What We Share - Cybersmart Facilitation

As a BT, I have the opportunity to observe a lesson on cyber safety and responsible online behaviour once a week.  This week I observed a lesson led by Matt Goodwin, which focused on the topic of public versus private information.  Here is a link to my Cybersmart page that is facilitated by Matt.

LI : To know the difference between public and private information on the internet.

The lesson began with a thought-provoking video that underscored the potential consequences of sharing personal information online. This captured my students' attention and set the stage for the lesson.

• Matt facilitated a whole-class discussion on the concept of a digital footprint, encouraging students to share their thoughts and insights. This discussion deepened their understanding of the long-lasting impact of online actions, something we also discussed in the previous lesson.
• Students were provided with a template to categorise personal information as either public or private. Matt guided them through the process, ensuring they understood the significance of each category.
• Matt provided individual support to students during the activity, encouraging critical thinking and assisting them in making informed decisions about the classification of personal information. This personalised approach fostered a sense of ownership and responsibility.

Students were prompted to reflect on their own online presence and evaluate the need for privacy.  Throughout the lesson, Matt emphasised the need to think before sharing information online and stressed the personal responsibility each student holds in maintaining their cyber safety.

Some key takeaways from this observation include:

• The significance of engaging students through multimedia resources to create meaningful connections.
• The power of whole-class discussions in fostering a deeper understanding of digital footprints and their implications.
• The effectiveness of providing students with a structured template to categorise information.
• The value of individual support and guidance to encourage critical thinking and responsible decision-making.
• The need for students to reflect on their own online presence and consider the impact of their actions.

Here is a link to the template the students were working on.

Ngā mihi Matt for your time and facilitation.

24 Hour Digital Footprint - Cybersmart Facilitation

During this week's Cybersmart session, I observed Mr Matt Goodwin teach a lesson about understanding the concept of a "digital footprint." The learning intention for the lesson was to help tamariki (students) comprehend the significance of their online presence.

The lesson began with watching a video, followed by a class discussion on the idea of a digital footprint. Matt drew upon everyday analogies, such as footprints in the sand or walking through mud and then entering a house, to help the akonga connect to this idea that their online actions have an impact. He also connected the concept to sponsorships and advertisements that people want to see, emphasising the importance of promoting ourselves in a positive way when we blog or share our work.  I found that the analogies especially engaged the boys in this group.

Matt made effective use of getting students to "45" their screens between giving instructions and modelling.  I realised I tend to forget to model things like making a copy of a document or "45ing" my screen because I assume the students will do so without being told to, so that is something I will be keeping in mind going forward.

The tamariki were instructed to open their browsing history from the past 24 hours using the shortcut Ctrl + H.  This allowed them to reflect on what their online activities revealed about them. They were provided with a template to make a copy of, they then began the task of putting icons to represent the different websites they had been on in the last 24 hours.

I feel that this lesson invited my akonga to become active participants in their online lives. It also highlighted the significance of understanding and managing our digital footprints. By incorporating relatable analogies, encouraging self-reflection, and promoting positive online presence, Matt reminded the tamariki of the tools they can use to navigate the digital world responsibly. This lesson will become one I can refer back to when talking about cyber safety to the children.

Here are some links to students' blog posts after the session :

• Valencia
• Amarley

Smart Footprint : Cybersmart Facilitation

In today's Manaiakalani Cybersmart facilitation, I observed Mr. Matt Goodwin teach a lesson with a focus on having a 'Smart Footprint', which is a critical concept in today's digital age. The lesson centred around managing one's online presence, ensuring that students understood the importance of how they present themselves online.  The purpose of today's student task was to cover some of the more technical and design aspects in Google Draw to create things like a poster. My students learned the importance of managing their online presence and how it can affect their real-life reputation as well as important basic skill in using Google Draw to create DLO's.

MG began the lesson by sharing a poster he'd made of himself with vectors of things 'about' him. He then asked the class what they had learned about him from the pictures shown in the presentation. This opened up a discussion on how the online presence of a person could shape their image in real life.

The teacher stressed the importance of being careful about what students put online, saying, "I'm not going to put that on the internet" when discussing personal information.

My key takeaways from the facilitation :

• Going through things like :
• ...making a new document in a folder
• how to make an image bigger without distorting it - teaching them to use the shift key to keep size consistent...

• is beneficial for both the learners and the kaiako - we often assume at this age that most of them know already.
• MG demonstrated how things your learners should know in order to complete a task online can be made into teaching points when introducing the lesson or doing a guided session - for example how to change a font etc. (Things that may be often overlooked.)

By using Google Drawing, my students were able to practice their Google Drawing skills, as well as practice concepts of leaving a 'smart footprint'. These skills will be valuable for students as they navigate the online world, and my students definitely enjoyed learning how to create using the colour matcher, Remove.bg, and Google Drawing tools. Ngā mihi Mr Goodwin!

If you would like to see this lesson and previous lessons on our class site, you can click here.

Kawa of Care : Cybersmart Facilitation

Monday mornings in my classroom see Mr Matt Goodwin facilitating a Cybersmart session with my students.  This week's was the first of the lessons to happen due to the state of Aotearoa in the last two weeks.  The lesson focused on the Kawa of Care, specifically in helping the students to connect with the Kawa of Care as a document and an agreement that they have a stake in.

The Kawa of Care is an agreement between students, parents and schools in the Manaiakalani Cluster to ensure the best care and responsibility of the device is exercised during each student's time in the Manaiakalani Programme.  If you would like to know more about Manaiakalani's Kawa of Care you can click here.

I was interested to see how my Year 4 and 5 students who are 'brand new' to chromebooks would respond to content from the Kawa of Care.  They were all able to connect the dots after Mr Goodwin made connections to simpler things they would have all experienced - (eg. paying someone to mow your lawns - contract - 2 people needing to hold up their end). I know that the lesson also served as a well needed reminder to some of the 'veteran' Year 5's in my group.

As a beginning teacher of digital learners in the Manaiakalani cluster, my takeaways were : 

• The Kawa of Care is something that is beneficial to reference in things like Class Treaties when starting the year.  I have added this into our working classroom set of rules.
•  When I talk about chromebooks in class, I can refer to the Kawa of Care to help use the language to create a shared understanding of it.
• What I hope for my students is that they can take ownership of their chromebooks and look after them in a way that upholds what they and their whanau agreed to in the Kawa of Care.

Some of my student's takeaways were :

• Beginning to understand that using a chromebook at school is a right and a responsibility that their whanau have agreed to, that their schools has agreed to, and therefore something they need to agree to honour as well as their part.
• Their "part" is to follow the Kawa of Care.

Here is the DLO the students worked through with MG.

MG provided a template that has been designed to help break down the Kawa of Care document into a basic reading response style task.  The template is what is linked at the top of this blog post.  My notes from the session are here. 

If you would like to know more about Manaiakalani's Cybersmart programme you can click here.