Forward July 2014 | Page 19

SENIOR SCHOOL Brett Lee on e-learning The world that we live in has changed over the past decade at an exponential rate, with the continued evolution of the World Wide Web and unprecedented ease of access to information of all types that it contains. In many ways, society has lagged behind in learning how to cope with the implications of this phenomenon. This is a potential issue for schools, family and society. Guildford Grammar School is no different to any other school in the issues relating to the use of Information and Learning Technologies (ILT’s) and we have public policies governing the use of ILT’s in the teaching and learning process. These technologies however, have numerous recreational functions beyond their use in the classroom and our current generation of users are more adept at these functions than most adults will ever be. The cavern opening up between the current teenager use and the understanding of this by the typical adult, be they parent or teacher, is widening rapidly. Each of these functions or uses of ILT’s is fraught with potential safety and legal issues which clearly never existed before. In order to broaden the understanding of members of the Guildford Grammar School community, Mr Brett Lee from Internet Education & Safety Services (INESS) presented to students from Years 3 to 12, staff and parents on ‘Embracing a Digital Environment: Managing the Risks’. Brett worked as a Queensland Police Officer for twenty‐two years, sixteen of those as a Detective predominantly in the field of child-exploitation. In his last five years of service, he was a specialist in undercover, internet child‐exploitation investigation. Brett adapted his comprehensive presentation for each group covering mainly the following topics; • On-line identity, the identity, and possible incorrect identity, of people who we may be interacting with via the internet. What the difference is between friends and strangers in the on-line environment. • Keeping safe on the internet by secure use of credentials (username, real name and passwords). Where, Mr Brett Lee from Internet Education & Safety Services (INESS). how and who to get help from should our on-line identity be compromised. • The implications of a person’s digital footprint in regards to their future careers. For many students the permanent imprint of their behaviour on the internet was an enormous surprise. In particular, how social media can affect them in later life was presented by Brett using real life case studies. • The legal implications of what you do on the internet was delivered primarily to the older students and adult groups, covering concepts like sexting, child pornography and the potential legal impact on students under 18 years of age. This presentation was one part of Guildford Grammar School’s commitment to working with the greater school community to educate and protect its members from deliberate and accidental harm. Parents and students have access to resources on Coneqt.p (parents) and Coneqt.s (students). There are portal pages included in Coneqt covering cyberbullying and my digital footprint. In addition, as a school, we maintain several internet filtering and monitoring systems to ensure a safe learning environment while your children are on campus, including personal devices that students bring to school under the Guildford Grammar School ‘Go For IT’ program. In conclusion, the community must see that the only way to improve the safety of everyone’s experience while using the World Wide Web is through collaboration and education. At no stage did Brett, nor does Guildford Grammar School, suggest that we should prohibit use of these ILT’s but we all need to focus collaboratively on the safe and open use of the internet. Given most mobile ‘smart’ phones are now fully enabled to access the internet, families should feel empowered to create parameters for use, just like what is done in schools. When is it appropriate for a mobile device to be used and when it is not. The questions most families need to consider is the use of these devices behind closed bedroom doors in privacy. Many parents discussed this at length and were happy to feel their opinion being validated by Brett, who suggested it is totally reasonable for families to determine that computers and portable devices should always be used in public family areas in order to reduce the possible risks and implications of misuse. Further information relating to M ȁ ɕ