The online safety MOOC aims to empower primary and secondary teachers and give them a better understanding of the opportunities, risks and challenges presented to children and young people, and their parents and teachers, in the online world of the 21st century. Teachers will learn about a variety of topics such as media literacy, cyber bullying, online relationships, sexting, online hate speech and radicalization, and will be provided with high-quality resources to address these issues.
Online safety is an integral part of what schools need to be teaching in 2017. It encompasses a wide range of issues and affects staff, pupils, parents and the wider school community. As more and more schools embrace technology as a tool to support learning, it is important that staff and pupils alike understand how to use it safely and responsibly.
Research suggests that 57 per cent of young people think that their friends engage in risky behaviours online1, which demonstrates the need to address this in schools.
Participants will gain a better understanding of the current risks and challenges that young people face when they go online. They will discuss strategies for supporting young people and helping them to develop safe and responsible behaviours when they go online. A wide range of resources that can be used in schools will be provided, and participants will be also asked to share their own experiences, challenges and successes.
Key Objectives:
• To understand the challenges, risks and benefits for young people when using the internet and online technologies.
• To understand the importance of maintaining a positive online reputation and some strategies for managing this effectively.
• To raise awareness of, and signpost to, resources for teaching online safety in schools.
• To raise awareness of the Better Internet for Kids strategy and Insafe network, as part of the network of Safer Internet Centres (SICs) in Europe, and associated resources.
The Better Internet for Kids (BIK) portal provides a wide range of support for teachers and other stakeholders when trying to tackle online safety issues and the MOOC will offer opportunities to discover some of the resources available in a wide range of languages from national Safer Internet Centres.
