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?