E-Safety Conference,

With the surge of Web2.0 tools, social networking sites, blogs, wikis etc and my continuing exploration of all that is cyber-space, I felt it was important to learn more about the issues and problems that we as educators face in this ever increasing digital age. Even I have fallen foul of dubious individuals trying to contact me via Skype. I was too eager to use technology and not quite savvy enough to block unwanted attention. Needless to say my New Zealand link, David Kinane soon pointed out the error of my profile! As we as educators have greater access to the internet and its treasures and increasingly share these with our children we must also take responsibility for their safety.

This post is written from my notes and jottings at the conference.

The first keynote speech was made by Stephen Carrick-Davies of Childnet International.
It is true that we want or need to model good practice. With ever increasing online tools that are free to use and easy to register to this is an exciting and also challenging time. Children enjoy and benefit from using technology, however we need to ensure that children are safe online. We should recognise and understand the dangers whilst also embracing the opportunities.

A group of students from Falmouth College were asked what they loved about the internet. The responses were as would be expected. It is easier to contact friends, using MSN and Bebo. Nowadays this access is a very personal and portable technology. To many parents though and even some educators it is still unexplored territory and as such is seen as dangerous and to be avoided.

An interesting point made by Stephen was:-

“……. earlier generations had to sit through huffing and puffing with the invention of television, the phone, cinema, radio, the car, the bicycle, printing, the wheel and so on, but you would think we would learn the way these things work, which is this:

1. Everything that’s already in the world when you’re born is just normal;
2. Anything that gets invented between then and before you turn thirty is incredibly exciting and creative and with any luck you can make a career out of it;
3. Anything that gets invented after you’re thirty is against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it until it’s been around for about ten years when it gradually turns out to be alright really.”
Douglas Adams

I want to be able to exploit the benefits of the internet, maybe not in the same way as young people might ...... but certainly in a way that it was intended. My recent links with New Zealand would certainly fulfill its creators vision.

Tim Berners-Lee ‘Weaving the Web’ 1999

"The web is more a social creation than a technical one. I designed it for social effect - to help people work together - and not as a technical toy…. The ultimate goal of the web is to support and improve our web like existence in the world"

The Internet is part of modern childhood. "The online converged world is the child's world." It is always on. It offers an active not passive medium. It is anonymous. It allows access to the world. It allows acceptance– identity and status. It gives children a voice. It is away from supervision. It is addictive.

With this in mind then what does a shared responsibility look like? What are the issues for schools, curriculum, CPD and parents? With the increase of Web2.0 the use of the internet is changing. Web2.0 allows uploading, creativity, personal, converged media and is truly interactive. In schools this is supervised, filtered and monitored. Out of school though there is often no supervision, filtering or monitoring and young peoples social speak allows a simple POS to warn others of “parent over my shoulder” or even MTIW GTG “my teacher is watching—got to go!"

In conducting a very simple survey with my class (aged 8/9) I found that several used MSN to contact friends and family and also shared BEBO accounts with older siblings. This highlights that though we may feel that children at 8 years of age would not be accessing social networking sites they are.

Daniel Broughton MD a pediatrician at the Mayo Clinic says

we are doing our children a disservice if we try to remove all risks from their lives.

I agree but we must therefore make them aware of the risks and how to deal with them.

Stephen suggests we must avoid Digital Panic and Digital Promise and look realistically at the positive opportunities of Social Networking which are:

1. Young people have a space to hang out and express themselves and “gather” in an adult free space, in much the same way as young people used to at the youth club


2. There is an opportunity to be creative, and express themselves with original content, customise pages and engage in collective self expression and collaboration.


3. Young people need a space to manage risks for identity and test boundaries. Most appear to be capable of self-regulation if they are made aware of the risks.


4. There is active communication, strengthening of existing relationships, sharing ideas, supporting and helping each other.


5. They are acquiring new skills which are highly valued in the new knowledge economy. e.g. - creativity, presentation, team building, retrieving information, assessing value, analysing, reviewing etc.
   

The dangers to children of the net are threefold. Through commerce, invasion of privacy and the blur between advertising and information; through content, inaccuracies, extreme views and pornography and its self created and finally through contact, unwanted contact, paedophiles and cyber bullying.

What then is cyber bullying?

It is “The use of ICT, particularly mobile phones & internet, deliberately to upset someone else” The range of technology used in cyber bullying is wide and complex from Mobile phones, IM, Chat, Email and Webcam to Social networking & Video-hosting sites, Virtual Learning Environments and Gaming. As with any form of bullying it can ruin the lives of children (and adults!). Research from the Anti bullying Alliance, 2007, quotes that 22% of young people (in the UK) reported being the target of cyber bullying. It appears to be a growing issue of concern. This is a whole-school community issue and strategies are needed to prevent and respond to it.

How is it different from other forms of bullying?

There is often a change of role - the bully may be weak and the victim strong! Due to the forever on nature of technology there is a lack of closure. The perception of anonymity, often results in saying things that wouldn’t be said face to face. It can be 24/7 contact – there is no escape even at home. As it is not face to face it is not always possible to see the affect.

Cyber bullying does leave a trail! A trail that can be traced as was illustrated by the next keynote speech. (to be dealt with in a another post)

The key Question for Schools is:
Do we recognise the educational value of these online services, pilot new models of learning and embed E-Safety into the PSHE, Citizenship, ICT Curriculum ?

OR

See this as purely an “out of school issue” and “simply” block and control student’s use of these services?

To tackle this effectively it should be a partnership of the whole school community, between teachers, young people and their parents / guardians.

Stephen suggests that for teachers:

TEACHER TRAINING & CPD
Teachers urgently need help in understanding the technology and safeguarding issues.
PRACTICAL CURRICULUM- RELEVANT RESOURCES
Supremely relevant to the Curriculum and E-safety education gives unique opportunity to address offline issues with relevancy, child-centricity and impact
SUPPORT IN PROMOTING POSITIVE USAGE WITHIN SCHOOLS
Recognise educational value of these services. Pilot and nurture new models of learning.

For Parents:

“Parents and the home environment they create are the single most important factor in shaping their children’s well-being, achievements and prospects” Alan Johnson Education Secretary

BETTER ENGAGEMENT WITH TECHNOLOGY
Parents trust information which comes from schools. They need help in understanding the Social web and the very real “out of school” dangers

SUPPORT IN ENGAGING WITH CHILDREN - For example 4 out of 10 young people say that they receive no or very little information from their parents about sensitive or “risky” issues, (Every Parent Matters)

and for Young people

PROMOTE ONLINE CITIZENSHIP + ACTIVE CARE FOR THEIR PEERS You can’t download an “Empathy” patch !

SUPPORT Young People IN THE CREATION OF THEIR OWN RESOURCES
We are not capitalising on the very obvious part of the solution!

VALIDATE INFORMAL LEARNING AND PROMOTE THE POSITIVE!
We negate children’s moral leadership at our peril. YP can change the world positively with this technology !

So do we......

Do we recognise the educational value of these online services, pilot new models of learning and embed E-Safety into the PSHE, Citizenship, ICT Curriculum?
OR
See this as purely an “out of school issue” and “simply” block and control student’s use of these services?

Blocking of services is one which I already have many frustrations with. In our collaborative work with New Zealand, Web2.0 tools and even our joint blog were initially blocked. You Tube is still blocked and means that videos we produce cannot be uploaded there but have to go via Teacher Tube instead - this is not always as reliable and thus has its own frustrations! David's avatar of me (left) was created after a particularly frustrtaing day of the blog being blocked and not being able to view a video which had been uploaded by Meadowbank about their school day. I hope that at Woodford we can embrace the opportunities and educational value of online services and surge forward into the technologocal age with as much confidence as our young people!

Watch this space!!