MANAGING ICT
Augmented
Embracing Facebook
At Southbank International
School, Facebook is
reality
actively incorporated into
lessons to help educate
students about staying
safe online. Russell
Webley explains
‘
HEN SCHOOLS ban
W
something educators should
use it.”
I heard this quote at a
conference last year and
it has stuck with me ever
since. We all know that
once a school bans something its “street-cred” goes
up a notch and the students want to find out what all
the fuss is about. As educators, we should instead take
the opportunity to use these interests to engage young
people with certain issues and lessons.
Social media would fall into this category. Sites
such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are growing
increasingly popular with young people, but because
of the risks associated with the internet, schools across
the country have been quick to ban them. While it
is understandable that schools would want to protect
their students from the dangers of the internet, such as
identity protection and cyber-bullying, simply banning
social media in schools is not going to protect them.
Schools have no remit outside of the school day and
when students go home they have greater access to the Without guidance on how to use the internet As educators, should schools not therefore have a the students themselves reinforces how easy it is for
internet and are free to use it how they wish, parental responsibly, young people can find themselves in duty to teach their students about the dangers of the anyone to set up a profile on a social networking site
controls permitting. situations that they are not equipped to handle. internet and how to engage with social media safely and pretend to be someone they are not.
and responsibly? It is important to get young people to question who
Internet safety is a big concern for schools, it is they could be talking to online, and to only trust
particularly as many educational resources are people who you already know outside of the online
increasingly web-based. Schools set up high security environment.
MORE
firewalls to protect certain sites and keep out any Looking at what information the students had
potentially harmful information, yet this can also lead included on their profile and how they had used the
to problems with accessing some of the most useful security settings opens up opportunities to discuss what
sites for teaching. kinds of information you should include on profiles
At Southbank International School, we believe and what could happen if you give away certain bits of
SCHOOL NURSES
that rather than denying students access to most of information to the wrong people.
the internet we instead need to teach them how to Photos can also be a cause for concern on social
responsibly use it and how to stay safe online. networking sites if not protected fully and while this
Rather than simply telling them “do this” or “don’t project does not use lots of different photographs, it is
FOR BETTER CHILD HEALTH
do that”, we get them engaged in the technology and important to stress that it is not just what you are saying
get them to try things out for themselves. We run online that is important but also what images you are
one project each year with grade 9 which has been putting out about yourself.
particularly successful. Students need to be aware that what goes up online
We use Photoshop and Facebook to look at issues will be there indefinitely and photographs of them and
including protecting your personal identity, safety their friends may be funny now, but in a few years certain
on social networking sites, the dangers of virtual images could stop them from getting a job they want.
A properly resourced school nursing service relationships, and cyber-bullying. One of the big issues in schools at the moment is
Students work together in groups to create a new cyber-bullying. The Department for Children, Schools
is required to help schools meet the
student using composite images of themselves using and Families recently reported that 47 per cent of 14-
Photoshop. This is a great opportunity to get them year-olds reported being a victim of cyber-bullying.
engaged and working in groups while also learning While bullying is generally a very difficult issue for
government’s health and wellbeing objectives.
how to use creative technologies. educators and schools to address, there is a feeling that
Once the “student” has been created, the group is cyber-bullying could become increasingly prominent as
asked to come up with a name, background and identity young people do not realise the impact that it has and it
for the student. As an international school we have can be easier for bullies to taunt their victims through
Research published in the British Journal students from all over the world, and the “new students” anonymous postings and messages on the internet than
are no different. The group is asked to research an area face-to-face.
of School Nursing (BJSN) shows that
from anywhere in the world to develop a realistic and One thing that we are keen to stress to our students
fact-based identity for their creation. is that, like photos, things written on the internet are
more school nurses are needed to meet these
The group then sets up a social networking profile on very difficult to take back, so it is more important than
Facebook for the student; they upload their Photoshop ever to think about what you are saying and who you
objectives and ensure school children receive the
image and fill in the relevant areas in the profile are saying it too. Tone of voice can also be a factor in
information box. cyber-bullying and supposed jokes and sarcasm can be
health care and support they deserve. Therefore
Which information they include from their research taken quite literally and become threatening.
is up to them, including interests, family members, date By watching how our “new students” interact with
the BJSN has launched a campaign to increase the
of birth, hometown, religious preferences, etc. They are each other we can look at the implications of what they
also free to amend the security settings as they wish are saying, think about how it could be taken the wrong
(this is not explicitly stated so we can gauge how many way, and look at alternative ways of getting their point
number of school nurses. of them even consider the security settings). across.
Once our “students” are online, we create a group Schools need to accept that they cannot protect their
in which the students can interact with each other students from the dangers of the internet 24/7. Instead,
using their characters. As the character is not a real in their role as educators, teachers need to use these
person many students get carried away and talk about technologies to their advantage to give young people
For more information on the campaign visit
MORE
everything that they have created in the background of the skills needed to safely engage with the internet and
the character without thinking twice. After the different all its possibilities.
http://moreschoolnurses.co.uk
SCHOOL NURSES
groups have been able to interact with each other we By creating an engaging project which gets the
FOR BETTER look at some of the issues that have, or could have, students actively involved, we hope that our students will
Support the campaign or send us your views at:
CHILD HEALTH
arisen. remember these lessons when they use social networks
The fact that these social networking profiles are in their own time and that they can do so responsibly
bjsn@markallengroup.com fictitious allows us to draw on real-world examples without putting themselves, or others, at risk. SecEd
without having to involve personal examples from
students’ own social networking experiences. Indeed, • Russell Webley is director of ICT at Southbank
the fact that the profiles are completely made up by International School in London.
SecEd • February 11 2010 11
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