DigitalMe is in the early stages of piloting Safe Secondary; The Certificate in Safe Social Networking for key stages 3 and 4, where students will learn through teaching their peers and creating their own social media project.

One question which stayed with us throughout the development of Safe Secondary is:

How can you teach e-safety to young people with high levels of digital literacy? 

This question inspired the decision to include peer education as an important element of the programme.

A priority during our Safe Secondary Pilot Day was to discuss peer education with young people and gather their opinions on the subject. Watch the video to find out what they think about teaching online safety and social media skills to their peers.

For more information about Safe Secondary visit www.safesocialnetworking.org/secondary

Safe is Funded by the Nominet Trust.

In 2011, we interviewed young people (aged 13-18) about their views on
e-safety education, reputation management and career opportunities using their social media expertise.

This research highlighted three challenges:

- How to teach e-safety to young people with a high level of digital literacy

- How to ensure that children transitioning from primary to secondary get a foundation in basic social networking safety education

- How to make the connection between students using social media and their future career opportunities

We are in the early stages of designing the Safe Secondary Programme which will enable students to learn about safe social networking through practical activities such as teaching their peers and creating their own social media project.

To help us, we want to know how your school is using social media. Do you have a Facebook page? Do your students blog? Would you like to use social media more in lessons?

Leave a comment below and let us know how you are using social media.

For more information about Safe Secondary visit www.safesocialnetworking.org/secondary 

Last week saw schools, families and communities around the UK connecting online and learning about e-safety on Safer Internet Day.
 
We provided free activities for Safe Social Networking. www.safesocialnetworking.org/family
 
Libraries, Schools, Families and other organisations from around the UK signed up.
 
Buckingham Primary School even hosted their own Safe Family event. Parents and children came along for a morning session to learn about choosing a safe username and password, creating a profile and how to write a great blog.
 
It is not to late to host an Safe Family event, or complete the activities in your own home. Sign up to access the free resources here www.safesocialnetworking.org/family
 
Here's one of our favourite things from the day. Radiowaves (The Safe Social Network for Schools) ran a blog writing competition for pupils.

A pupil from Dairsie Primary wrote a fantastic

"S afer Internet day is just a way of showin'
T hat you can go away from just not knowin'!
A nd you can show your responsible on
Y our computers!

S urely you'll love it
A ll the kids do! It's
F or everyone
E ven you!

Use this rap
And take the tips
If you don't
You could even slip!"

Find out more about Safer Internet Day here: www.saferinternet.org

Last Thursday saw the start of the 92 club relay: http://www.92clubrelay.org.uk/ for 'Always a Chance' at Northampton Town FC. 

Always A Chance is running the 92 club relay to fundraise for the fight against violence.

The event will see thousands of people taking part in a relay to all 92 football league grounds in the country. Individuals and organisations representing every walk of life will gain sponsorship to run, cycle, free run, skateboard, unicycle, rollerblade, swim or use any other man powered means possible to complete one leg of the journey.

Our S2R Reporters were there to cover the start of the event.

Find out about their experiences here

The relay will be staged over 12 weeks between February and April 2012 and will cover a staggering 2200 miles across England and Wales. We are hoping our reporters can cover the event all over the UK including our S2R Leyton Reporters.

Find out more information here

Follow Always a Chance and 92 Club Relay on Twitter: @AlwaysaChance @92ClubRelay

On Safer Internet Day 2012 we are calling for schools to embrace social media. Educators have the power to instil social networking safety in young people, by bringing these technologies inside the school gates. If we do, we can help children enjoy to their online life, teach them to look after themselves and explore with them how social networks can inspire new learning. See our full piece on Merlin John's website.

Last week, pupils from Buckingham Primary School attended the Learning Without Frontiers Conference 2012.

After presenting at the Nominet Trust Dome about Safe Social Networking, two of the pupils had the fantastic opportunity to talk to Dame Ellen McArthur.

While preparing their questions, they listened in on Ellen's speech. She talked about her dream - her dream to sail around the world. When you are young no dream seems impossible, which is what spurred Ellen on to complete hers. She discussed with the delegates about how she felt after her dream came true - "What next?"

Watch the video to find out what Ellen told our young reporters.

The Ellen McArthur Foundation.

Ellen MacArthur - Learning & The Circular Economy

We've just had a fantastic couple of days at Learning Without Frontiers, mixing with like-minded people who want to create the best learning experiences.

Among many highlights:
- Hanging out with our friends and supporters the Nominet Trust in our Experience Pod and having great conversations with so many schools, local authorities and education innovators about Safe and S2R.

- Coffee with our friends Mark and Michelle from the Mozilla Foundation – we’re hoping to collaborate on their Open Badges initiative.

- Sharing ideas with Nesta, Whole Education and others.

- Our young reporters from Buckingham School and Catmose College bringing energy, skills and fun. They co-presented, vox-popped delegates and quizzed speakers such as Dame Ellen Macarthur, Dr Paul Howard-Jones and Charles Leadbeater

- Inspiring talks by the likes of Noam Chomsky and Ellen Macarthur.

Take a look at our reporters’ film “What was your best learning experience?”

And here’s a wonderful view of the LWF12 experience from princess star: 
https://www.radiowaves.co.uk/blog/335436/icantbelieveititwassofun

DigitalMe are excited about being at Learning Without Frontiers, 25th-26th January at London Olympia. We're joining educators, technologists, policy-makers and thinkers to learn, create and talk about the future of learning. We'll be in the Nominet Dome a the LWF Festival, as well as roaming around the conference.

Our big question right now is 'What should ICT education look like?' Our young reporters will be asking delegates what they think. And we'll be proposing answers of our own, in the form of our Safe and S2R programmes.

Find out Buckingham Primary School Pupils thoughts on ICT Education here

We'll be showcasing both projects each day, showing how they:

-Embrace technology
-Use the learner's own technology expertise
-Promote 'learning by doing'
-Give young people the all skills they need to thrive in the Digital Society

Free Workshops

Come along to the Nominet Dome at the free LWF Festival to see our projects in action and join the discussion:

Wednesday 25th January 11.00 - 11.30 Safe - The Certificate in Safe Social Networking

Wednesday 25th January 13.55 - 14.25 Supporter to Reporter (S2R) & Open Badging

Thursday 26th January 10.15 - 10.45 Safe Secondary - Peer Learning For Digital Wellbeing

Thursday 26th January 13.15 - 13.45 Supporter To Reporter (S2R): The Youth Reporting Team for London 2012

Thursday 26th January 13.15 - 13.45:

Supporter To Reporter (S2R) - The Youth Reporting Team for London 2012

Highlights from Catmose College S2R Team

Free Workshop at the Nominet Trust Dome

S2R is a highly-acclaimed national project where young sports reporters create video, audio and blogs from grassroots games and world finals. They gain confidence, skills and workplace know-how through an empowering new way of learning - their social media expertise and creativity are at the centre.

You will see young journalists from Catmose College demonstrate the amazing opportunities they’ve had, the impact in their school and how you can take part in this multi award-winning project.

You will hear about S2R’s incredible journey to the London 2012 Olympics & Paralympics, where reporters will cover the Games from around the country and the venues themselves...

www.radiowaves.co.uk/s2r

Other Free Workshops at Learning Without Frontiers

Wednesday 25th January 11.00 - 11.30 Safe - The Certificate in Safe Social Networking

Wednesday 25th January 13.55 - 14.25 Supporter to Reporter (S2R) & Open Badging

Thursday 26th January 10.15 - 10.45 Safe Secondary - Peer Learning For Digital Wellbeing