Teach your kids about cybersafety with this fun resource

Budd:e is a great site for primary and secondary students to learn about cybersafety.  It takes students throughout the process of identifying dodgy sites, viruses and malware and most of all teaches them about what information is deemed public and what should remain private. 

It also covers cyber bullying in great detail and helps students differentiate between reputable sources of information and content that is unreliable.

The Budd:e Cyber security Education package consists of two activity-based learning modules, one for primary school students, and one for secondary school students.  Both modules contain engaging, media-rich activities and resources, developed in consultation with teachers and subject matter experts. 

Here you will also find comprehensive Teacher Resources for Budd:e including background and contextual information, a video demonstration of the modules, lesson plans with learning outcomes for each activity, and curriculum maps for all Australian states and territories.

Budd:e is totally free and aimed at creating a safer, more secure online environment for all children.

Two great sites to teach students about cybersafety

I have written quite a bit about cybersafety in regards to parents, teachers and students taking ownership of the issue and not just burying our heads in the sand and hope that it goes away and in attempt to find out more about it today I came across two great resources that teach students about about cybersafety, protocol and correct use of the internet.

Hector’s World is a valuable educational resource for use in the classroom. Its cybersafety messages are relevant to younger primary school age groups, particularly 5 – 7 year olds.

Age-based lesson plans and activity sheets for each of the episodes have been designed for use in the classroom. The learning objectives are consistent with the principles set out in the national Statements of Learning for Information Communications and Technology and Statements of Learning for Civics and Citizenship.

At a teacher’s or parent’s discretion the Hector’s World stories may also be used for children under 5 years of age and for older primary students aged above 8 years.

Suggestions for the classroom:

• view the Hector’s World episodes with the class
• use the lesson plans as a guide to enforce key learning objectives
• install the Hector’s World Safety Button™ on classroom computers
• encourage parents to install the Hector’s World Safety Button at home
• use the downloadable Hector’s World learning activities to enhance the learning experience

Cyberquoll is aimed at older kids and looks at the issues of cyber bullying and the undesirable elements of the web and how to deal with them from the perspective of a teacher, parent and student.

Hope you enjoy them and would love to hear of any others you might know.



Teach your kids how to use the web smarter and safer: Welcome to the Web

welcome to the web"Welcome to the Web" is an interactive set of web pages which can be used to teach children (and adults) about the Internet. They can be used in the classroom / computer room and children are welcome to explore them as they wish (although they have been designed to use in sequence).

The resources are in split into seven sections:

1. The Beginning - explains how to use the site.
2. Getting Started Online - teaches children about the basic concepts involved in the Internet (World Wide Web, Hyperlinks, Back button etc). This introductory lesson also gives valuable practice in visiting and navigating around web sites.
3. Staying Safe - encourages pupils to keep themselves safe online by following the SMART rules. Also tests their understanding usign interactive activities and fun quizzes.
4. Using Your Browser - helps people to learn more about their web browsers... what are the different features and how are they used?
5. Searching Online - teaches children how to search effectively, and keep themselves safe when doing so. Also identifies search engines which are particularly suitable for children to use.
6. Trying Top Tricks - finding information on the net is great, but it is also important to know how that information can be used. This section explains about printing, using the Find tool to locate specific information within web pages, copying and pasting text, and saving images from the web. Also includes information about copyright and why it is important to credit others when you use their work.
7. The Welcome to the Web Challenge - When the children have completed all of the sections of Welcome to the Web, they can complete this exciting challenge. It requires them to use all of the skills which they have learnt to catch the creator of a destructive computer virus!

When visitors complete the challenge, they are able to print a personalised certificate to show their competence in using the Internet.  Access it here.