Health & Wellbeing in Integrated Learning Communities

‘Safer Internet Day’ is a global event which takes place each year in early February (10th this year) with the purpose of promoting safer and more responsible use of online and mobile communication technology. There is a Safer Internet Day site with a dedicated quiz (including very random questions related to European geography and with no answers), but to be honest, I thought that raising awareness could be so much more engaging than a visit to a quiz site or putting up a poster.

For me, it could be an event that encourgages pupils and staff to have a go at new online tools, explore and create something which uses ‘Internet safety’ as a context for learning . It also might enable staff in schools to work with pupils to explore new tools for collaborative learning that they too might find useful.

So, this year during the week commencing the 9th February schools in Highland are being encouraged to hold their own Internet Safety discussions, events and activities to make pupils and parents aware of the importance of being good ‘digital citizens’ and ensure they know how to keep themselves safe. Having fun as well as reinforcing the benefits of using the internet safely is the purpose of the iniative. Here are a few suggestions to get the ball rolling, feel free to add more in the comments.

• Registering with the Highland E-Safety Group endorsed www.thinkuknow.co.uk website which provides free curriculum resources, screen savers and leaflets.
• Ensure all computers in the school have the Thinkuknow screensaver for the week
• Obtaining ‘Childnet‘ resources free through NHS Highland’s, Health Information Resources Service (open to Highland school communities only)
• Holding your own discussions in classes about new technologies, what’s the most popular sites, Facebook v Bebo?
• Use the Childnet’s Cyberbullying class resource to look at issues surrounding bullying and technology (teachernet.gov.uk has resources for download)
• Use the internet to search for sources of text and discuss the pros and cons of doing so including ‘reliability’ of information further developing literacy skills
• Design your own school internet safety poster using an online tool such as glogster Discover how to make your creative posters easily online
• Looking at different search engines to develop skills in learning how to search the internet safely and effectively such as google scholar      
• Investigate the history of the internet and prepare presentations using an online tool such as animoto and search safely for images exploring licenses for usage such as creative commons
• Creative a short animation telling a story about using the internet safely using a tool such as ToonDoo
• Have a practical session about how to set privacy settings on favourite social networking sites
• Create an online collaborative mindmap of all the points relating to internet safety using Mindmeister
• Make sure all the library internet access points display information on internet safety
• Create an online list of school favourite sites and discuss why they are good using tools such as Delicious
• If you have a school website/newsletter put a news item on about internet safety.
• Have the whole class make a cartoon avatar image of themselves and then play ‘guess who?’ Faceyourmanga is just one of a few easy to use avatar creators.

I hope this has given you a few ideas!! Please do let myself or Jim Henderson know if you have an event or discussion with points of view or photos to share you’d like to share with the E-Safety Group in Highland. Enjoy your events. Keep an open mind and remember the benefits above all else.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS