Like moths to a flame ... children are drawn to online interaction, so teachers must know what they are dealing with. <i>Illustration By Harry Afentoglou</i>.
Like moths to a flame ... children are drawn to online interaction, so teachers must know what they are dealing with. Illustration By Harry Afentoglou.
A new simulation program for educators provides an insight into the online torment many of their students face each day, writes Kim Arlington.
Billy Standish is being cyber-bullied.
The primary school student is chatting with a group of his friends online when two boys start to pick on him about crying on a swimming camp. Billy insists he wasn't crying - he just has allergies - but the teasing gets worse.
Another friend, 11-year-old Ned Millison, is torn. Does he laugh along with the others, or does he risk his own popularity by sticking up for Billy and telling their friends to stop?
The developing situation is a tricky one to handle. But every school teacher in the country could now find themselves in Ned's shoes.
His predicament is part of an interactive simulation designed for a new teacher cyber-safety training program, Connect.ed.
Another of the program's simulations allows teachers to adopt the role of a 14-year-old girl, responding to friends' comments on a fictitious social network site. The messages and comments include deliberate spelling mistakes ''to maintain the authenticity of online written communications by teenagers''.
The characters and scenarios are not real but are based on real-life situations, giving teachers an insight into the kinds of problems confronting their students in the cyber world.
Developed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, the Connect.ed program helps teachers protect students from unsafe online behaviours.
Using the internet or connecting with friends online is part of the daily routine for many primary and secondary school students. By becoming more familiar with their students' online activities, teachers are better able to help them avoid the pitfalls and to deal with any problems that arise.
Cyber safety expert Susan McLean says while it's vital that schools have clear, evolving cyber safety policies supported by staff, students and parents, it is also important to raise teachers' awareness of the issues.
''Cyberbullying is the number one non-academic issue confronting every student in Australia on any given day,'' McLean says.
''Any teacher that has a pastoral role is already very aware of what kids do online … because they are dealing with it on a daily basis.
''Some of them struggle to deal with it because they don't have the support or the knowledge. Other teachers often don't have a clue about what kids are doing online and the detrimental effects of cyberbullying.''
Since July 2009, the Cybersmart website - part of the federal government's cyber safety program - has provided advice and resources to help schools, children and parents safely navigate the online world.
Connect.ed was developed to meet the high demand for cyber safety education in schools and allows teachers to learn at their own pace. Launched this month, the free program is available online to all Australian primary and secondary school teachers.
Accessing the program is particularly important for the professional development of teachers in regional and remote areas who may not be able to attend the face-to-face cyber safety workshops run by the ACMA.
The ACMA's senior education adviser, Cara Webber, helped develop Connect.ed in conjunction with students, educators and experts in the field. Webber says the training was designed to meet the needs of the broad range of teachers in the education system, from recent graduates who regularly use social media to long-serving teachers who may be less familiar with technology.
''It's about helping all teachers understand what was actually going on online and why it was likely that some of these issues would find their way into the classroom,'' Webber says.
''Because online technology has evolved so rapidly over the past few years, we were in a situation where school policies weren't up to date or robust enough to keep up with what we were seeing coming out of the online world.''
The program addresses problems such as cyberbullying, ''sexting'' and grooming by internet predators, as well as safe social networking, online security, digital citizenship and managing digital reputations.
Webber says that in her previous role as a senior school teacher, most of the behavioural issues she dealt with seemed to emerge from the online world. Students may suffer the consequences of having embarrassing, even explicit, images circulated by phone or computer. Others may not appreciate that information or online conversations they thought were private can become public - and are permanently recorded.
Students unable to connect online might become isolated, missing out on social interaction with their peers.
And with many teenagers staying up late at night for messaging, chat or online gaming with players in different time zones, sleep deprivation is a common concern.
Connect.ed gives teachers an outline of their legal obligations and the relevant criminal legislation and reinforces the importance of protecting their own reputations online.
Webber says there are grey areas where teachers are unsure of their responsibilities and what duty of care is owed if problems stem from an event occurring outside school hours - but schools have a responsibility to address issues affecting their students' well-being. ''When online issues are resurfacing in the classroom, the accountability doesn't stop just because something happened away from the school,'' she says.
An education officer with the Catholic Education Office, Gail Tarrant, is the first teacher in Australia to complete the online training. She works in the pastoral care and personal-growth team, examining anti-bullying and cyber safety strategies.
Tarrant says problems encountered online are increasingly affecting students in the classroom and the playground and ''the onus is on schools to respond appropriately''.
She says the Connect.ed program is ''a really great way to help teachers learn about social media and be able to teach cyber safety to students and protect them from the potential dangers online''.
''It's important because there are ever-emerging cyber safety issues and we are playing catch-up a lot of the time,'' she says. ''If you aren't aware of these issues facing the students, that digital divide just gets wider. ''We need to be able to instil in our students a sense of confidence in our ability to resolve these situations if they do come across something that makes them uncomfortable.''
Tarrant says there are activities from the program that teachers can use in class and incorporate into the curriculum and the interactive scenarios ''give adults a real perspective on the online conversations that young people are having. It shows you the benefits, as well as the dangers, of [online] interaction.''
Webber says it is important that teachers not only recognise the potential risks but appreciate what it is their students love about the internet.
''The online world allows them to experiment with their ideas, allows them to be curious and to try on new personas,'' she says. ''It allows them to perhaps make contact with peers they may not have the confidence to [befriend] in the offline world.
''It means they can be socially connected all the time. [It] gives them a sense of belonging.
''But on the flip side, we need to make sure they have an understanding of the possible consequences of their choices and behaviours.''