Running a Brilliant Parent Session on Online Safety Doesn’t Have to be Hard

Educating parents on the latest online trends and safety concerns can be intimidating … and potentially boring. Safeguarding expert Mark Bentley shows how to approach a parent safety session and offers plenty of resources to make it interesting.

Family relaxing with kids and using digital tablet

As a safeguarding team, we’re often posed the question: ‘I’ve been asked to run a parent session on online safety—what should we do?’ These evenings are often intimidating for teachers: how do you ensure parents turn up, and once they’re sitting down, what should you teach them?

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      string(364) "... competence, and combat loneliness, each of which makes individuals less likely to use media pathologically.12 Balance does not mean eliminating media use and it doesn’t necessarily mean reducing media use. Balance is about respecting quality of life, both online and offline. Research on strategies to mitigate problematic use ..."
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      string(5658) "into a destructive preoccupation.9According to Baumeister and colleagues, self-regulation is like a muscle: Exercising it makes it stronger.10 Therefore, exercising self-regulation can improve self-regulation. Some research supports this, finding that strengthening self-regulation helped adolescents with media addiction.11 A balanced approach provides opportunities to exercise self regulation, enhance social competence, and combat loneliness, each of which makes individuals less likely to use media pathologically.12 Balance does not mean eliminating media use and it doesn’t necessarily mean reducing media use. Balance is about respecting quality of life, both online and offline. Research on strategies to mitigate problematic use is limited, but there are several promising approaches to developing a more balanced digital lifestyle. A balanced approach includes: Fostering awareness of media and self Embracing quality media usageSelective single-tasking Carving out times and places to disconnectNurturing relationships and face-to-face conversation Fostering Awareness of Media and SelfKnowledge can be a powerful tool. Gaining awareness of your media habits by, for example, downloading a media-usage app on your phone ‘will give you a baseline and provide some insights into where you spend most of your time’.13 The logic for tracking one’s media use is similar to that of using a pedometer, keeping a food log, or wearing an activity tracker such as a Fitbit: It can help people to be more intentional in their behaviours. Increasing awareness of both behavioural patterns and important goals can positively impact behavioural intentions and behaviour.14For example, after observing minimal productivity during a late-night homework session, a teen might try to do homework immediately before dinner. Similarly, a student could reflect on her productivity when her phone is next to her and when her phone is in another room, then decide whether or how to adjust her homework habits. Experimenting with new ways of doing things and resisting the temptation of old habits requires people to exercise self-regulation, which, as mentioned above, takes practice. Embracing Quality Media Usage It is important to note that media and technology are not a monolith. Time spent with media is often less important than the content that is used or viewed. Gardner and Davis point out that technology can be especially beneficial when used to form deeper relationships, to allow for creativity and exploration, and to explore identity.15 There is a difference between spending hours using technology to create digital worlds, hone photography or music skills, or engage in meaningful discussions of important issues (the authors refer to this as ‘app-enabling’) and being a passive consumer of content, or using tech as a way to distance oneself from social relationships (‘app-dependence’). A healthy digital lifestyle could and should include thoughtful and intentional uses of technology. Also, since one of adolescents’ major developmental tasks is to individuate from their parents, gaining peer group approval and spending time with friends is even more essential.16 Many youth lack the means to spend as much face-to-face time with their friends as they would desire (or even need). They may lack access to public transit, cars, or the money to pay for fares or gasoline. They may lack time due to after-school activities, homework, or household chores. In all of these cases, media solve the problem—they help youth connect to one another, bridging distance and time.17 Youth can learn some social skills from interacting in mediated contexts. Indeed, some social skills exclusively apply to mediated contexts (such as ‘netiquette’). Youth also can build meaningful friendships with peers they meet online and use mediated communication to deepen relationships with peers they meet offline.18 Therefore, going online can be a means to enhance social competence and combat loneliness. Selective Single-Tasking Once multitasking becomes a habit, doing one thing at a time, or ‘single-tasking’, can be difficult. People can facilitate their transitions from frequently multitasking to more judiciously multitasking by employing some aids. For example, to decrease interruptions, people can adjust the settings on their phones and computers to prohibit push notifications (e.g., pop-ups, sounds, and/or vibrations that signal ‘news’). If they do choose to keep these notifications on, people can assign discrete sounds to various types of correspondence. A chime, for example, might announce an incoming text from a family member, while a buzz might indicate an update to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. People can decide whether to check their phones based on the type of sound instead of responding to every alert. During key times when people know they need to focus, they might benefit from using software designed to limit distractions. Various software can ‘pause’ incoming email, send ‘away messages’ to would-be correspondents, prevent Internet access, and block specified websites. Users can practice media-related discipline by setting personal boundaries. 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Digital Learning

Countering the Dark Side of Tech: Encouraging Healthy Media Habits

6 Nov 2018

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      string(342) "... Reduction (MBSR) as the basic criteria before further development of skills and CPD. (17)  However with new technology e.g. online classes, implementing mindfulness doesn’t have to be costly or time consuming and can be as simple as the example from Wellington School below.One of the Longest Running ..."
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      string(5695) "capabilities. Implementation in schoolsSuccessful implementation requires a whole school approach to create the culture, climate and conditions for resilience of children to flourish. Schools need to consider how to link their culture and values to a mindful approach to wellness and nurturing students and how that can be embedded within policy and practice.  An isolated instance of a teacher working with one class is less effective than a whole school approach which everyone in the school community support, including parents and all the staff. As is inevitable in an emerging subject, best practice is in its infancy.  There is considerable experimentation and debate in the UK around the appropriate formats, teaching methods and best practices for children.Schools may consider training for teachers to deliver Mindfulness lessons, however, TA’s are playing an increasing role in ‘nurturing’ children and are also likely to need skills to deliver meditations on a one – one basis.Most teacher training courses will require attendance of a substantial 8-10 week course around Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) as the basic criteria before further development of skills and CPD. (17)  However with new technology e.g. online classes, implementing mindfulness doesn’t have to be costly or time consuming and can be as simple as the example from Wellington School below.One of the Longest Running Mindfulness Programs at Wellington School‘Daily stillness’ was introduced by Sir Anthony Seldon (12,19) during his Headship at Wellington School which involved two-minute “stillness” periods each day – a time for silent reflection.  Pupils aged 13-to-15 also had a weekly 15-minute stillness session led by their teacher.  In an article for the Telegraph(19) he said;“Schools had a duty to give pupils time to think free of daily work, mobile phones and the internet.  With the decline in religious assemblies, the chance to be quiet and reflect during the school day is being lost, at a time when it is needed more than ever as young people experience increasingly frantic pressure in their lives.  This is severely damaging to the mental health of young people.  Rates of depression and anxiety amongst children are a looming crisis in our schools, affecting those in our classrooms, our staffrooms and their families.  Mindfulness or meditation has been shown to be an invaluable tool to help bolster young people’s resilience to psychological stress. It also boosts concentration, depth of thought, happiness and achievement. It is the most simple and natural technique to learn – indeed it is not really a technique at all.  It is all about being yourself, making the most of yourself, and making the most of the opportunities that life presents to you. It promotes trusting relationships, healthy living and psychological and emotional security.”Barriers to ImplementationThe main barriers continue to be finding resilience focused, accessible, affordable mindfulness courses and tools aimed at pupils including those with special educational needs that can be implemented without major demands on teachers’ already heavy workload and time, within a realistic timeframe.  To become “an experienced” practitioner, let alone teacher, can take several years of sustained personal commitment well beyond formal training. There is on going debate around the best way to train teachers. Further development is also needed of online practice resources for children, their parents and teachers to support home practice and a 360 degree approach to tackling the wider influences on wellness and resilience.  However, no link has been found so far between the amount of practice outside of school and gains in wellbeing. (18)Pointers Towards Best Practice A whole school approach fosters the most likely chance of successful implementation and positive outcomes, where culture and values are linked to a mindful approach to wellness and nurturing students, where the culture and values are embedded within policy and practice.It might require leaders within schools to encourage social and emotional skills, such as patience and understanding, confidence, self belief, positivity, happiness, tolerance and compassion.  Not just with the pupils and students but staff also.To facilitate a whole school approach, training on mindfulness and the mindfulness culture really needs to be included as part of the induction programme for all staff.  Staff could also be provided with professional development opportunities to extend and develop their understanding of mindfulness.  This doesn’t have to be time consuming or costly, if using online tools or local mindfulness groups, however, longer more certified courses are available such as the 8-10 week MBSR course or university programs. 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Resilience

A Mindful Approach to Resilience in Children

20 Jun 2017

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      string(5658) "XXVI WINTER2007Handheld conference reviewNew productLAUNCHESThe handheld conference boasted some big-name sponsors and someremarkable new products specifically tailored for the education sector. Here wepresent a selection of new offerings at the showRedHaloSouth Korean company Samsung announceda new product line that has been speciallydeveloped for the education market. DubbedRedHalo, the ‘next generation’ managed-learning platform for mobile devices, willprovide an absolutely free 1GB online personallearning space for every primary andsecondary school student in the UK.RedHalo is a free, ultra-secure, personallearning space that can be used by studentsfor online collaboration with educators andother learners. RedHalo Platform Edition is aninternet-based mobile solution, allowinglearners to access their learning space anytime,anywhere and on anything.Any Internet-capable device can be used withRedHalo, meaning that learners can use thedevices they already own from smartphones,entertainment devices like Nintendo Wii,Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, to PDAs and UMPCs.This is what RedHalo calls ‘learning while mobile’.The learners are mobile and their digital learningmaterials and work follows them and isaccessible wherever they go on whicheverdevice is most relevant to the task in hand.Educators can distribute materials to the learningspaces and review those they have access to.RedHalo can be upgraded to thePro Edition for a small annual feewhich increases the size of thePersonal Learning Space from1Gb to 5Gb, provides additionalsecurity features and a bundleof software for either WindowsMobile, XP or Vista-baseddevices.Also launched bySamsung is RedActivity, acomplete environment forlearners to create entireprojects with a variety ofdigital media includingwebsites, photos, videos,text, spreadsheets, thoughtmaps and audio recordings.RedActivity takes all theseelements and builds a simplewebpage that creates a visual mapof the project, explaining how theelements relate to each other. Byholding everything in a ‘container ’RedActivity ensures that none of the projectelements gets lost and a reviewer no longerneeds to hunt for computer files. Website:www.redhalo.comXXVIIWINTER2007Handheld conference reviewAsus MinibookUK education technology specialist RM (formerlyknown as Research Machines) has teamed upwith Asus to unveil a new 850g handheldcomputer for schools called the RM AsusMinibook, which costs just £199 and runsapplications like Firefox and OpenOffice on theLinux operating system. During a productshowcase session at the conference, thecompanies explained that the RM Asus Minibookis aimed at students who need a laptop for taskssuch as instant messaging and emailing, as wellas web-browsing and word processing. Theminibook also plays videos and MP3s.Smaller than a A5 pad (perfect for schoolbags) and coupled with a host of featuresincluding a solid-state drive and webcam, thisdevice has a low-resolution (800 x 480) 7 inchscreen, integrated card reader, integratedmicrophone, speakers, wireless, 3 full-size USBports, VGA out port and optional 3G module.The solid-state hard drive (SSD) has a capacityof 2GB or 4GB, but no moving parts, so it isrobust enough to handle the knocks andbashes children are likely to subject it to.Booting up in just 15 seconds, the minibookhas a simple interface designed to be easy forchildren to find their way around. Thekeyboard, whilst small, does go right to theedges of the case and is fairly comfortable touse. The bespoke version of Linux running onthe miniBook is very Windows-like, and the UIcan be set to a simplified, child-friendly userinterface, as well as to the more Windows-likeadvanced UIs.In his speech, RM’s chief executive TimPearson showed a graph of increasingfunctionality – from a simple mobile phoneto a desktop PC running Windows. ‘Appliances’,he said, were products like phones, smartphones and Nokia’s Internet Table, whilst‘computers’ were ultra-mobiles, laptops anddesktops. The Asus Minibook has beendesigned to bridge the gap between the two.So when the MiniBook is shipped runningLinux, it’s an appliance, and when it’s runningWindows XP, it’s a computer. However, if RMoffers an XP version, they will almost certainlysupport it as an XP system, said Tim.According to Tim, a typical secondary schoolruns about 250 applications, includingspecialist programs for music and video.However, 90% of educational needs can besatisfied by an appliance such as the MiniBook,with its built-in web browser and office suite.He said: ‘If you’ve got a fixed level offunctionality, it doesn’t matter what theoperating system is. How many of the peoplewho have a BlackBerry know or care which OSit runs?’ Website: www.rm.com/FE/ActivexpressionPromethean introduced Activexpression, a newstudent-response system. Prometheandeveloped the product to provide studentswith a variety of ways to respond – throughwords, phrases, symbols, and numbers – andinstantly share combined results with theentire class. With Activexpression, they cancreate quizzes and polls spontaneously,without prior preparation, and the softwareincluded also provides a question master,which allows for the creation of questionbanks using the full-range of response types:Multiple Choice, True/False, Y/N, MultipleResponse, Put in Order, Gap Fill words, LikertScales, Confidence Checking andAlphanumeric response.Activexpression extends the existing scope ofPromethean’s Activote product, which is alreadypopular with teachers and students because ofits ease of use. While the Activote"
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Digital Learning

New Product Launches

13 Jan 2008

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      string(371) "... concepts, including algorithms, binary numbers,error detection and data compression without the need forany sort of programming skill. The activities are fun, interactiveand do a brilliant job of simplifying very complicated concepts– perfect for use with primary-age pupils and, with someadaptations, in CPD sessions to train teachers.All the ..."
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      string(5640) "3-4http://teachinglondoncomputing.org/http://barefootcas.org.uk/http://www.cs4fn.orge-learning74Volume6.1nCreativeTeaching&LearningTeach Primary Computing presents a step-by-step guide tounderstanding, planning, delivering and assessing the newKS1 and 2 programmes of study for computing. It’s anothersite designed and supported by Computing At School, sothere will be some overlap with the aforementioned BarefootComputing Project and QuickStart Computing, but there areplenty of additional resources and guidance to support allprimary teachers – newbies and experts alike.To help less experienced teachers get to grips with the newcurriculum, the ‘Getting Started’ tab provides a download linkto CAS’s fantastic curriculum guide and a video overview fromrenowned teacher trainer Miles Berry, and encourages you tojoin the Computing At School community. I’d recommenddoing so – you’ll need to be logged in to access the majorityof resources on this site. From here also, you can access anexploration of computer science in relation to its previousincarnation, ICT, and a detailed and helpful explanation ofthe key curriculum concepts: algorithms, data representation,programming and computational thinking.The resources section is very slick, with documents andactivities categorised according to the KS1 and 2 curriculumstatements. The activities have been collated from the CAScommunity and other CAS projects. It’s a useful compilation,as, with more than 3000 resources, the CAS community canfeel rather overwhelming to browse. Aside from the topic-related activities, this page also features materials relevant tothe whole curriculum, including an example scheme of work, aseries of e-safety scenarios for children to act out and exploreresolutions to, a helpful glossary of key computing terms, anda fun analogy to explain the difference between the internetand the web. You’ll also find a great deal of informationon planning and assessment, including a planning FAQ,answering questions related to developing a comprehensiveand balanced curriculum; a detailed assessment framework,showing what pupils’ progress might look like in practicalterms; and links to the CAS Progression Pathways, includingdigital badges to award pupils as they progress.A simple and appealing website, CS Unplugged is a collectionof free learning activities that use cards, string, crayons and lotsof running around to teach computer science. The activitiesare for use with pupils aged five to 12 and introduce a rangeof computing concepts, including algorithms, binary numbers,error detection and data compression without the need forany sort of programming skill. The activities are fun, interactiveand do a brilliant job of simplifying very complicated concepts– perfect for use with primary-age pupils and, with someadaptations, in CPD sessions to train teachers.All the activities are available in book form as a freedownload, or individually as separate web pages. Eachactivity page features a download of the instructions and therequired resources, plus some background information on thesignificance of each activity to teaching computer science.You’ll also find a number of related resources, websites andactivities from around the web, plus a selection of photos andvideos, if available, showing teachers how the activities work.Some of the activities are available in other languages also.Highlights include: a pretend Turing test, in which one pupilanswers questions as a computer, another as themselves – ahuman – and the others try to work out which one is which;a magic trick, in which the ‘magician’ figures which one outof three dozen cards has been turned over, using the samemethods computers use to figure out if an error has occurredin data storage; a whole-class game of battleships to helpchildren understand the quick and efficient ways computerssearch large collections of data; and a text compressionactivity in which pupils compress a selection of poems andstories according to repeated letters, words and phrases. Alsoworth a watch, if you have the time, is the hour-long video,‘Computer Science Unplugged – The Show’. This is a game-show style presentation, which demonstrates to teachershow the topic of computer science might be introduced inan interactive, entertaining way.CS Unplugged(csunplugged.org) Key Stages 1-3Teach Primary Computing(www.teachprimarycomputing.org.uk) Key Stages 1-2http://csunplugged.org/http://www.teachprimarycomputing.org.ukVolume6.1nCreativeTeaching&Learning75e-learningDigital literacy is an important part of the new computingcurriculum, and Digital Passport is a very useful way tointroduce children to some of the basics. You’ll need to registerfor a teacher account and upload a list of pupils, but this isfree and easy to do. Once you’ve done this, the site will assigneach child a username and password which they’ll use to login and complete the modules independently.There are five modules in total, exploring digital etiquette,privacy, cyberbullying, online searches and proper attributionof creative credit. Each module includes a mixture of digitaland offline activities, which pupils can work through at theirown pace or as a group. For example, the ‘Search’ modulebegins with a class game, in which pupils identify popularchildren’s books from a selection of useful (and not-so-useful)keywords. They then log in to Digital Passport, watch a videoand play an independent game, operating a ‘search shark’who has an appetite for only the best keywords that swimaround him. The"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Connected computing

3 Dec 2015