Part of the requirement of my University’s computing course is to stay up to date when it comes to trends pertinent to the subject (as is the case with any subject, actually). There are two examples of lessons we as teachers must be aware of from the recent news.
The first is the Katie Hopkins libel case. I will not go into too much detail here, but essentially, she said some untruths in quite a hurtful way about a food blogger. This food blogger took her to court, arguing that defamation of character had taken place, and Ms Hopkins was ordered to pay a substantial sum of money in damages. This case illustrates that we must be responsible about what we say on Social Media, as we would be with the spoken word. A computer screen is not something you can hide behind. The second example of e-safety issues in the news is this story about “Blue Whale”, a suicide game behind the deaths of hundreds of teenagers, mostly in Eastern Europe. The game, according to this article, “encourages at-risk participants to take part in a series of tasks like cutting themselves every day for 50 days”. Obviously, this is a massive concern, particularly at the top end of Primary School, where children may be more impressionable to material on the internet (combined with less rigorous checking from parents). We must be able to spot these signs.
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First it is worth noting that not all schools have a favourable opinion to children/classes blogging or tweeting, citing safeguarding issues and noting some of my findings from my post on internet safety. As most social networks have a minimum age limit of 13 (including Twitter), these views could be warranted. That said, with parental permission, and under the guidance of a professional teacher who understands how to deliver a rigorous computing curriculum (computing, of course, being a national curriculum subject), it might be acceptable to the school… or even, dare I say it, celebrated.
There are arguments that blogging is beneficial to children in various ways. Firstly, there is the computing skills learned – how to manage a website or microblog. Then, there is writing for an authentic audience which can be very motivational – more than just the class teacher will see it, therefore it is a real, important piece of writing that is ‘out there’ in the big wide world. Also related to literacy, it can help children to engage with English in a way they wouldn’t normally, spotting and using features of ‘good’ writing. The website, “Teacher Challenges”, has an excellent guide for setting up a class blog. It tells you how to create one, edit it, and polish it to look professional. If you are looking to set up a blog, I would recommend the site I am using to host Primary Newbie – Weebly. Finally, some tips for Tweeting.
The Primary Newbie Twitter account is here. Give me a follow if you are so inclined! |
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