Today was our fourth and final assessment task of our Digital Technologies module. The success criteria for today was to use an app called iMovie to create a story linked to internet safety. Internet safety is not about restricting a child but educating them of the dangers of what can happen when it goes wrong. This is backed up by Beauchamp (2012, P58) whom states, “e-safety is not about restricting children, but about educating them”. I believe once children have the necessary tools and understanding of the dangers of the internet and they have confidence to speak to a responsible adult if something doesn’t feel right, then I think the internet could be used to its maximum potential. Scottish Government (2016, P1) states, “Digital technology can enrich learning and teaching, help to raise levels of attainment and close the attainment gap”. The huge impact that Digital technologies has on learning and teaching surely means that internet safety should be of the upmost importance in teaching in our schools. I do not however feel positive that there is currently enough being taught in our schools about e-safety.
The task at hand today was in groups and we had discussed various ideas before attending the class. the group and I were really looking forward to designing an iMovie about e-safety that is relevant in today’s society. iMovie is an app which gives children and adults the opportunity to express themselves and to allow them the freedom to create stories (Porter, 2004). Reflecting on using iMovie, I believe this to be a really great teaching tool to use as it allows us to be creative and have the freedom to express ourselves.
Please find attached our link to the iMovie (https://youtu.be/xu_hZvaktaA).
Prensky (2001) stated, “If digital immigrant educators really want to reach Digital Natives i.e. all their students – they will have to change”. I feel this is an appropriate statement that reflects well the group I have been working with. We are all mature students and are all most definitely a digital immigrant. I think this has work in our favour for this particular task as all five of us wanted to work hard to really show we are making an effort to try become digitally native and to become the best possible teachers we can be. We had spent at least two hours the day before the task planning roughly what we were going to do and what roles each of us would play. After much discussion, we decided to focus on Facebook. Facebook is a social media site used by millions and can unfortunately be used to bully, exploit. Cyberbullying can be devastating for a child or young person.
We decided that one of the members of the group would play the part of a young child uploading a video of herself singing a happy song onto Facebook (please see attached below pictures of this task). The slides that followed by the side of this video was an image of it being uploaded on Facebook and showing just how quickly these videos can be shared and moved about online and the amount of comments and abuse people can comment on a video. To a child or even most adults these abusive/ cyberbullying comments can leave a person feeling lonely, depressed and suicidal. We really wanted to show throughout the video what a happy and lovely video can do online through Cyberbullying and what a child can to get help if this was to happen to them or someone they know. The slides to follow after the video were facts and statistics on how many people have experienced Cyberbullying, the number of young people that have done something abusive to young folk and the number of children that are actually using social media. Researching these stats with the group came as a shock as I think we didn’t realise just how bad a problem social media is for young children and the amount of young folk using it. I think this has come as such a huge shock because when we were all young there was no such thing as social media. Taking us back to what Prensky (2012) said above, we as educators need to become digitally Native in order to teach effectively and this task as really highlighter that fact.
The next six slides that follow really emphasise the impact that Cyberbullying has on a child. It shows the child that uploaded the video to Facebook, walking round various locations in her school and being followed and laughed at. It did not matter where she went there was always someone following and laughing. It shows there is no geographical limitations, bullying can be anonymous, videos can be shared worldwide in a matter of seconds and that is can feel hard to escape. The video gives slides on advice for pupils to prevent Cyberbullying from happening, advice for parents and carers and advice for the teachers. On reflection of our iMovie I really think we have achieved some really relevant and important information about the power of social media and the negative impact it has on young folk. This is a great tool to be used to achieve experience and outcomes for the Curriculum for Excellence.
The level of children we decided to target was second and third level children. We decided on this as we felt most of our other tasks were targeted at early years and first level children. We also felt that the age group of second level children were more than likely to start using social media. The outcomes and experiences for the Curriculum for Excellence achieved for this task was; TCH 2-03a “I can explore online communities demonstrating an understanding of responsible digital behaviour and I’m aware of how to keep myself safe and secure”. TCH 3-03a “I can keep myself safe and secure in online environments and I am aware of the importance and consequences of doing this for myself and others”.
iMovie could be used in future lessons to give children the freedom and creativity to create their own e-safety movie and this would make it fun and exciting, allowing them to research and area of e-safety themselves and I think that could possibly have a bigger impact on them as they would be doing it themselves or in groups collaboratively.
In conclusion, I feel I have learnt some valuable lessons about today’s task, and I believe I will carry on the skills and knowledge I have learnt throughout my teaching career. Beauchamp (2012) made a really important statement about e-safety and it not being about restricting our children but about educating them. This task was a huge eye opener for me, as I could not believe the statistics when researching at just how bad Cyberbullying is and by creating this iMovie, I know there is positive tools out there to try educate our children about such topics. I believe iMovie to be a great tool to use in education young folk and it can be used across the curriculum in all of our subjects to allow a child to express themselves.
References
Beauchamp G. (2012) ICT in the Primary Classroom: From Pedagogy to Practice. Pearson.
Porter, B. (2004) Digi Tales: The Art of Telling Digital Stories. Bernajean Porter Publication.
Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Native, Digital Immigrants Part 1. On the Horizon. [Online] Vol.9(5), Available: https://doi.org/10.1108/10748120110424816[Accessed: 12 February 2019]
Scottish Government (2016) Enhancing Teaching and Learning through the use of Digital Technologies: A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland. [Online] Available: https://beta-gov-scot/publications/enhancing-learning-teaching-through-use-digital-technologies/[Accessed: 12 February 2019]
