Simple displays

I quite like simple posters that don't have long e-safety rules that children won't even bother to read. The school for my enquiry placement had this poster in the computing suite. Having something straight forward like this makes it obvious what the children need to do when they are being bullied on cyberspace.



There are other posters that are nice to have in classrooms and/or computing suites. Using an acronym makes the rules easy for the children to remember.

Using role-play

After the session on using drama, I was inspired to think about other ways drama could be used to enhance learning. In terms of ICT, roleplaying is a great way to get children discussing about how to stay safe when using ICT.

Below are some scenarios found from the CAS community webpage. They are things that could very easily happen to the pupils and through roleplaying, pupils are encouraged to think about (and discuss) how they should act to stay safe.

Watching videos on e-safety might be useful but children tend to be passive in the process unless there is time to discuss the important aspects of e-safety. On the other hand, actually acting the situations out makes the scenarios more real to the children and should get them to actively think about how to deal these problems.

Pupils could act out how to act and how NOT to act, and can even film this as an additional use of ICT. The videos can then be shared with parents and other pupils of the school.

Using books in KS1

Books are a great resource to teach children about e-safety, especially in KS1 where children enjoy picturebooks.  Kidsmart provides some books available in pdf format about e-safety.

The first book deals with Smartie the penguin asking an adult when strange images / ads pop on the screen, and when getting an email from unknown people.  There's a song that the children can sing as well. This book is probably for pupils in reception / year 1.

The second book is probably more for older children in ks1. It deals with Digiduck who thinks of sharing a silly photo of his friend. In his dreams, the Wise_owl shows what will happen if Digiduck shares that photo - his friends won't invite him to playdates and parties as they are not happy with what Digiduck did. After getting up, Digiduck realises that it is important to make sensible choices online. 

The storybook format is appropriate for pupils and it will be very relevant to them as friendship is an important aspect of being in school. 

There are a few questions at the end that can be used for a class discussion as well. There is a guidance for parents as well on how to keep their children safe. Most parents are probably unsure of how to deal with e-safety and may not have any rules for how often their children can use computers. A story book like these with guidance gives parents an idea of how they can educate their children to be safe and responsible users of the internet at home.

GPP - E-safety rules

Example of clear rules for pupils when using computers. 

The use of pictures and child-friendly language makes it appropriate for the whole school. The top picture is used as the desktop wallpaper on all the computers so that students are constantly reminded of how to use the internet responsibly. 

Using Thinkuknow and Kidsmart

As a lesson on E-safety, children can be divided into groups and each get a topic relating to e-safety such as: safe searching, sharing personal information, and chatting. They can then use resources such as Thinkuknow and Kidsmart and gather information that they can use to write notes or make a spider diagram with. 

They might then devise a script and act out a scene in front of the class to teach the other groups about their topic. For example, children may act out a scenario in which a young girl meets a supposedly young boy who she's been chatting to. By acting out possible scenarios, the possible dangers of using the internet would be highlighted, and children would become more aware of how they use the internet. 

Reading on the Data Protection Act

The Data Protection Law - What is it?

• Law designed to protect stored personal data
• Aims to control the handling of information and to give legal rights to people who have information stored about them
• Sets up rules to prevent people for accessing personal data without permission

8 Principles of Data Protection 

Data controllers must make sure the information is:-

•        used fairly and lawfully
•        used for limited, specifically stated purposes
•        used in a way that is adequate, relevant and not excessive
•        accurate
•        kept for no longer than is absolutely necessary
•        handled according to people’s data protection rights
•        kept safe and secure
•        not transferred outside the European Economic Area without adequate protection

References  

BBC. 2014. GCSE Bitesize - Data Protection Act. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/ict/legal/0dataprotectionactrev1.shtml. 

[Accessed 26 September 15].

Gov.UK. 2015. Data Protection Act. [ONLINE] Available at:
https://www.gov.uk/data-protection/the-data-protection-act
[Accessed 26 September 15].

E-safety discussion from books

In Sally Nicholls' 'An Island of Our Own', the main character needs to find a treasure that her aunt has hidden. To gather some information, she shares some personal information on her blog, including her full name, age and the name of her siblings so that people can get in touch with her if they know anything relevant to her search.

Students can be asked about the dangers of sharing such personal information, and the importance of e-safety can be discussed.
- Is it a good idea to put your full name and age on a website that anyone in the world can read?
- Why is this dangerous? What might happen?
- How else can she safely contact people and find information to aid her search?