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

Thursday 26th January 10.15 - 10.45:

Safe Secondary - Peer Learning For Digital Wellbeing

Secondary Pupils talk about staying safe online

Free Workshop at the Nominet Trust Dome

Peer education and project-based learning are the most effective way to develop digital wellbeing and employability skills in young people. Discuss.

We will introduce our new Nominet Trust-funded programme where older students teach younger ones about social influence, reputation management and digital footprint. Then they work to solve real-world problems using social media.

Come along to tell us what you think find out how you can help shape this exciting new programme supported by Facebook, Microsoft, Radiowaves, NAACE, The Schools Network and the United Learning Trust.

www.safesocialnetworking.org

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

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

Highlights from S2R

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 the profound learner impact of this multi award-winning London 2012 project and learn how your students can take part.

You will find out about S2R Badging, an innovative Mozilla-backed way to reward and evidence the 21st Century skills learnt through the project. Badging is a new approach to recognising not just ‘hard skills’ but in-demand ‘soft skills’ like collaboration and coaching.

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

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

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

Preview to Lesson 1.1 Setting up a Safe Profile tutorial

Free Workshop at the Nominet Trust Dome

Social media stars from Buckingham School show us the skills and enjoyment they’ve got from this hands-on programme in safe social networking. Teachers explain how this positive digital project prepares pupils for the social web, through fun media creation.

Safe has a unique take on social media in schools. We believe that its safe and enjoyable use should be encouraged and taught in the classroom - sometimes by young people themselves.

You will find out how to take part in Safe for free, joining over 1,000 other schools who are working towards the Safe Award.

We will also be giving away a Safe Teacher Pack for free during the session!

www.safesocialnetworking.org

Other Free Workshops at Learning Without Frontiers

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 27th January 13.15 - 13.45 Supporter To Reporter (S2R): The Youth Reporting Team for London 2012

Social networking and sharing content are becoming an integral part of family life. They provide enormous opportunities to develop creative, critical thinking and communication skills at home, school and in the workplace. Safe Family, developed by the creators of Safe - the Certificate in Social Networking, has been launched for Safer Internet Day, 7th February 2012.

Safe Family Activities

Inspired by the theme ‘Connecting Generations’, Safe Family Activities encourage people of all ages to share their experiences of staying safe through completing practical tasks together on social networks.

Families can complete the activities at home by downloading the resources from the Safe Family website and using simple on line tools to create profiles, blogs and comments. Schools and libraries will host Safe Family learning sessions for children, parents and grandparents;  connecting the generations to help each other stay safe online. The activities are perfect for people new to social networks, both young and old - so get connecting!

Safe Family Activities include:
1. Create a Safe Profile
2. Get Blogging!
3. Connect and Comment
On completion of activities, families can register & download the ‘Connecting Generations 2012’ Safe Family Certificate.

We are looking for Schools and Libraries around the UK to take part by hosting and inviting families along to complete the activities! The first 10 Schools and Libraries to register for Safe Family and quote the promo code 'SIDFamily2012' will receive free Safe Posters to promote your Safe Family event.

To sign up to Safe Family and download the Activities, go to www.safesocialnetworking.org/family

If you have already registered for Safe, please email safe@digitalme.co.uk and quote the promo code 'SIDFamily2012'.

Join Safe

Safe is the Certificate in Safe Social Networking and is an easy to follow programme of practical activities for schools. Pupils learn the basics of using social networks and progress to creating their own media and understanding about their ‘digital footprint’. Safe is mapped to the KS2 ICT curriculum and is a perfect match for schools wanting to cover e-safety under their general safeguarding responsibilities. To sign up to Safe go towww.safesocialnetworking.org . If you need a moderated social media platform for your school to run your Safe activities, Radiowaves is the perfect match. To sign up to Radiowaves go to www.radiowaves.co.uk/join

Safer Internet Day 2012 – Connecting Generations

Safer Internet Day 2012 is celebrated worldwide and this year is an opportunity to encourage users young and old to "discover the digital world together safely". An inspirational array of activity is taking place nationwide, coordinated by the UK Safer
Internet Centre (www.saferinternet.org.uk), with all activities focusing attention on empowering all generations to safely benefit from the opportunities that the internet offers.

For further information on national activities taking place for Safer Internet Day, please visit www.saferinternet.org.uk

Social networking and sharing content are an integral part of young people’s lives. They provide enormous opportunities to develop creative, critical thinking and communication skills in ways relevant to them - in school, at home and for their future workplace.

Background – Safe Levels 1 & 2
In 2010 DigitalMe began working with a small group of primary schools, testing a new approach to teaching children aged 7-11 the skills they need to enjoy age-appropriate social networking and stay safe online. Children learnt by doing, completing real social networking challenges in a secure and moderated environment.

Safe levels 1 and 2 certificates covered the basics of social networking, from creating profiles and blogging to connecting, sharing and commenting. Key messages were embedded in each activity, encouraging children to consider what information they were sharing, with whom and where.

With support from the Nominet Trust the project grew from a small pilot to a network of over 1,000 primary schools in the first year. Although designed for a primary age group, secondary schools began to use Safe levels 1 & 2 with their Year 7s (11-12yrs).

Safe Secondary Levels 3 & 4 pilot
In 2011 we interviewed young people (aged 13-18) from the SSAT Student Digital Leaders 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 digital 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 how students use social media and future career opportunities
-How to recognise and build currency around social media skills the students develop
-How to deepen teachers’ experience so that they can confidently explore the potential of using social media more widely for learning

We have designed two strands of activities to address these challenges which we now want to pilot in a new project funded by the Nominet Trust.

1. Safe Level 3 - Student Mentors
Older students (aged 13+) mentor younger students through their Safe Levels 1 & 2 at school and online, cementing their own knowledge and gaining skills in leadership, communication and assessment. Students awarded with Safe Level 3 by their teacher on completion.

2. DigitalMe Award (Safe Level 4) - Social Media for Change
Students design and implement a social media campaign from a charity or business brief, gaining the life and work skills of creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, communication and digital literacy. The project will develop students' understanding of social influence, reputation management and the application of social media to real-world problems. Tools used in the project will include social media platforms, web page design, forms and analytics. Students will be awarded with The DigitalMe Award (Safe Level 4) by their teacher on completion.

How does a school get involved in the Safe Secondary Pilot Project?

Safe Secondary will run as an open pilot with any school welcome to take part anywhere, with resources available to download from the Safe website as they are developed. However, we want to work closely with ten schools (five testing Safe Level 3 and five testing the DigitalMe Award - Safe Level 4) over the spring / summer 2012 terms. They must be willing to:
-Commit to taking one class through the activities
-Be visited by the DigitalMe / Safe team to meet students and management
-Feed into the development of teacher and student resources via Skype sessions
-Use social media in the classroom
-Release the lead staff member on the Pilot Project to attend two out of school training / feedback days

In return, we will be able to offer you the following:
-Supported activities in Safe Secondary Level 3 & 4 pilot project by DigitalMe team
-Free Safe Membership (usually £249 p.a.) including Safe School Award, DVD tutorials, Safe Resource Pack for Levels 1,2, 3 & 4, e-newsletter for parents
-CPD opportunities for staff
-A case study of your involvement in the Safe Secondary pilot project

Places are limited and we are also able to support a limited number of international schools who will be supported online.

If you are interested in taking part, please complete the application below before December 19th 2011.

https://digitalme.wufoo.com/forms/safe-pilot-project-levels-3-4-application-form

Information on Safe levels 1 & 2

We look forward to your application and if you have any further questions, please feel free to contact the DigitalMe Safe team.

Contact Us

Tel: 0113 245 6445

Email: safe@digitalme.co.uk

Safe Secondary is supported by the Nominet Trust

In October 2010 DigitalME Launched the Safe Social Networking Certificate. Social networking and sharing content online is now an integral part of young people's lives. It provides many opportunities for them to develop creative and communication skills in ways that are relevant to them, in school or at home.

However, with these new opportunities come many new choices. How do we help children make positive and informed choices when creating and sharing online?

Safe aims to provide practical activities and a framework to help pupils develop as aware and active digital citizens. Safe is designed for primary school pupils ages 7-11 and there a two levels to complete,  which cover activities such as creating a safe username and password, blogging, making and sharing media and much more.We’ve had a successful first year with over 1,000 primary schools signing up to complete Safe.

The online world is constantly changing, so we’ve been working hard to update all our resources, as well as creating more support documents and new extension activities.

On Monday 17th October you will be able to download the new resources from the Safe website. We are also pleased to announce that we will be launching a new Safe project for secondary schools in the near future.

The Nominet Trust has once again supported DigitalMe's aim of equipping pupils with the skills and knowledge to safely use social networks and social media.

These latest resources will allow secondary aged pupils to use the knowledge they already have of social networks to teach and mentor younger pupils online, as well looking at how social media skills can be used in their future careers.

We will be looking for schools to pilot Safe Secondary, so if you are interested in taking part, please email safe@digitalme.co.uk and register here to keep up to date with the latest news.

Online safety and privacy belong on the same coin. How are we to protect our under-13s from dark forces, the predators and bullies as well as the people who just love to know everything about our children – so they can sell all kinds of ideas and stuff to them.

We do need sound advice from people who live and breathe in the socio-legal waters around these issues in the UK – and further afield.

That means asking ourselves questions about online privacy and having these discussed, answered and developed. We asked Robert Bond, expert in international privacy law to help and he kindly agreed so please do put your concerns and questions to him via comment at the end of this blog post. That way everyone should benefit.

At DigitalME, we know that what drives the value of social media is, in a word, data. Our search histories, social networking interactions, location, web visits and cookies feed algorithms which in turn connect us to others, shape our search results and enable advertisers to target us with ‘super niche’ adverts in webmail, social media spaces and websites we visit.

For this very reason, some people argue that social media is corrosive, effectively eroding our privacy in ways that we do not fully understand. This argument leads to campaigns for tighter restrictions. On the opposite side of the debate, others point towards the potential of social learning and ‘The Semantic Web’ which will require an even greater flow of data and perhaps a redefinition of how we view privacy to enable computers to use our data to enrich our lives and our learning.

What if the same industrial efforts were invested into learning, enabling children to discover super niche information to enrich their investigations and engage in social learning with other students internationally? Imagine how much more fluid, relevant and motivating this form of learning could be.

Whatever your perspective, as educators if we are to explore the potential of social learning we need to understand the current laws governing data and privacy and how or if we should protect children’s data.

This is where Robert comes in. He is an expert in international privacy law and so can help us untangle the complex lexicon of international law by answering your questions.

We’re inviting all of you – educators, not-for-profits, business people, parents and children – to put your questions to Robert via the comments box at the end of this post and he will respond.

Robert works for Speechly Bircham has more than 30 years’ experience people on of their commercial IP, technology and data protection requirements. He specialises in data, technology and information law and has market-leading expertise in a number of specialist sectors including computer games and digital media where he is an acknowledged industry expert.

If that’s a little scary, try not to worry! Robert has a keen interest in protecting children when they go online and would really enjoy answering any questions you have.

 
The i In Online. Robert Bond Profile

Related Articles for starters:

Facebook Age Debate

How Google personalises everybody’s search results

The Semantic Web

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We know at Childnet from our education outreach work, where we go into to primary and secondary schools across the country, that there are many under 13s on Facebook. Some are using it with and some without their parents consent and guidance, and in our work with parents, we see that many are not aware of the age requirement. Research, such as the EU Kids Online II study, reveal the extent of this under age use, with 1 in 5 9-12s having a Facebook profile, and a significant increase identifiable at the age when children start secondary school at 11.

Does the fact that so many under 13s are using Facebook make it a reason to lower the age requirement? Would lowering or removing this age requirement mean that children would then be honest about the age they declare when they register for the service, and in turn help them to be better protected? Would removing the age requirement make it harder for parents to influence the age their children start using these services? The debate is a useful one to have and helps to focus on the potential benefits and the potential risks of this service to children of a younger age.

The age requirement comes from a US law made prior to the advent of Facebook and social networking that prohibits companies from collecting personal data from under 13s without parental consent. In some ways then, this age requirement can seem a bit arbitrary, as it does not follow an assessment of the suitability of a particular service/s for children of particular ages. And children are different. They develop at different speeds and have different interests, and clearly turning 13 does not mean that a child is automatically able and equipped to use the service safely and responsibly.

As it happens, Facebook, in its current format, is not designed for under 13s. A look at the extent and complexity of the Privacy Settings illustrates this, but also when one looks at online services which are targeted at younger children, you can see features which have been designed to provide a ‘safer’ environment in which children can first engage in such an online community. Such features can include moderation and moderators, and making parental consent a part of the service (and thus being compliant with COPPA, the US law), as well as parental involvement in the choices relating to the service their child is using. To use Tanya Byron’s swimming pool analogy, it is the shallow end, where children are learning how to swim in a more controlled environment, before they start accessing the deep end.

Equipping children to use such services in a way that they can keep themselves safe as well as their peers and others in their community is a vital part of the work we do. Whatever age children start using technology and online services, and this includes social networking, they need to know how to use this safely and responsibly, and with mobile access on an incredible rise, this knowledge becomes ever more important. There are potential risks, and it is important that children and young people are aware and have the skills to navigate these environments and that they know what to do if things go wrong and they feel uncomfortable or in difficulty. This needs to start before children are 13, not just because under 13s are using these services, but because we need to prepare children for these services before they start using them.

Official Facebook Age Debate

Riversdale Pupils interview Will Gardner, CEO of Childnet International