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.
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