics

Do you have any suggestions for blog Guidelines? How would you go about teaching them to a class?

Family Blogging Month

Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app for iPad


A big part of blogging is having an audience to view the posts that are created. A blog is also a great way of connecting with the activities and work that is being completed in classrooms. An successful program to encourage commenting on blogs is Family Blogging Month.

The idea of this came from two class blogs, Mrs Morris' and Miss Jordan's Class  and Mrs Yollis' class who started Family Blogging Month as a way of encouraging family members of students to comment. It is also a good forum to help parents understand the importance of netiquette and good Digital Citizenship.

The purpose of Family Blogging Month is to promote class blogs and educate families about having a good online presence. A blog can be a powerful tool in demonstrating the great learning that is happening within the classroom. Encouraging families to post comments on blogs gives them the opportunity to view this great learning and to respond to it.

To kick start Family Blogging Month, a Blogging night will be held to discuss Digital Citizenship, how to post a quality comment and to promote class blogs within our school community. Some ideas can be found in the infographic below:

Family Blogging Month Ideas | Infographics

What are some ways that Family Blogging Month could be promoted? Do you have any ideas on how to teach good commenting or Digital Citizenship? 

Learning about Blogging through Paper Blogs

Paper blogs are a great way of practising blogging. Peter had a a great lesson with his class using paper blogs to practise both blogs and commenting on blogs using paper. This was the lesson plan that Peter used: 

1. Each student started a blog page (on a blank sheet of paper) - named their blog and started a discussion topic of their choosing

2. Students pretended they were alone at their computer, read blogs and posted their comment/s (pass it to the next student)

3. Give 3 minutes (adjust according to your students) to read the blog and comment/add to the discussion.

4. repeat 2&3  a couple of times (stick another sheet on the page if needed)

5. Each student checks for comments on their blog (i.e. they get their own page back) and and continue the discussion after reading the comments made by others.

                Timing was adjusted to allow for extra reading time

5. We did two more swap cycles @5min each. Some students in the later swaps got a blog page back that they already had made a comment on. This enabled them to see how others responded to their comments and develop from there.

6. Final comments made by the student on their own page to wrap the activity up. They uploaded (drew) a relevant picture to enhance their blog

Students were engaged - understanding of the process was developed! 

Have you any great ideas on teaching blogging to students? It would be great to share them!