Digital citizenship modules

Digital citizenship is a powerful enabler of inclusion in social, cultural, and civil society.

Becoming a digital citizen is "part of who we all are" in school. It should be planned for at a whole-school level. It can be addressed through multiple contexts, including structured activities and taking advantage of meaningful opportunities to talk and learn about being online. 

Netsafe, 2018.

Read 

From literacy to fluency to citizenship: Digital citizenship in Education, Netsafe, 2018

Netsafe's white paper (July 2018) defines a digital citizen as someone who can fluently combine digital skills, knowledge, and attitudes in order to participate in society as an active, connected lifelong learner. 

Consider 

• How safe, legal, and ethical is the use of information within your school and community?
• What systems do you have in place to ensure your school's social media and other communication channels respect privacy and copyright?
• What school-wide policy does your school have to support and develop digital citizenship?
• How do your school leaders and teachers model and facilitate safe and responsible digital use?
• How do teachers integrate digital citizenship into learning areas and activities?
• How do students understand what being a responsible digital citizen means? How do they demonstrate this?
• What are the local and cultural views, concerns, or needs of your learners and their whānau/communities? How are these reflected in your school policies?

Teachers actively model and promote the skills and values that students need to develop to become responsible digital citizens.

Wellbeing for success: a resource for schools, Education Review Office, 2016.

Compare

Netsafe's definition of a digital citizen and Mike Ribble's Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship.

Netsafe

Digital citizenship is an example of the vision, values, and competencies of our curricula in action in digital spaces. It has the potential to be a significant enabler of The 2007 New Zealand Curriculum, not just an add-on.

A digital citizen combines:

1. The confident, fluent use and combination of:

• skills and strategies to access technology to communicate, connect, collaborate, and create
• attitudes, underpinned by values that support personal integrity and positive connection with others
• understanding and knowledge of the digital environments and contexts in which they are working and how they integrate on/offline spaces.

2. The ability to draw on this digital fluency to participate in life-enhancing opportunities (social, economic, cultural, civil) and achieve their goals in ways that make an important difference.

Digital citizenship is a high-level outcome of achieving digital fluency and applying skills through multiple contexts. This definition of digital citizenship aligns strongly with the vision and principles of The New Zealand Curriculum (2007) and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.

Netsafe, 2018

Nine elements of digital citizenship

1. Digital access: Advocating for equal digital rights and access is where digital citizenship starts. 
2. Digital etiquette: Rules and policies aren’t enough – we need to teach everyone about appropriate conduct online. 
3. Digital law: It’s critical that users understand that it’s a crime to steal or damage another’s digital work, identity, or property. 
4. Digital communication: With so many communication options available, users need to learn how to make appropriate decisions. 
5. Digital literacy: We need to teach students how to learn in a digital society. 
6. Digital commerce: As users make more purchases online, they must understand how to be effective consumers in a digital economy. 
7. Digital rights and responsibilities: We must inform people of their basic digital rights to privacy, freedom of speech, etc. 
8. Digital safety and security: Digital citizens need to know how to protect their information from outside forces that might cause harm. 
9. Digital health and wellness: From physical issues, such as repetitive stress syndrome, to psychological issues, such as internet addiction, users should understand the health risks of technology. 

Mike Ribble (2014)

Investigate 

As an educator, how do you model and teach effective digital citizenship?  

Review your own online footprint.

• Passwords – Are these secure?
• Privacy – Is your personal information protected and not able to be used to identify you?  
• Photographs – Are you posting appropriate images, in an appropriate way? (Is it safe to post pictures of my kid online?)
• Property/Permission – Do you understand Creative Commons copyright licences for your own and others' work?  
• Professionalism – How will others perceive you based on your online presence? (Digital footprint)  

Consider 

• How does digital citizenship include:  
  • digital fluency
  • participation
  • safety, rights, and responsibilities
  • positive attitudes and values?
• How will you develop an effective and positive understanding of digital citizenship with students and whānau (family)?
• How will this be reflected in your teaching and learning programme?
• What does digital fluency look like in relation to our codes, our standards?
• What does identity as a taonga look like online for your Māori and Pasifika students?
• What impact is globalisation having in our local context? How do we maintain our digital identity on a global stage?

Watch the following videos

458 minutes – that's how much time the average teen spends using media each day. This video (by NCTA) explores how students can practice good digital citizenship skills all 458 minutes they’re online. Challenge your students to be smart and effective participants in the digital world!

Follow the Digital Trail – Common Sense Media

Students learn that the information that they put online leaves a digital footprint or "trail." This trail can be big or small, helpful or hurtful, depending on how they manage it. This video by Common Sense Media works in collaboration with the Digital Citizenship Curriculum, Grade K-2, unit 2, Follow the Digital Trail.

Consider and record

Invite students to watch the videos above, then consider and record their answers to the following questions:

• What issues concern you when you’re engaging online?
• How much time do you spend on a device and online during the course of a regular day?
• What do you read, watch, play, create, and share?
• Who do you interact with online? How?
• What are the benefits of being able to interact and socialise in a digital world?
• What are some of the challenges and risks of being able to interact and socialise in a digital world?
• How are your digital interactions online different, or the same, to your face-to-face interactions?

Create – Share

1. Ask students to discuss their findings from the "consider and record" activity above then share their answers to the questions below in creative ways.

• What do the findings from our use of digital technologies show us?
• What are the implications of these findings for us as digital citizens?
• What are some scenarios where we have had to, or might have to, practice effective digital citizenship?

2. Create an infographic to:

• describe what an effective digital citizen is
• identify how can you be a responsible digital citizen.

Visit / Play

Digital citizenship games and activities:

• Digital Etiquette  – BrainPOP 
• Interland - Be Internet Awesome – Google 

"Digital fluency is a set of competencies and dispositions. Digital citizenship is a high-level outcome of achieving digital fluency, applied through multiple contexts." - Netsafe (2018, p. 10)

Digital fluency encompasses:

• digital capabilities – being digitally adept and innovative; able to confidently choose and use digital tools to learn, create, and share
• digital principles – demonstrating values when working digitally; being an ethical, respectful, and responsible digital citizen
• digital literacies – being discerning and critical; able to locate, understand, organise, evaluate, and adapt digital content.

"Digital fluency is about understanding 'how' to use digital technologies, deciding 'when' to use specific digital technologies to achieve a desired outcome, and being able to explain 'why' the technologies selected will provide their desired outcome." – Tim Bell (University of Canterbury)

Consider

• What skills do your students need to be digitally fluent, digital citizens?
• How effectively are you preparing your students to be successful in developing digital fluencies?

Visit

Learning activities to develop digital fluency

Explore some practical classroom approaches and activities for supporting the development of digital fluency.

Watch

Global Digital Citizenship by Future Focused Learning.

Today, our global community of five billion plus is connecting in more ways than ever before in borderless spaces online. Beyond being a good citizen in Aotearoa is a global digital citizen.

A global digital citizen has:

• information fluency
• solution fluency
• creativity fluency
• collaboration fluency
• media fluency.

Consider

• How can you engage your community in discussions about appropriate behaviour, aligned with your school values and vision?
• What do your students need to know to be safe, discerning users of technology?
• What are the norms for using digital technologies in your school or classroom?
• How can you support students to be safe, discerning users of technology?

Create – Share

Identify opportunities within your curriculum and inquiry programmes to learn about the skills/competencies and knowledge needed to behave like a digital citizen.

Understanding the cybersafety issues facing your school and its community is vital for addressing the key requirements for developing your student, teacher, and parent agreements and policies.

Watch

Digital citizenship at Apiti School

Staff and students from Apiti School explain some of the practical strategies they have put in place to ensure they are safe and responsible digital citizens.

Consider

• What issues around cybersafety have you faced with students or parents?
• What are your concerns?
• Where are your policies and agreements kept? Do they need updating or creating?
• How do you think having an agreement will support developing students as digital citizens?
• What are the important components of any digital citizenship policies and agreements in your school?
• How will you collaborate with students and family (whānau) to create one?
• What are your next steps to creating a cybersafe environment?

Investigate

Kete by Netsafe

Kete is a resource hub with a range of policy guides, school tools, classroom resources, and other materials to support teachers and school leadership.

The Netsafe Kit for schools

The Netsafe Kit helps schools address student cybersafety and support digital citizenship. The Netsafe Kit 2018 details the three steps required to produce a cybersafe learning environment with digital citizenship at its core. 

The following policy and user document templates are available as a part of this kit: 

• Online Safety Policy and Plans
• Staff Guideline for Safe Digital Technology Use
• Student User Agreements

Guidance for Schools and Kura

This space on the Netsafe website contains resources to help schools to continue to explore and develop online safety, digital citizenship and wellbeing.

Create – Share 

Take a proactive, strategic approach to digital citizenship and cybersafety in your school.

Work through the Netsafe Kit's three steps to help produce a cybersafe learning school.

Start with step 1: Insights

• Conduct a survey to assess the internet safety issues facing your students, and their confidence in successfully managing them.
• Conduct a survey to gauge school staff's confidence in supporting students to manage key internet safety issues.
• Conduct a survey to gauge family (whānau) understanding of digital citizenship issues and confidence to support young people in the challenges they experience online.

An effective approach to teaching cybersafety is to provide students with experience in digital citizenship-related learning experiences within meaningful contexts. They should be able to describe the underlying principles of effective digital citizenship, including the skills, capabilities, and values they are applying in different contexts. This can be done through a combination of:

• planned inquiry
• the health learning area
• mentored pastoral time
• student ambassador schemes.

To develop an understanding of the principles of effective digital citizenship, support students to:

• actively lead their own learning
• know how digital citizenship relates to their experiences
• learn about new concepts through the use of scaffolded materials
• apply new digital citizenship concepts in the context of authentic curriculum inquiry
• reflect by themselves and/or with peers on their progress against clear criteria.

Netsafe’s Learn-Guide-Protect framework asserts that the younger the student, the more important the protective measures, so that young students can safely explore a wide range of online experiences. As students mature, there is a greater need for self-management. Offer regular opportunities and support for students' active participation as digital citizens in a wide range of meaningful contexts. The most powerful interventions are led and championed by students, themselves. Provide opportunities for the students to come together in a safe space to talk about their current life experiences, and how they feel, and what they know is happening for other students.

Visit

The Kit

Netsafe has a range of resources you can select, ranging from early childhood (ECE) to year 13. 

Resources for primary and intermediate schools

Classroom resources 

Classroom resources curated on the Netsafe website provide resources to help you explore cybersafety issues with your learners. 

Oat the goat

A short, online chapter book with an antibullying theme available in te reo Māori and English. Reading options include: read, read to me, and watch. This resource has been developed by the Ministry of Education. It contains information for parents, discussion questions, and links to bullying information and resources.

Resources for secondary schools

Staying safe online: 2018 Quick reference guide 

Netsafe's guide provides practical advice, tips, and how-to guides for social media, online shopping, safe search, and more.

Sextortion

Sextortion is blackmail. It’s when someone threatens to send a sexual image or video of you to other people if you don’t pay them or provide more sexual content. This website contains an explanatory video, discussion ideas, and downloadable posters for use with students.

ICON – In case of online negativity

ICON is a web app offering young people comprehensive solutions for dealing with online bullying and other issues. Sticks 'n Stones have developed this online resource.

Examples of students' work:

Sticks 'n Stones

Sticks 'n Stones is a secondary student-led project managed by Central Otago REAP focused on taking positive action online to reduce cyberbullying.

Connected

Connected is created by a group of year 10 girls at St Andrew's College in Christchurch who completed a health unit called "connected" which looks at the digital world, social media, technology, and how we use it.

Students at Frankley school in New Plymouth have produced three apps that have the potential to go global 

This stuff article features primary school students from Frankley school, who developed apps, one of which was to educate about bullying.

Create – Share 

Use the ideas and resources provided in the links above to create learning opportunities that allow your students to:

• actively lead their own learning
• know how digital citizenship relates to their experiences
• learn about new concepts through the use of scaffolded materials
• apply new digital citizenship concepts in the context of authentic curriculum inquiry
• reflect by themselves and/or with peers on their progress against clear criteria.

For example:

Plan an activity that could help students to:

• define a problem
• design and pitch possible ideas
• develop possible approaches to reach a solution (e.g., an ambassador programme that could offer genuine leadership opportunities for all students)
• create a movement, for example, a digital challenge or wero that invites others to become part of the solution rather than the problem like Wearethesolution.net - Anti-bullying Pledge. 

Visit

Copyright in schools

Copyright licensing

Te Whakarōputanga copyright information for schools.

Copyright Use in the Education Sector

Copyright Licensing New Zealand developed this information sheet, which outlines who can do what legally when it comes to using copyright material in the educational sector.

Consider

• What happens to the increasing amount of online material school staff and students create when they move on?
• If a staff member or student creates online material at one school and then moves to another school, who owns the copyright to the work, and can people take it with them?
• How much should staff and students share online, and what rights do they have?
• What are some of the exceptions to copyright for education and teaching?
• What are some of the implications of breaching copyright?

Exceptions to copyright

There is an exception to copyright which permits the use of any type of work for educational purposes; for the sole purpose of illustration for instruction.

Watch

CLNZ Education Licence Guide by Copyright Licensing New Zealand

Visit

Exceptions for education and teaching

This is a UK website outlining copyright exceptions for education.

At your school

Investigate

Review your school policy and procedures, and any related documentation on copyright.

Consider

• What licence does your school hold for copyright? What copying does this allow you to do? Is this reflected in your school policy?
• How does your school policy incorporate the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment 2011?
• Identify or create explanations of what "infringing" and "file sharing" are in your school policy. 
• How is your school protecting itself from staff/students downloading peer–to–peer (P2P) files?
• How do your school policy and procedures develop responsible digital citizenship behaviours with regard to copyright?
• What is a CLNZ Education Licence and how could this apply to your school?
• Does your school need to develop a copyright policy?
• How and where will the correct use of copyright be taught in the classroom?

Create – Share

Download this one-page guide from Copyright Licensing New Zealand to display at your school with an overview of what’s covered under your copyright licence.

Work with your school community to develop your own school policy on copyright.

All educators are responsible for modelling good digital citizenship. That means being aware of copyright rules and laws.

Consider

How can teachers model good digital citizenship, especially in relation to copyright law?

Do you use and acknowledge the sources of the images and text in your own resources?

Understanding “fair dealing”

Fair dealing, otherwise known as "fair use", allows people to use copyrighted material in particular ways where they would have otherwise had to seek the copyright holder's permission.

Watch

• Copyright and you: Part 1 – Fair dealing by Sheridan Library
• Understanding "fair use" in a digital world by Common Sense Education - Students meet ELA Common Core State Standards by analysing video remixes to judge whether or not they fall under fair use.

Visit

What is "fair dealing" with copyright material?

The University of Otago website explains the concept of fair dealing.

Consider

• How do you determine what is fair dealing (fair use) from what is stealing content?
• How can you help your students learn about fair dealing and how this impacts on what the content they use and make?

While some rights are guaranteed automatically by copyright law, schools may wish to explore other options such as patenting ideas for students to protect their work if it is considered that the work may have some commercial value.

To start with, as soon as you create a piece of work, it is copyright protected. This means you own the work and people must obtain permission from you to share or reproduce your work in any way, unless your work sits in the public domain with a Creative Commons licence.

“The person who created the works is usually the owner of any copyright unless the work is created in the course of employment or someone commissions and agrees to pay for it, in which case the rights will have been reassigned.” - New Zealand Intellectual Property Office

Watch 

Nicole's Story: Copyrighting Creative Work by Common Sense Education 

A young writer talks about posting her original manuscripts online and protecting that work from theft or misuse. 

Visit 

New Zealand Intellectual Property Office

This website provides a guide to using copyright to protect the material you create and share online.  

Intellectual property and student work

Originally developed for Technology Online from a study by Susan Corbett, Louise Starkey, and Ann Bondy, Victoria University of Wellington, now available on Tāhūrangi.

Consider

• What rights do teachers have as authors of material?
• What rights do students have as authors of material?
• Who owns the content posted online?
• What happens when a student leaves the school?
• Why would you or your students protect work with copyright?

Create – Share

Consider how you can apply ideas in practice.

Share your findings with other teachers, students, and family (whānau) in your school community.

Students have access to a vast amount of content on the Internet. It can be tempting for them to download and use content, regardless of the legality involved.

Provide students with knowledge, tools, and strategies for:

• presenting their ideas and information in ways that are both ethical and legal 
• protecting the content they create.

Watch

Creativity, Copyright, and Fair Use by Common Sense Education.

Investigate 

Look at the following resources, then consider the questions below with your students.

• Teaching Copyright - A website with activities and resources to help teach about copyright
• Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines for Teachers  - A poster with copyright guidelines
• Copyright Infringement: 5 Myths vs Facts - An infographic and explanatory video.

Consider 

• What legal and ethical considerations are required when using other people's work?
• What individual rights and responsibilities does a creator of content have?
• What individual rights and responsibilities does a consumer of content have?

Visit

Review these resources:

Copyright education tools

This website provides resources to support students of all ages to learn about copyright.

The adventure of the girl with the light blue hair

A web series produced as part of the AHRC-funded activities of CopyrightUser.org. It explores key principles and ideas underpinning copyright law, creativity, and the limits of lawful appropriation and reuse.

Create – Share

Share the videos, games, and resources above with your students.

Invite students to share their findings about copyright with your educational community, or a wider online audience.

What is plagiarism and how to avoid it by BrockLibrary.

Visit

Plagiarism.org

A useful website explaining plagiarism.

Quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing

This website is very useful at explaining what each entails and how you should use these within essays or research.

Consider

What strategies might enable your students to research or create content without plagiarising other people's ideas?

Creative Commons

Creative Commons for schools

In New Zealand’s 1994 Copyright Act, employers hold first ownership of copyright works produced in the course of employment. Therefore, teachers who share resources may be infringing on the school’s copyright. Teachers can legally share and collaborate, permitted and supported by the school's Creative Commons policy using an open Creative Commons licence.

Open licences encourage legal sharing and mixing of others' content in ways that make the most of the opportunities offered by the Internet.

Creative Commons aims to establish a fair middle way between the extremes of copyright control and the uncontrolled uses of intellectual property. Creative Commons provides a range of copyright licences, freely available to the public, which allow those creating intellectual property – including authors, artists, educators, and scientists – to mark their work with the freedoms and restrictions of their choice.

“Teachers are collaborating more, and they’re also involving their students in the development of those teaching and learning resources.” - Mark Osborne, Albany Senior High School

Watch

What is Creative Commons?

Consider

• What are the different types of Creative Commons licences?
• What are the benefits of Creative Commons licensing?

Watch

Creative Commons for kids by Nancy Minicozzi

Creative Commons for kids is a short introduction for primary school students to Creative Commons licensing.

Visit

Wanna Work together 

Wanna Work together is a video clip from Creative Commons that pays tribute to the people around the world using CC licences to build a better, more vibrant creative culture.

Consider 

Ask your students to answer the following questions:

• Why and how would you use Creative Commons content?
• Where can you find and use Creative Commons content?

Create – Share

Share the videos and resources above with your students. Invite students to create their own way to explain copyright and Creative Commons using Creative Commons resources, such as images.

For a selection of free-to-use images:

• Pixabay
• Unsplash
• Life of Pix 
• Pexels

The Internet presents you and your family with opportunities to be entertained, access information, create, publish, and learn. It is also a space that can put you, your data, and your child at risk if not used safely and responsibly. There are precautions and actions you can take to make being online safe, enjoyable, and productive for the whole family.

Watch

For parents of younger children: Kids and tech: The new landscape – by Common Sense Media 

For parents of tweens and teens: Teens and tech: The new landscape – by Common Sense Media 

Consider

• What was the same for you growing up, and what has changed for the next generation?
• What are some of the positive aspects of children using social media that were pointed out in the video?
• What were some of the negatives?
• Can you recall a positive experience that you observed related to your child’s use of social media (e.g., learning a new skill or finding information, problem-solving, or sharing an experience with a friend or family member)? What made it a positive experience?
• What skills or behaviours would you like to see your child learn and apply to their use of online technology?
• What responsibility do you have as a parent to ensure your child can use the Internet safely, responsibly, and skillfully?

Digital citizenship is an example of the vision, values, and competencies in The New Zealand Curriculum (2007) in action in digital spaces. It combines:

• skills and strategies for students to access technology, connect to, create, and achieve their goals
• attitudes, underpinned by values, that help them connect with, and collaborate with others positively
• understanding and knowledge of the digital environments and contexts in which they are working, and how they integrate on/offline spaces
• the ability to draw on this digital fluency to participate in life-enhancing opportunities (social, economic, cultural, civil) and achieve their goals in ways that make an important difference.

Digital citizenship is a high-level outcome of achieving digital fluency and applying skills through multiple contexts. This definition of digital citizenship aligns strongly with the vision and principles of The 2007 New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.

Netsafe, 2018

Andrew Churches summarises the six tenets of digital citizenship:

• respect yourself
• protect yourself
• respect others
• protect others
• respect intellectual property
• protect intellectual property.

Visit

Digital citizenship and digital literacy

Netsafe NZ defines digital citizenship.

Consider

• What are the attributes of a responsible digital citizen?
• What kind of digital citizen are you?
• What kind of digital citizen is your child? How do you know this?

Social networks and online communities break down barriers of geography, time, culture, and identity. However, the platforms don’t differentiate between the social good or the defamatory, offensive content, so we need to teach our young people about the potential to be savvy, safe and kind global citizens. Young people need to know they have the power to be respectful and help shape their communities and world for the better.

The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) provides key points in StaySafeOnline.org on how to raise digital citizens to:

• remain positively engaged
• support their good choices
• keep a clean machine
• know the protection features of the websites and software your children use
• review privacy settings
• teach critical thinking
• explain the implications
• help them be good digital citizens
• understand just saying "no" rarely works
• empower your children to handle issues
• encourage your children to be "digital leaders".

Visit

Staying Safe Online Guide

Netsafe provides a booklet containing practical tips for managing the internet's most popular platforms. 

Parents' guide to technology

This website provides tips for safely managing smartphones, gaming devices, and tablets from UK Safer Internet Centre.

Raising digital citizens

Teach your children to become good digital citizens with these resources. 

Parenting online

Parenting online provides an infographic representing a survey commissioned by the Australian Office of the Children's eSafety Commissioner, June 2016.

Create

Develop proactive and positive strategies to support your child to become a good digital citizen. Refer to the points and links provided above.

Digital footprints and online reputation

Your digital footprint is the trail of digital breadcrumbs left behind your online activity. These can include: 

• the websites you visit
• the pictures you share
• the comments you post
• the things you download
• the interactions you have on social media.

Digital footprints don't necessarily fade with time. Web 2.0 sites and pages have made it possible for throwaway comments made in the heat of the moment to be stored permanently, copied, shared, reproduced, and distributed by multiple users. Once a post is made or an image shared on a public forum, it is out of your control. As the saying goes, the Internet never forgets.

Consider

• How could unwanted online content affect a young person's reputation, relationships, and employment opportunities?
• Being a responsible digital citizen is essential for managing your digital footprint. How can you ensure your child possesses the qualities of a responsible digital citizen? How can you help your child manage their digital footprint?

Investigate 

Managing your digital footprint requires a range of strategies, from monitoring what you share online to organising privacy settings and passwords.

• Read 12 tips for students to manage their digital footprints by TeachThought. 
• Select some tips from the article that you would use to help your child to manage their own digital footprint. 

Fake news

Throughout social media networks, we are increasingly seeing lies, misinformation, and propaganda, therefore, it is becoming increasingly important for everyone to have adequate media literacy skills to independently verify sources before engaging with or sharing information with others.

Consider

• Stay in touch with your child’s networks, and keep yourself updated and informed about their networks and influencers. Be sure they are not exposed to social platforms that are used to incite hate or validate radical propaganda agendas.
• How to help your child become a critical, discerning user of information. Show them how to recognise fact from fiction, verify sources, and refrain from sharing misinformation or propaganda throughout their social networks.

The dangers posed by cyberbullying can be difficult to anticipate and can have long-term and damaging effects on a young person's life.

Read

Online bullying: Adive for parents from NetSafe.

Consider

How could you have an open conversation with your older child about the implications and issues surrounding:

• sexting
• digital reputation
• cyberbullying
• being a bystander
• If your child is younger, how are you preparing yourself and them to engage positively in an online world?

Visit  

Bullying. Not a normal part of growing up: Advice for adults from Bullyingfreenz.

Cyberbullying – eSafetyCommisioner

Consider

• How do you know if your child is being cyberbullied, and what can you do?
• How do you know, and what can you do if your child is cyberbullying others?
• Does your child know what to do when he/she witnesses cyberbullying as a bystander?

Sexting is the act of sending sexually explicit photos, messages, voicemails, images, and videos, via phone, chat platform, social media, or apps. It has become a normalised and increasingly popular activity amongst young people and adults. Sharing sexually explicit material is nothing new, but the technology that can broadcast this information instantly and virally, and permanently store the content on digital media, is. 

Watch

Nude Selfies: NCA-CEOP Education (UK, 2015) has four animations about nude selfies and the implications for young people.

Visit  

What are the Bare Facts? - NetSafe & the Classification Office

This provides advice for young people and parents on how to deal with issues arising out of sexting incidents.

Sending nudes and sexting - eSafetyCommisioner

This is an Australian resource with practical suggestions to support your child.

The Harmful Digital Communications Act

This site includes a range of measures designed to prevent cyberbullying and other harmful forms of online communications from taking place, as well as help those affected deal with incidents. These incidents include when someone uses the internet, email, apps, social media, or mobile phones to:

• send or publish threatening or offensive material and messages
• spread damaging or degrading rumours about you
• publish online invasive or distressing photographs or videos of you.

Consider

• What can you do if your child has sent an explicit image or video?
• How can you prevent your child from sexting?
• Once posted, how can you minimise the spread of images?
• What is the law in New Zealand in regard to taking and sharing sexual images for people under 18?

Despite the many positive things that young people encounter online, they may also come across content that is illegal, offensive, or inappropriate, including: 

• real or simulated violence 
• sexually explicit content 
• illegal images of child sexual abuse 
• content promoting hate based on race, religion, or sexual preference 
• content instructing or promoting crime or violence 
• content promoting violent extremism 
• content that advocates unsafe behaviour like extreme dieting or drug taking. 

We are increasingly seeing in some social networks, often with less rigorous regulations for censorship, more and more people are targeted (trolling) for their political, religious, cultural and sexual affiliations and identity. We need to ensure our young people are not a target of this, nor unwittingly or actively on sharing messages of hate and intolerance. 

Visit 

Helping young people exposed to upsetting content

The Netsafe website provides advice on how to deal with inappropriate, offensive, or illegal material.

Parents Chatterbox series

Parents Chatterbox series is an Australian series of videos on Vimeo to support parents with supporting and protecting their children while online.

It's time we talked – Online pornography

This is a resource to guide parents to support their children with issues surrounding online pornography.

Consider

• How can your child access inappropriate content online?
• How do you prevent your child from being exposed to upsetting online content?
• How do you help your child if they have been exposed to upsetting online content?
• How do you help your child contextualise what they've seen?

While interacting with others online, your child may engage with someone who makes them feel uncomfortable, or even scared. This type of communication can come from a stranger, or someone they actually know. On the other hand, interacting with people online can be a good way for your child to build friendships, learn, and socialise.

To manage the risks of unwanted online contact, encourage your child to:

• raise any concerns with you or another trusted adult
• use only a first name or nickname to identify themselves
• never disclose their phone number or address
• never send photographs of themselves that clearly show their identity
• never agree to meet someone they have met online without your permission and at the very least with adult supervision
• do not reply; capture screenshots on cellphones, and share them with the cellphone network provider and/or police
• capture screenshots in social media, block and/or ban and alert the social media platform.

eSafetyCommisioner

Watch 

iParent - Online grooming - Sharon's vlog from eSafety Office on Vimeo.

Visit 

Bullying and abuse  

Netsafe outlines strategies to deal with online bullying and harassment and provides information about the Harmful Digital Communications Act.

Consider 

How can you minimise unwanted online contact from someone with your child: 

• in a proactive way? 
• in a protective way? 

Visit 

Parental controls

Learn how to be safe and secure with the connected devices in your life. 

Scams

Netsafe offers advice to help you identify and deal with online scams.

There are a range of devices that allow online access into and out of your home. These may include the obvious devices such as:

• laptops/computers
• televisions
• mobile phones
• tablets.

Some of the devices you have in your home are not so obviously connected. These may include: 

• game consoles
• DVD players
• smart toys
• CCTV cameras/webcams
• home appliances.

It is important to ensure that you have effective e-security (internet security) to cover the use of these devices, the range of activities associated with the use of these, and to protect the people using them.

Create – Share

Visit the Get set up for safety: Secure your online devices guide on Netsafe and work through the suggestions to ensure your devices are e-secure. Some of these include: 

• setting up a strong, unique password
• using two-factor authentication
• how to improve device, app, software and web browser security through settings.

Spread the word! Let friends and family know about how to make their homes and devices more secure.

Most devices have pre-installed settings that help parents to monitor and control what other users do online. However, no tool is going to be totally effective in blocking inappropriate content and contact online. For nearly every YouTube clip on how to set up parental controls on a device, there is a clip on how to bypass parental controls. Therefore, it is important for parents to supervise use in certain circumstances, but more importantly, communicate with children about their online activities.

Every parental control tool is different. Most tools:

• can block children from accessing specific websites, protocols, or applications 
• filter different kinds of content, like sexual content
• allow parents to monitor use with reports on sites accessed, the length of time and the frequency of access
• can be used to set time limits, blocking access after a set time – handy if you are not home and want to limit the time your child spends on a game or social media 
• allow parents to change the tool settings to reflect each child’s age and skills.

Visit 

Parental controls on devices

Netsafe offers suggestions on having control software and settings, as well as providing tips for having an open discussion with your child. 

Parental controls - eSafetyComissioner

This page provides information for controlling accounts and settings. 

Investigate 

Filtering options 

Filtering can block inappropriate content from coming through to your internet-accessible devices. Filtering can be useful because unwanted content can appear even without the user's intention for this to happen.

Check your software settings

Each browser has its own security settings. Investigate what your browser can do for you.

• Google Safety Center
• YouTube Kids
• N4L's Switch on Safety is a simple, free way to block the worst of the web.

Consider 

Your child may be able to bypass parental controls and monitoring software, and install inappropriate apps.

• How can you talk to your child about the websites they view and establish a sense of trust when they are not being supervised with their online use?
• How can you know the websites your child is visiting are safe?
• What measures can you take to protect your family from unwanted online content? 
• What do you do if you encounter illegal material?
• What can you do if your child sees something online that is offensive?

There are many benefits to being able to use search engines such as Google and Bing to find information and complete schoolwork. There are also some risks.

Risks for children when using search engines:

• Exposure to material that may be offensive or illegal.
• Visibility to search engine providers of your search activity.

Get Safe Online 

Watch 

• Smart online search tips for kids by Common Sense Media 
• Online research: Tips for effective search strategies by Research Videos 

Visit 

Searching the Internet

Suggestions for searching safely online from the Stay Safe Online website.

Child safety online

This page from the Department of Internal Affairs provides a selection of useful links to other websites related to Internet safety, censorship and child safety issues, including some interactive sites for children.

Zotero.org

Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organise, cite, and share research. 

Google Scholar

Google Scholar provides cleaner search results when researching.

Consider 

• Do you know how to use effective and safe search strategies while looking for content online? Does your child?
• Is your child's school teaching safe and effective search strategies? How do you know this? What can you do in a positive way if you think this isn't happening?

Netsafe resources

• Digital citizenship and digital literacy
• Netsafe Schools
• The Kit – Netsafe has a range of resources you can select, ranging from early childhood (ECE) to year 13. 
• Kete by Netsafe - Online safety tools and resources for schools and kura.
• Classroom resources - Resources for all age learners.
• Community resources - Netsafe resources that can be used to engage with the wider school community.
• Digital technology: Safe and responsible use in schools - This guide supports schools in the management of the safe and responsible use of digital technology for learning. It aims to provide principals and teachers with the information they need to act confidently and in the best interests of students regarding digital technologies. It is a companion to the Guidelines for the surrender and retention of property and searches.

Essential elements of digital citizenship - This article presents nine themes of digital citizenship.

Digital citizenship: Using technology appropriately - Useful ideas and links to resources to help with teaching digital citizenship.

Digital citizenship - Common Sense Media – Lesson plans, interactive games, professional development, and family education.

Brainpop digital citizenship - Lessons containing short movies, quizzes and activities.

BBC Teach Class Clips: Computing: Digital Literacy - Short videos for secondary students.

• Staying Safe Online Guide - Netsafe's guide provides practical advice, tips, and how-to guides for social media, online shopping, safe search and more. 
• Online bullying and harassment - Netsafe outlines strategies to deal with online bullying and harassment and provides information about the Harmful Digital Communications Act. 
• Netsafe resources - Netsafe's collection of resources from all over the world to help schools and kura embed online safety, citizenship and wellbeing in student learning. 
• Online safety -Common Sense Media – Privacy and Internet safety. 
• Sticks 'n Stones - A secondary student-led project managed by Central Otago REAP focused on taking positive action online to reduce cyberbullying. 
• Cyberbullying - eSafety - Resources and suggestions for parents. 
• So you got naked online - Advice for young people and parents on how to deal with issues arising out of sexting incidents. 
• Sending nudes and sexting - An excellent Australian resource with suggestions to support your child.  
• The Harmful Digital Communications Act - This site includes a range of measures designed to prevent cyberbullying and other harmful forms of online communications from taking place, as well as help those affected to deal with incidents.  
• Scams - Netsafe offers advice to help you identify and deal with online scams.  
• Parental controls on devices - Netsafe offers suggestions on having control software and settings, as well as providing tips for having an open discussion with your child. 
• Google Safety Center - Google provides support to help parents make safe choices around online use.  
• Child safety online - The Department of Internal Affairs has an overview of the risks of accessing content online and provides guidelines for parents.  
• Parents guide to technology - Tips for safely managing smartphones, gaming devices, and tablets.  
• Raising digital citizens - Teach your children to become good digital citizens with these resources. 
• Helping young people exposed to upsetting content - Advice on how to deal with inappropriate, offensive, or illegal material. 
• Parents Chatterbox series - An Australian series of videos on Vimeo to support parents with supporting and protecting their children when they are online.  
• It's time we talked - A resource to guide parents to support their child with issues surrounding online pornography.  
• Tips for strong, secure passwords & other authentication tools - Connect Safely provides ideas and tips to keep users safe.  
• Is it safe to post pictures of my kid online? - Common sense media provides thoughts on this question.

Copyright licensing – Information from Te Whakarōputanga Kaitiaki Kura o Aotearoa New Zealand School Boards Association.

Copyright infringement – Information and FAQs for teachers, including the use of YouTube in the classroom.

CLNZ Primary and Secondary Schools licence – If you intend to copy, scan, or share printed material with students that you didn’t create yourself, you need a CLNZ Education Licence.

Are you copying? – A one-page guide to display at your school.

What is "fair dealing" with copyright material? – The University of Otago website explains the concept of fair dealing.

New Zealand Intellectual Property Office – A guide to using copyright to protect the material you create and share online.

Plagiarism.org – A useful website explaining plagiarism.

New Zealand Legislation: Acts – Acts to about copyright infringement.