Virtual Learning Network

Unfortunately, cyber safety can sometimes fall into the 'hard basket' and there are some easy options out there including Hectors World. I am currently in the process of overhauling this for Terrace End school. Although we have had Hectors World as a guide, I have found it slow to load and not sophisticated enough to engage our older learners. I have decided to create a programme to cover a range of key areas including creative commons - this has been particulary relevant with all of our classes creating entries for the first ever Manawatu Digi Awards. My thoughts are not firm yet but I have been investigating the process other ICT PD clusters have gone through and am wanting to create a user friendly, no nonense approach to this. As a regular user of Facebook I am constantly shocked by the number of young people (often too young to legally be on Facebook) who have no idea about how to keep their personal information safe - including potentially damaging photographs of themselves. To see how many 'friends' a 12 year can collate (many children have 200 or more) suggests that many of these people are in fact strangers and potentially a threat. I will keep updating this blog with my progress and our final cyber safety guidelines/resources as they develop over the coming weeks. How have others tackled this? A generic online programme or something more personal to their school/community?