Parent Technology Coffee Morning 3 - e-safety

Last week saw our final Tech Coffee Morning for the term. The focus was e-safety and over 40 parents attended to look at a range of issues.

The Prezi below can be viewed to look at some of the ideas covered by clicking the play arrow and waiting for the presentation to download.

One of the clear messages from the morning is that we need to develop resilient, ethical digital citizens who use technology in a positive way. Trying to lock down their access and control what they do is not the way to do this.

We also looked a little at net monitoring software and discussed that whilst it might be appropriate for some families it is not appropriate for all.

For those interested in further reading, you may find some of the links below useful:

Childnet Parent Presentation

Digizen

Thinkyouknow

Many thanks for all those who attended this session. Dates for next term will be confirmed shortly.

Parent Technology Coffee Morning

Here is the presentation from the first of our Parent Technology Coffee Mornings.

Parent Tech Coffee Morning - Social Networking on Prezi - allow presentation to download before clicking on the arrow to scroll through - alternatively click More and choose Full-Screen

The focus in our first session was Social Networking, with the emphasis on the use of Facebook. Clearly this was a very appropriate place to start as over 50 parents were present for the session in the primary school gym. We looked at some definitions of Social Networking and discussed why it was so popular with young people today and why it has the opportunity for them to learn and utilise a variety of skills which they will have to call upon as they get older.

Having looked at the benefits we listed some of the issues and spent time finding out how to configure profiles and privacy settings.

The two major texts used as the basis for the talks are free and can be downloaded here;

A Parents Guide to Facebook;
http://www.connectsafely.org/pdfs/fbparents.pdf

Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out;

http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/full_pdfs/hanging_out.pdf

Also a good idea to listen to danah boyd talking about young people's use of social networking;

Many thanks to all those that attended. If you have any feedback about the session or have a suggestion for future events, please let me know or comment in the space below.

The remaining dates for this term are;

Friday 11th February - Gaming Technology

Friday 18th March - e-Safety

Christmas iTouch?

I didn't get an iTouch for Christmas as I already had one (did finally get a Livescribe Pen though - hurrah!).

However, I am aware that a number of students received an iTouch from the big man in red. If you've been playing with it already you'll probably agree with me that it's a fantastic piece of kit.

Here's a note for parents though. If you are running filtered or controlled access to the internet via your PC or laptop, your filter software will not apply to the internet access via the iTouch. In other words, net access via the iTouch is unfiltered.

Now, in an ideal world that would not be a problem. There would be little inappropriate content on the web and all our students would be perfectly capable of using the iTouch in a responsible manner. Sometimes though, that's not always the case and it's perfectly understandable that parents feel the need to take precautions.

So, what can you do?

Well, the iTouch itself has settings which can disable various functions, such as the web browser Safari and the Youtube App as well as access to the App Store itself. Disabling these is an option, but if you want to go down this route then you probably should have purchased a standard iPod rather than the iTouch!

If you want to disable these functions , click Settings on the main screen, choose General, scroll down to Restrictions, Enable Restrictions. You then need to create a restriction PIN (which you should write down somewhere safe so you can always remember it!). You can then choose which services you wish to disable (all the fun ones!!).

If you need any further information on this, click here.

You might also consider a third party piece of software that allows you to monitor and control net usage on the iTouch from your own computer. There are a variety of paid solutions available, the most popular seemingly being;

Mobicip

iNet Safety Bubble

Safe Eyes

If you use any of these applications please let us know how you get on.

At Kellett we have begun to experiment with the use of iTouch in the classroom. We have a small pack of six so far. P1 children have been using them to work on their phonics and later this week Miss Chen will be looking at how to use an app called Finger Lite to teach Chinese Studies in the secondary school.

Parent Resources

Day three of Robyn's visit began with a session for Educational Support Assistants. The staff listened intently to Robyn and there were lots of questions at the end!

Feedback from yesterday's Parent Forum continues to be positive and for those who wish to read further or who couldn't make yesterday's meeting, here are a number of resources to help you out.

• A summary of Robyn's discussion with parents is now available and can be viewed here.
  
• Childnet International offers a variety of resources to support students, teachers and parents. Click here to visit
  
• Digizen hosts a variety of resources including the film Let's Fight It Together used with our older students. Click here to visit
  
• Kidsmart is another good source for support and parental advice and includes an interactive presentation which is a great help. Click here to visit
  
• Symantec also offer a set of resources including a checklist for parents. Click here to visit

Parent Forum

Day Two of Robyn Treyvaud's visit kicked off with an early morning session with the Kellett parents. Over 60 parents gathered in the Auditorium to hear Robyn speak about the experiences of young people today in their online worlds and how they can be supported. She stressed how our students see online as an extension and enhancement of their real-world existence and how it can be used to build upon friendships and relationships rather than replacing them.



She also talked about the importance of connectedness for our pupils and it was clear that much of what she said struck a chord with our parents. Sadly, the session only lasted for 70 minutes. I suspect that most present would have been quite happy to stay and listen to Robyn talk all day!

The initial feedback from the session was very positive;

• "the talk today was fantastic, great lady in tune with parental concerns but still able to talk to children"


• "A very good talk, good update and positive"

Robyn has made the text of her presentation available to parents and these will be ready shortly. She also has a Delicious account where you can access some of her links;

You can access the resources by clicking here.

After the parents had left the Auditorium it was non stop for the rest of the day as Robyn ran four sessions for pupils at KS2 and 3. Yet again she was able to connect so well with students that they discussed their issues honestly and openly. The sessions were also extremely valuable to those members of staff that attended.

Staff were able to listen to Robyn again after school as she reiterated some of the aspects covered in the earlier Parent Forum. Tomorrow morning will be an opportunity for our Educational Support Staff to meet Robyn.

During a series of meetings tomorow key staff will discuss events from the week and plan how we can move forward as a community to come to terms with what Digital Citizenship means.

Creating Resilient Digital Citizens

Digital Citizenship expert Robyn Treyvaud joined us today for the first of three days looking at the challenges and opportunities that face young people today.

After a tour of the school Robyn spent the first part of the morning discussing aspects of Digital Citizenship with staff. We touched upon safe and appropriate conduct, copyright, illegal downloads, cyber-bullying and a myriad of other subjects in a fascinating conversation.


Robyn then spoke to the P3 year group about their experiences using the internet and fleshed out how our students use the net and what issues they are concerned with. Robyn's manner encouraged the children to be reflective and they produced some extremely thought provoking comments, particularly on the subject of pressure from advertisers.

After lunch it was the turn of P4 who discussed a wide range of internet use, including blogging, games playing and illegal downloading. As in the earlier session, staff present were fascinated to hear the extent to which our students are immersed in the net and the types of activities they get up to.

At the end of the day Robyn spoke to the Early Years staff about how they can work with pupils to ensure positive use of the amazing resources available to our students and also discussed Digital Footprints.

A busy but fascinating day! Tomorrow promises to be just as interesting with Robyn starting with a Coffee Morning with Kellett parents, as well as sessions with our older pupils.

More to follow.

Digital Citizenship

Next week promises to be an exciting time at Kellett as we will be joined by Robyn Treyvaud for the first three days of the week.

Robyn is founder of Cyber Safe Kids and is a renowned speaker and trainer on all aspects of Digital Citizenship and the ways young people use the net. During her time at Kellett she will be running sessions for all KS2 and 3 students and working with staff to develop policies and coursework to reinforce her ideas.

She will also be speaking at a special Coffee Morning held on Tues 18th November in our auditorium to which all Kellett parents are invited. She will discuss the issues that face parents and suggest ways of coming to terms with the world in which our young people live.

We look forward to seeing you there!

E-Safety Links

All Key Stage Two classes are now looking at aspects of E-Safety. The older students have been looking at chat rooms and how to avoid problems when using them.

Other year groups are looking at websites that help them to remember safe conduct. Here are a few of the links.

Kidsmart Staying Safe Online

CBBC Safe Surfing

Netsmartz Kids Games

Younger students have also been watching episodes of Hector's World to help them make the right decisions when using computers.

E-Safety

Welcome back to the new school year!

As usual, all classes begin the new year with a look at aspects of E-Safety. We will look at the new Kellett Acceptable User Policy which all students and parents are required to sign. Copies can be found in your school diary - try to read it as soon as possible and explain what it means to your parents!

Students in P5 and P6 will be looking at chatrooms during their lessons and will be taught the guidelines for using these safely. A good starting point for this type of work is the website Chatdanger, which can be viewed here.