During this session, we looked at internet safety and how movie making could be an influential way to teach people about the importance of ensuring they are being safe when on the internet and ways in which they can do this. Although there are many benefits to digital technology and the internet, there are also some negative factors and it is important that when growing up in a society were technology is part of our everyday lives, that these negatives are also portrayed but rather than being looked at as a negative and to avoid, looked at as how can this be stopped from affecting you and be turned into a positive learning experience.
Internet safety is a very important aspect in schools with staff training even being implemented to ensure the children are gaining the best possible knowledge on the subject that they can.
At the start of the lesson, we watched some clips from last year’s class to give us some ideas and possible routes that we could go down. Having looked at them, although they clearly convey the message across, our group decided we wanted to take a more modern approach and use something that majority of children will either be able to relate to or have some understanding of. Also, with a game that has caused controversy over whether children should be playing it or not, we thought it would be good to show children how to stay safe when using it so that although the controversy may still be there, children have an understanding of how to be safer when using it.
We chose to base our internet safety video around the game ‘Fortnite’. Fortnite is one of the most popular online games.
“In the aforementioned interview with Engadget, Tim Sweeney has revealed that Fortnite recently hit 250 million registered players in March 2019.” (Loveridge and James, 2019)
Fortnite is an online game against 99 other players who fight each other until only one is left. Around the map there are hidden weapons and houses and buildings to search. You can also build things to protect yourself from others using materials that you’ve gathered. The game lasts around 20 minutes in total if you survive till the end and as the finishing time gets closer, the map and where you can go gets smaller forcing players to fight to protect themselves. The game is very bright and colourful and is based on cartoon-like characters. You can also buy costumes for you character to wear and get them to do special dances, ‘The Floss’ being one of them, which nearly all children are doing. Due to the this, not only has it become a hit when playing it but also to watch others play it on the likes of YouTube.
Having said all the appealing aspects of the game, I also must point out the parts of the game that are causing controversy and that require knowledge of internet safety which is what we based our movie on. We started of the movie by showing the ways in which internet safety is disregarded and then asked what they would change about this and then contrasted it to the way the game should be played in order to keep you safe.
The key points we tried to convey were:
- Only accept people’s friend request that you know because as the game is online, you don’t fully know who you are talking to.
- Ensuring that your username is unusual and only given to people you are close with.
- Making your password unique and a secret. If people apart from parents were to find out your password this would mean they would have access to all your information and could hack your profile.
- If something doesn’t feel right when talking to someone, learn how to block someone and ALWAYS tell an adult.
- Don’t ever pay or buy things without parents’ permission.
- Have fun but play safe.
- I can extend my knowledge of how to use digital technology to communicate with others and I am aware of ways to keep safe and secure. (TCH 1-03a)
- Using digital technologies responsibly I can access, retrieve and use information to support, enrich or extend learning in different contexts. (TCH 1-02a)
(Education.gov.scot, n.d.)
This could further be progressed onto the children making their own iMovie videos. iMovie allows lessons to be more exciting and brought to life. You can include pictures, videos and sound. This allows you to express yourself and gain knowledge in a different way rather than just watching powerpoints or hearing someone talk.
I really enjoyed this session and seeing the finishing product gave the group a sense of accomplishment. As internet safety is such an important thing, it was interesting to create new ways in which you can convey the importance of this to children. I was apprehensive about this session at first when hearing it was an ‘iMovie’, I first thought that I would have to be videoed and be in the movie but after hearing the briefing I was a lot more relaxed about the session which allowed me to open up and be creative.
References
- Education.gov.scot. (n.d.). Curriculum For Excellence. [online] Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/All-experiencesoutcomes18.pdf [Accessed 12 Feb. 2019].
- Loveridge, S. and James, F. (2019). How many people play Fortnite? Is it really as many as people say?. [online] gamesradar. Available at: https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/how-many-people-play-fortnite/ [Accessed 1 Apr. 2019].
- NSPCC Learning. (2019). E-safety for schools | NSPCC Learning. [online] Available at: https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-resources/schools/e-safety-for-schools/ [Accessed 13 Feb. 2019].
- Parents, W. and Williams, R. (2018). What is Fortnite? An explainer for parents. [online] inews.co.uk. Available at: https://inews.co.uk/news/technology/what-is-fornite-explainer-for-parents/ [Accessed 13 Feb. 2019].
- Parent Zone. (n.d.). Fortnite: everything you need to know about the popular game. [online] Available at: https://parentzone.org.uk/article/fortnite-everything-you-need-know-about-online-game [Accessed 12 Feb. 2019].
