Hi everyone, I'm discussing cybersafety with my colleagues and am keen for any comments relating to the topic, your own school practices, successes, things to watch out for and opinions on how "Room5ian Rule!" and "Woodmonstas" use public blogging as a learning tool.
Many thanks in advance :-)
[p.s. students, this is for teachers, but if you have sensible opinions please share... and since you're here, you can check out this site if you like, but it's really for younger kids in case you have younger siblings.]
Qualities of 21st Century teachers?
Suzie Vesper's thoughts on cybersafety:
http://leadingict.wikispaces.com/Overview+of+cyber+safety
And Auntie Erin says this is cool :-)
And here's an Aussie talking about why we need to step into the 21st Century
19 comments:
The importance of using your blog display name.
Parents taking an active role in monitoring their children on the family computer. (This can be done by having the family computer in a public area of the house).
Kia ora
There are several things that I encourage teachers that I work with to consider.
- Unpack the purpose of the blog.
- Permission from children and parents that work/images can be posted on the blog.
- All work published is their own or under a creative commons license i.e no copyright music.
- Comment, comment, comment. Its really motivating to have comments from other students/people in NZ and beyond and if the purpose is to engage in global dialogue this is a great way of getting the conversation started. Also it is an effective way of engaging children in authentic literacy activities.
Okay that's the top 4 for me..:)
From Naketa
Regional ICT Facilitator
http://vodpod.com/watch/1408939-ewan-mcintosh-internet-safety
a brief commentary from Ewen McIntosh regarding commonsense in digital literacy.
Thank you Matua Haami and Naketa :-)
We use no student names, first names only or simple codes. Permissions are sought from parents and most are happy to have work and images posted (2 refusals this year :-( ). Responses and comments made are usually from a generic "Room 9" rather than specific children, but this isn't always so. I know comment moderation isn't favoured by some teachers, but I still think it's essential.
Contact with student out school hours is a tricky one. I'd never feel comfortable "chatting" with my students online(they're 8/9 yrs old}, but am happy to communicate via email or wiki/blog comments. I think we have to use our common sense and keep all parties safe, including ourselves.
Michael/@teachernz
Blogs are a window into your classroom. They let the world see in and us see out to the world. We should only write things we would let our grandmother read and never post personal information, such as addresses and phone numbers. Read other blogs and share your ideas by both posting and commenting.
There are some great ideas above. Cybersafety is such a big thing which is sometimes extremely hard for students to understand - especially when it comes to thinking and talking about their digital footprints. One of the best lessons I did with our senior students was taking just one persons name and googling it - then showing how I could find out their school and address. They were pretty amazed.
At our school all our students have to sign a cybersafety agreement which allows first names only, photos etc. Then in blogs we use initials only.
I have some more cybersafety links here -> http://delicious.com/hey.milly/cybersafety
Hope this all helps! Amanda :)
Thanks Team - Great advice thanks Amanda :-)
http://www.netsafe.org.nz/keeping_safe.php?pageID=59§ionID=education&menuID=59
http://centre4.interact.ac.nz/modules/folder/folder.php?space_key=13374&module_key=52806
I suggest referring to the Netsafe website:
http://www.netsafe.org.nz/
Netsafe have also released a series of videos using a character called Hector and his friends: www.hectorsworld.com I have not used these with children so am interested to know if they have been used effectively by anyone.
Another site Netsafe have created designed for parents and teachers to understand better the activities that young people are engaging in online and the problems they face is www.inmyday.org.nz
Loads of information on these sites.
I agree that enabling comment moderation is important. Also as teachers/facilitators who blog, really critiquing the content of our blogs and giving each other feedback. I like that we are sharing what we do in education - teachers and children - publicly. Blogs can be a great opportunity for professional learning for us. Look how we are all engaged in this online dialogue!
Yes - thank Linda. It is great to collaborate. I have made many valuable professional connections and friendships by sharing online what would normally be hidden behind four walls.
It is also great for the kids to share their thoughts/work for an authentic audience as connected global citizens.
:-)
Hey there - I recently wrote a post on cybersafety tips - mainly for parents of young children - but generally my top five.( www.ictece.blogspot.com ) I have also been reading some interesting articles on internet content filters - pros and cons. Do you have any opinions or recommendations on these?
http://www.netbasics.org.nz/
Ooh would be good to show the NetBasics movies too.
NaketaNZ :)
Also just found this from the wonderful Mrs Vesper which might have some handy links:
http://leadingict.wikispaces.com/Overview+of+cyber+safety
http://leadingict.wikispaces.com/Resources+for+schools
Definately net-basics
A comment from a very clever, talented, successful educator I know:
"Didn't want 2 raise blood pressure by arguing for un-moderated blogs. But the facts:
In 2008 100+ blogs, 1000+ comments.
yrs 1-13 we removed.... 3 comments! So what would we have moderated against again???"
Very good point raised. And in four years of unmoderated blogging with my classes I have had one abusive comment which I removed before anyone saw it and one negative one from a anonymous coward that allowed me to raise a useful teaching point with my class.
I have had over 12,000 hits per year from all over the world and received marvellous suppport from other teachers, parents and experts to support student learning and engagement. :-)
Interesting to read all the comments posted - obviously a hot topic - our Kindergarten blog www.manaiakindergarten.blogspot.com is public and accessed by parents, whanau and the wider community and world! We too have established amazing professional relationships and enjoyed sharing learning through our blog. We have taken cybersafety very seriously and as with lots of other people, get signed permission from all parents, only use first names and try to put mainly movies on our blog as opposed to photos. We share our cybersafety tips with parents at pre entry sessions and by having netsafe pamphlets available to them. When talking/presenting to audiences about our Kgtn blog we always talk about the cybersafety topic and encourage netsafe workshops. Thanks for such an interesting post.
Tania
Manaia Kindergarten
That Dolphin picture is so cool and cybersafety is definetly important for teachers as well as students
We have recently made our site public. We did this after consultation with our families/community. Naketa has a valid point about knowing what the purpose of your blog is before you start. We use ours to show case the great work our tamariki are doing and to relay info to our families.
We use Hector on our computers plus we have taken the tool bar off the top of our kindergarten and children's individual blogs so that they can't hit NEXT BLOG and go to unknown sites.
We discovered that U-Tube clips being embedded in our blog has the potential for exploration into 'unknown' sites when children click on links so we have abandoned this practice although we do use U-Tube in the Kindergarten with supervision.
We have issued a booklet on blogging to support parents and have recommended they install Hector at home and make themselves familiar with the netsafe site. We believe parents should be aware of what their children are viewing on internet. We also believe, like David, that because the NET is a tool of our 21st Century learners, we need to be making them aware of cybersafety within a public domain. This is authentic learning/teaching.
Grasslands Kindergarten
http://grasslandskindergarten.blogspot.com
What an amzing collection of comments! My kids school does not allow access to wikis, blogs and various other sites. This collection of thoiughts on cyber safety from a range of educators is a valuable commentary for them to look at I think. Cheers.
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