Tag Archives: Internet Safety

Teaching Internet Safety – Online Gaming⤴

from @ The Digital Revolution

Happy New Year!

With #SaferInternetDay2019 just around the corner on 5.2.19, I thought that a good way to start my posts for 2019 would be with an input on Internet Safety, including: where to find good resources; misinterpretation of internet safety; and ideas for teaching and talking to your children about internet safety.

I hope that this article is informative.  I often cringe when I see articles on Internet safety as they are always so negative – the truth is, the internet is an amazing place for children (and adults) to play and learn, but, as with everything there are dangers.  There are those out there who will try to convince you that you should never let your children play games online or have social media.  I disagree, and hopefully this post will justify my thoughts on this.  Of course, as with all of my posts, this is my opinion and I would always advise you look at other sources (noted throughout this post) to inform your own ideas.

Background

The internet is truly vast, and truthfully, it’s impossible to know what your children are doing all the time online.  In the same way that, if you let your child go to the park or out to the shops alone or with friends, you are putting trust in them.  As access to the internet is so great, I am going to focus on online gaming.  I talk, not only as someone who has worked with many children and discussed online habits, and not only as someone who has read a lot of academic studies on online safety in gaming, but as a gamer myself.  I love gaming, and realise both the benefits and dangers that it can pose.  Unfortunately, it is also an area that is often greatly misreported in the media, with scare stories being created frequently, that do nothing to educate us and children about how to stay safe online, but rather blame individual games for not protecting our children.  The truth is, that it is us that should be doing more to protect our children.  I’ll go into this more below in the ‘safeguarding our children’ section.

Whilst I couldn’t find statistics for the number of children playing online in the UK, “There are 23.1m people aged between 6 and 64 playing games in the UK, or 49% of the population in that age group.” (source) From my experience in talking to young people, most children in P4-P7 do play games online with people that they don’t know.  Now, that last sentence is one that strikes fear into people who don’t play online – ‘with people that they don’t know’.  This does not mean that your children are at risk; it is how your children act in that environment that puts them at risk or not – again, I will talk more about this in the ‘safeguarding our children’ section.

In 2014, IAB released the below infographic from their ‘Gaming Revolution’ study (source):

Gaming is a worry for parents and teachers alike.  It is however something that will not go away therefore it is vital for us to teach our children to be responsible citizens both offline and online in order to keep them safe.

 

Safeguarding our children

In the same way that, if your child is playing in public, or in the shops, or out with friends, people can come up to them and talk to them – this is true whenever your child is online.  Outside, we always teach our children “never talk to strangers” – although, I should point out that we sometimes encourage them to make friends outside with children that they’ve never met before, and we teach them that if they are lost they should talk to a police officer, or a shop keeper or someone in uniform.  We teach our children about dangers outside: crossing roads, people who might try to ‘take them away’, seeing and hearing things that upset them, bullying.  ALL of these things apply on the internet – okay, there are no roads to cross, however, children have to navigate between websites, and notice links and pop ups that might be harmful.  Whenever our children are online, they can be ‘approached’ by people that they don’t know.  Our children will often come across images, media and behaviours that are not appropriate – even in games that are for children.  Also, cyber bullying is a huge problem.  Yet, whilst we often have weekly inputs in outside safety, or road safety; and whilst parents will almost always remind children to stay safe outside, it is rare that this happens before children go onto computers.

Fortnite

I will refer to the game ‘Fortnite’ for this example, as I play it and know it well.  In Fortnite, in every match, you are playing a game with up to 100 other people.  Some of those people will be children and some will be adults.  If you are playing in squads, it is possible for you to talk to up to three other people via microphone, and you can sent written messages to anyone (although, this normally only applies on the computer platform as it is really cumbersome to send messages from a console).  I have to say, I have never received a random message, and I have been playing the game most days for the last year and a half.  Did you know that the audio chat feature can be turned off?  it’s very easy to do.  But, even if it’s not turned off, your child is not necessarily at risk just because they are talking in a public forum.  For example, if your child is in a random squad with people he/she doesn’t know, and he/she asks where the team is landing in-game – or what their objective is, that is ‘safe’ in-game chat.  They have not given any information about themselves away to anyone, and are simply asking instructions: liken this to your child being sent into a shop to get something, but they don’t know where it is so they ask someone to help them find it.  They’ve not revealed any information that puts them at risk.

The problem comes when a child reveals personal information.  Did you know, it only takes three pieces of personal information for someone to be able to work out where you live?

If we teach our children how to be safe and responsible in how they use communication features, then we are giving them the opportunity to enjoy their games safely.

Plickers

Plickers is a fantastic tool for assessing and ‘quizzing’ your children.  This week, I have been using it with P4-7 in a 5-question ‘quiz’ about safe online gaming.  Here are the questions that I put to the children:

You will notice in these questions that two of them are about adding ‘friends’.  The media continually reports about games ‘not doing enough to safeguard young people’ as there are options to talk to people that you don’t know.  Whilst this is true that more could be done, most games (and all of the games that I’ve ever played) have the option to turn off chat/communication features – I know this because I always turn them off.  The problem is that children often want to be sen as having lots of ‘friends’ and so add people that they don’t know or aren’t sure if they know.  This instantly gives another person access to their profile, and the ability to talk to them even if their chat features are turned off.  I know that lots of children do this – not because I have asked in school, but because every day that I play games, when I do particularly well, I receive between 20-30 ‘friend requests’.  I should point out now that I always reject those requests as I know it is most likely children looking for a strong player to join their team and I would never have children on my account (with the exception of my wee cousin).  I always talk about this in school and the dangers of adding people you don’t know/accepting requests and often just flip it round and say (after telling them that if they ever try to add me, I will block them!) “Look, I know and you know that you can trust me.  However, just imagine that you are that child that didn’t know me and you added me and I wasn’t a safe person and didn’t block you.  How would you feel if you knew that you had added a 29 year old adult man, who lives alone, to your list of ‘friends’?”  No disrespect to any 29 year old men who live alone out there, as I am one of them.  I know most adults are safe and lovely people, but there is always one who isn’t.  There are predators out there, and with out frightening our children, we do need to make them realise the importance of only having friends and talking to people that they know in real life.  We also have to remind them that, if they have the chance to talk to other people, it must only be about the game.

Another interesting question is the second one – asking a name.  Some children say to me “but what if I’m playing in a squad, and they need to know my name so that they can tell me if there’s an enemy nearby?”  I always reply with “use a nickname – call yourself unicorn if you need to, just don’t use your name.”  If children can ask themselves “why does he/she need to know that?” and can’t answer it, they shouldn’t say it.

I love plickers, as, in addition to being a great tool for assessing knowledge, it is an incredible conversation starter.  I’d strongly recommend using it and using similar questions to those above to find out from your children what their understanding is – I think it would shock you.  I should say, the answers are that the first one is ‘okay’ and the other three are ‘not okay’.  The final one is ‘tell an adult’ (I’ll talk about this below), but some children will say ‘ignore it’ (as they’re not giving anything personal away) but then say, but they’d tell an adult if it happened again.

Tell an adult – don’t ban them!

The most important one of the SMART internet safety rules; TELL an adult.  Yet, this is also the one that many children are unlikely to do.  In school, I always say to children if something makes them feel uncomfortable or upset, or someone has tried to ask for personal information – TELL an adult.  However, this adult does not have to be mum or dad.  Unfortunately, many children know that if they were to say to their parent that someone had tried to talk to them online (even if they did the right thing and did not give any personal details away) they would be banned from that game or console “for their own safety”.  Yet, adults often talk to people that they don’t know online – heck, whole relationships are often started online these days through dating websites.  I’m talking to loads of people that I don’t know right now.  We need to teach children to be responsible online citizens, and how to be safe in instances when someone talks to them online as they need to know these skills for later life.  Banning children when they come to you with an issue will almost always guarantee that they won’t come to you again in the future.  For the children though, I talk about lots of places that they can ‘talk to an adult’ if something goes wrong.  Parents, older siblings, grandparents, aunties/uncles, teachers, police/CEOP and childline are my favourite. Children often have other ideas too, but if they can all think of someone that they know that they will go to if something goes wrong, then immediately they are a little safer.  The problem is, and will always be, if the child doesn’t talk about it, and continues talking to whomever it was that they have ‘met’ online.

Check the content

Please, please do this before you let a child get a game.  Checking the content of a game is not tricky.  you don’t even need to be in a shop to do this.  Look for someone playing the game on YouTube and see what it’s like before you agree to your child getting it.  I have heard parents say they don’t let their child play Fortnite because they heard in the media that it’s a shooting game (I’d like to point out, its cartoony and so unrealistic – I would allow my children to play it if I had any) yet they allow their child to play Grand Theft Auto (also known as GTA) because their child said it was driving fast cars.

When I showed them this clip of GTA, they realised the mistake.  Please note, the clip has offensive language and scenes of a sexual nature and should NOT be watched with young people.  There are many games that I would never allow children to play – GTA is one of them: heck, I wouldn’t play it as I find it deeply offensive and disgusting.

The problem is though, once a child has started playing a game, removing it because it’s not appropriate is another thing akin to banning a child from playing altogether – it takes away trust as you had allowed them to play it.  If you are in doubt about a game, watch clips of it being played, check the age/content rating, and speak to your school’s DLoL.

Resources

There are many resources available for teaching about Internet Safety, both at home and in school.  My favourite places to go for resources is the official Safer Internet Day website.  Another great website to visit with your children is ThinkUKnow.

Report

If you know of a child or young person who is at risk, or who is being groomed online, you must report it to the police.  CEOP, or the “Child Exploitation and Online Protection command” is the service that you should use.  They are fantastic and help to save countless lives each year.  If a child is being groomed, it is likely that he/she will be exhibiting unusual personality traits, and they will likely act very angrily when it is discovered.  You must persevere through this and follow the advice offered by CEOP.  It is never okay, and it is never something that should be ignored, even if you are not sure that it is a case of grooming.

 

Finally,

I hope that this post has been informative and helpful.  I should note, I am note an expert on Internet Safety, and you should seek advice from the above sources if you are unsure about anything that your child has disclosed or is doing online.

Have a great week,

Donald

iOS 12 – an update for education!⤴

from @ The Digital Revolution

It’s rare that I actually get excited about an iOS update.  Sure, performance is introduced, and new features are added – but it’s rare that those new features excite me.  iOS12 is the exception to that rule.  As an educator, it is a gift.  Of course, there is still so much more that can come – there always will be, but my lord this is a step in the right direction.  And not just for educators; for parents who want a little more control of their children’s use of tech and want to be able to monitor it more effectively, iOS12 really goes a long way in a very positive direction.

This post is a little different; but as a teacher in Glasgow, where children are receiving iPads on a 1-1 basis as part of our digital transformation, it is something that I really want to look at.  For parents of children with iPads, I think aspects of this blog will also be really helpful.

Let’s look at some of the features that have been introduced and can have a really positive impact in the classroom:

Screen time

This is mostly beneficial for parents, but for schools would be a great thing to share with parents and implement, especially if we are encouraging children to use devices at home.

This is a huge move in the battle to cut down on ‘screen time’ for our younger users – but to fully appreciate this, we need to think about what ‘screen time’ actually is.  Screen time can be both a positive and negative experience.  Negative screen time, is time where children are not interacting or engaging with cognitive benefits – for example, playing games that have no depth of learning behind them.  There are many games that can be beneficial – ones that encourage problem solving and critical thinking for example, but in excess even these can be addictive.  For younger children especially, excessive individual screen time should be discouraged, but time with parents using a screen for play, learning or reading (in my opinion) can be just as positive an experience as reading a book or playing a board game as it is the collaborative aspect in these scenarios that is the beneficial experience.

The ‘screen time’ controls that come as part of the iOS update monitor usage in this way, and can even be programmed to limit it.  Let’s look more closely at them:

 

‘Screen time’ can be found in the settings menu on your iOS 12 enabled device.  Once activated, it automatically tracks usage and categorises it into ‘types’ of screen time – e.g. productivity, creativity, games, social media etc.  In the image below, I had only just enabled screen time for the purpose of this blog, so it is showing my screen time in seconds and uncategorised, but you will find many examples of more active screen time online.  Frankly, I have mine turned off as I know that I spend far too much time on Twitter and don’t want to see just how much!

 

 

 

Below the daily usage bar, there are four controls that can be activated.  In setting up screen time, you are asked if this is your device or your child’s.  If you select that it’s your child’s you will be automatically taken through each of these controls by default.

Downtime is just what you would imagine.  You get to choose times that the user is away from the screen.  The only things that the user will be able to use during this time are apps that you have set as being ‘always allowed’ e.g. the phone (in case of emergency for example) or the alarm/clock.  All other apps would be disabled during this time.

App limits even during enabled screen time, you can set a limit to apps.  If there’s a category of apps, for example games or social media, that you feel your child uses far to much, you can limit it to a set amount of time per day.  For example, I might feel that as I use twitter and facebook too much, I need to set a limit of one hour per day on social media.  If there are apps within the category that you don’t feel should be included in the limit, or you’d like to add other apps, simply click ‘edit apps’ after choosing and adding the category.  Here you can select and deselect the apps that you want/don’t want to include in the time limit.  This is such a powerful way of restricting access to apps that you want to limit.

Always allowed as noted previously, there are some apps that you may wish to always allow.  For example, you might always want to allow your child to make a phone call if they need to, or to access the camera or clock.  You can select/deselect these apps within this menu.

Content and Privacy Restrictions previously called ‘restrictions’ this section allows you to determine which apps and settings the user can change and edit.  Maybe you don’t want them having the ability to purchase apps – you can block that on here.  You can add content restrictions, e.g. no films aged 15 or 18, no explicit books.  As with all web filters, it is not perfect and there may be occasions where your child will come across inappropriate material.  This will always be the case so we do need to teach children to be good digital citizens, and how to deal with that if it does occur (by reporting it).  Again though, this full tool is a very powerful way to restrict and monitor screen time, and make the iPad a versatile tool for learning and entertainment, but not one that ‘takes over’ a child’s life.

Additional features you do also have the option to add a screen time passcode to secure all of these settings so that your child can’t change them.  The passcode can also be used to extend time if, say, for a reward one day you want to allow your child an extra 15 minutes on their games.  You can also share all of these features across all devices (associated with the apple ID) to save having to input the same data on each of your child(ren)’s devices.  You can also set it up for your family if your children have different apple IDs.

All in all, this change is very powerful and truly excellent.  I think it will help a lot of families control the ‘addiction’ that some people report their children as having.

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality has been with us for some time now, and can be experienced well through a whole host of applications such as Goggle Expeditions and Quiver.  I was actually using AR with P4 this week to let them look at aspects of Ancient Rome in more detail:

AR is continually getting better and better.  iOS 12 promises to integrate AR into many new apps and really build its profile.  It truly can be used well in education too.  Twinkl have recently released a free coding app for teaching basic coding skills.  The app is different to the many others as it uses AR for the game place – the game comes to life in front of you!  I have only just started using it and look forward to trying it out with the Tech Team to see what they think of it.

See my short clip about it in my tweet below:

 

AR ‘Measure’ app

I think that this application excited me more than any other part of the iOS12 update when I first saw it.  I had seen adverts for AR measuring apps on TV but hadn’t got round to purchasing one – fortunately, I now no longer need to as we have an AR measure app built in to our iOS12 devices!

Here’s a very quick clip of how it works:

In an educational context, measure is often something that can be tricky to teach, but this app can be very useful.  I would encourage a diversity of tools for teaching measure though and am not suggesting to ditch traditional measuring tools, such as rulers, as using and reading these is a skill.  The way I would see this tool being used would be for comparisons and gathering data quickly.  I also think it would be great to ‘test how good the app is’ by asking children to use the app to measure a surface, and then using a ruler to measure it and compare the results.

 

Voice memos

Voice memos have been around for a long time on iPhones, but until this update were clunky and you couldn’t really do anything with them.  That has all changed now.  Firstly, voice memos are no longer restricted to iPhones – you can access and create them on iPads and macs.  Secondly, it is so much easier to use and share your memos – even directly into apps such as notes.  Here’s a quick demonstration:

Whilst I used the app ‘notes’ in this tutorial, it works with loads of apps, including book creator!  Simply share your audio to book creator instead of notes, then, in book creator click on the + symbol within the book that you want to add the media, and select ‘shared’.  Choose the audio file that you want and then select whether you want it to appear as a button (clickable) or soundtrack (plays in the background).

I hope that this has been helpful and has given you an insight into some of the features within iOS12.  Please do also share with parents as I think it is vital that we equip parents with the tools to better protect their children online and monitor/limit non-beneficial screen time.

Have a great week!

 

 

A Facebook Like⤴

from @ John's World Wide Wall Display

Facebook was the key to the entire campaign, Wigmore explained. A Facebook ‘like’, he said, was their most “potent weapon”. “Because using artificial intelligence, as we did, tells you all sorts of things about that individual and how to convince them with what sort of advert. And you knew there would also be other people in their network who liked what they liked, so you could spread. And then you follow them. The computer never stops learning and it never stops monitoring.”

from: Robert Mercer: the big data billionaire waging war on mainstream media | Politics | The Guardian

Carole Cadwalladr’s article in today’s Observer, is both fascinating and frightening. The technology used by Cambridge Analytics is incredibly  powerful the use it has ben put too worrying. Andy Wigmore, Leave.EU’s comms director in the quote above doesn’t have a Facebook account quoted in the same article:

It is creepy! It’s really creepy! It’s why I’m not on Facebook! I tried it on myself to see what information it had on me and I was like, ‘Oh my God!’ What’s scary is that my kids had put things on Instagram and it picked that up. It knew where my kids went to school.

Featured image on this post created with a wee AppleScript Makes auto complete google search gifs.

Medium

Play your part and enjoy Safer Internet Day on 9 February 2016⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

Safer Internet Day (SID) is the flagship event under the Better Internet for Kids strategy. What started as a European event under the EC Safer Internet Programme has turned to a huge International event that in 2015 reached more than 28 million people in Europe and 60 million worldwide. One out of three internet users are children!

Capture

From cyberbullying to social networking, each year Safer Internet Day aims to raise awareness of emerging online issues and chooses a topic reflecting current concerns. Thousands of exciting events and activities take place in all European countries and worldwide– with more than 100 countries taking part. The aim is to gather children, students, teachers, parents, policy makers, decision takers to engage, raise awareness and help to make internet not only safe but also a better environment to be in.

For SID 2016, the focus of the day is “Play your part for a better internet”, reflecting the fact that we all have a role to play. How can YOU play your part?

You can support the day by joining in the thunderclap campaign.

If you are active on twitter you can use a “special” badge – check here how to create your badge

Safer Internet Day on Twitter

When tweeting use these hashtags – #SID2016, #Iplaymypart and #playyourpart

To discover resources on online safety and more information about the network of European Safer Internet Centres visit the Better Internet for Kids portal.

To find out what is happening in your country check the Safer Internet Day website.

Safer Internet, Responsible Use Guidelines⤴

from

EMPPC – Safer Internet Responsible Use Guidelines – 9-02-15 (v1 2) The vision  is “To enable all individuals, organisations, both private and public and the community as a whole to develop an ethos of digital citizenship that leads to a safe and responsible use of internet accessible technology”. This document represents a partnership of sharing … Continue reading Safer Internet, Responsible Use Guidelines →

7 things you didn’t know about Wikipedia (3 of 7) – It has ‘tabs’ [@wikimediauk @Wikimedia @Wikipedia]⤴

from @ OllieBray.com

Wikipedia Banner

Love it or hate it Wikipedia is a big part of our lives and its certainly a big part of our online browsing experience. Whether we admit to it or not many people consult Wikipedia on a regular basis to answer their questions. A large part of this is due to the fact that Google loves Wikipedia more than any other site on the Internet. In fact it gets presented as the top search result to more search queries than anything else, even Google itself.

Anyway, one of the challenges for educators using Wikipedia is trying to get students to use it appropriately and really to understand what it is and what it can do.

This series of posts should give you a few ideas.

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7 things you didn’t know about Wikipedia (3 of 7) – It has ‘tabs’

When you land on a Wikipedia Page for you land on the ‘Article’ page (or tab). The ‘Read’ tab (page) is also highlighted.

Wikipedia tabs

Most people think that this is Wikipedia. But that is because most people think that Wikipedia is a project about consumption. Its real purpose (which has become lost over the years) is that of creation. If fact, it is arguably, the worlds most ambitious, collaborative and successful digital creation project of all time. It is unlikely that something on its scale will ever be replicated again.

For those that need a reminder the word ‘wiki’ comes from the Hawaiian word meaning ‘quick’. In terms of the Internet a Wiki is a quick to edit web page and it is important to remember that anyone can edit Wikipedia.

The ability for anyone to be able to edit Wikipedia and to share their knowledge within its pages is one of the core philosophies of Wikipedia. It’s other core philosophy (like any encyclopaedia) is to remain as neutral as possible and represent a balanced view.

This leads me on nicely to the other Wikipedia tabs. The ‘View history’ Tab shows how many times, when and by who (as long as they are logged in) a page has been edited.

Wikipedia Revision History

Remember the general rule is the more edits a page has the more accurate it is likely to be. If there were only one editor then the article would be pretty bias from only one point of view… wouldn’t it?

The ‘Talk’ tabs make fascinating articles in themselves and contain the discussion and arguments of a group of editors trying to agree on the text that should go into the main article. It is these discussions that help Wikipedia remain transparent and neutral.

Wikipedia Talk Kingussie

Then there is the ‘edit’ tab - your chance to contribute to the largest encyclopaedia in the world (an empowering concept in itself). You might think that you have nothing to say or contribute. But the reality is Wikipedia is great at supporting niche and local articles that many traditional encyclopaedias just don’t have time to research or print. Anyone who edits a page or contributes to its development is part of the Wikipedia Community (and becomes a Wikipedian).

Wikipedia Editing

As an educator it is also worth considering using Wikipedia as a tool to develop Higher Order Thinking and Booms Taxonomy.

For example, you could use the ‘Read’ tab to help students remember and then with support understand key concepts and facts. You could use the ‘Talk’ tab to help students analyse to information. The ‘View History’ tab is a good tool to evaluate. Finally, ‘Edit’ tab supports the creation of content.

Wikipedia and Blooms
 

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Key Message: Educators should encourage students to use the ‘tabs’ on Wikipedia pages as a way of helping students critically evaluate them as a source. The tabs can also be used to support and the various stages of Blooms Taxonomy from remembering through to creating.

Wikipedia Belongs to education

7 things you didn’t know about Wikipedia (1 of 7) – It is pretty accurate [@wikimediauk @Wikimedia @Wikipedia]⤴

from @ OllieBray.com

Wikipedia Banner

Love it or hate it Wikipedia is a big part of our lives and its certainly a big part of our online browsing experience. Whether we admit to it or not many people consult Wikipedia on a regular basis to answer their questions. A large part of this is due to the fact that Google loves Wikipedia more than any other site on the Internet. In fact it gets presented as the top search result to more search queries than anything else, even Google itself.

Anyway, one of the challenges for educators using Wikipedia is trying to get students to use it appropriately and really to understand what it is and what it can do.

This series of posts should give you a few ideas.

 _______________________________________________

7 things you didn’t know about Wikipedia (1 of 7) – It is pretty accurate

About five years ago one local authority in Scotland even banned it for a short while and you unfortunately hear about cases like this on a school-by-school basis from time-to-time.

To be honest there has never been any point in banning Wikipedia in schools. Students will continue to access it when they go home or on their mobile phones and therefore still use it to gain information (no matter how accurate you think that information is). Also, as I have argued time and time again, if we ban Wikipedia in schools how can we ever teach young people to use this resource in a safe and responsible way? Indeed, It is the same argument for almost all social networking sites.

What we should be doing is teaching students how to use Wikipedia properly – because it’s not going away.

It continues to annoy me when people simply dismiss Wikipedia as a source because they feel it is not actuate. In my experience these are people who don’t really understand how it works and teachers need to understand how Wikipedia works so they can pass on this knowledge to their students.

So, lets start with the facts there have been numerous studies over the years that discuss the reliability of Wikipedia. There is even a Wikipedia article on it!

I still rate some of the original research from the University of Colorado , which argues that (at the time it was published) some articles were more actuate than similar articles in Britannica. 

However, the simple truth and answer to the accuracy question is that, like books, WIkipedia is full of mistakes. But, unlike books Wikipedia openly acknowledges that it might not be accurate. You don’t have to look very far through it pages to see disclaimers like:

  • 'The factual accuracy is disputed'
  • 'This article contradicts another article'
  • 'This article contradicts itself'
  • 'This article reads like an advertisement'
  • 'This article needs additional citation for verification'

Wikipedia edit 1

The interesting thing about these and the many other disclaimers that appear over Wikipedia is that by acknowledging that it could be wrong it is actually adding credibility to its articles.

I can’t remember ever seeing disclaimers like these in a more traditional encyclopedia (eg: Britannica) or certainly a Sunday newspaper. But, as we all know these traditional sources can also be wrong and the errors are often just corrected in a re-print of the encyclopedia or as an apology by the newspaper months or years later (which are never linked to the original digital source).

Wiki citations

Young people should be being taught to question everything that they read online and in print.

The Wikipedia (and Wikimedia) disclaimers help remind us of this and should be being used by educators as a teaching and learning point. Fundamentally, we should be getting children to use a bit of common sense to decide for themselves if something is true or not.

 

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Key Message: Educators should use the disclaimers as a starting point to help their students think about an article and its sources in a more critical way. 

 

Wikipedia Belongs to education

7 things you didn’t know about Wikipedia – Introduction [@wikimediauk @Wikimedia @Wikipedia]⤴

from @ OllieBray.com

Wikipedia Banner

Ian Stuarts Tweet asking “Scottish Teachers - Who is up for developing the use of wikipedia and other wikimedia products in schools? #eduwiki” reminded me that I really must get round to writing up my “7 things you didn’t know about Wikipedia Talk”. It also reminded me I must start to get out and about to conferences and education events a little more often – I’ve become increasing conscious that I’ve been ‘off the grid’ in the last 12 months.

I’ve been a Wikipedia fan since the start and also a fan of the wider Wikimedia family. I even delivered the keynote at the Wikimedia UK Annual Conference in Bristol back in 2011. The keynote resulted from a couple of digital scrapes in cyberspace / the blogosphere where I was trying to defend Wikipedia as a valuable source much to the anger (but ultimately confusion – due to a lack of understanding) of a few traditionalists (mainly journalists!). Who, quite frankly couldn’t see the woods from the trees. 

Anyway, the recent #eduwiki conference in Edinburgh seems to have built a bit of momentum again for the real value of Wikimedia (including Wikipedia) in Scottish Schools. So, I’ll send the next week posting a few ideas and tips to help teachers become more familiar with Wikipedia. There really is nothing new here – but perhaps the time is right to re-visit the agenda?

At the end of the series I’ll also post a few recommendations for Scottish Education.

 

Wikipedia Belongs to education
 

 

 

7 things you didn’t know about Wikipedia – Introduction [@wikimediauk @Wikimedia @Wikipedia]⤴

from @ OllieBray.com

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Ian Stuarts Tweet asking “Scottish Teachers - Who is up for developing the use of wikipedia and other wikimedia products in schools? #eduwiki” reminded me that I really must get round to writing up my “7 things you didn’t know about Wikipedia Talk”. It also reminded me I must start to get out and about to conferences and education events a little more often – I’ve become increasing conscious that I’ve been ‘off the grid’ in the last 12 months.

I’ve been a Wikipedia fan since the start and also a fan of the wider Wikimedia family. I even delivered the keynote at the Wikimedia UK Annual Conference in Bristol back in 2011. The keynote resulted from a couple of digital scrapes in cyberspace / the blogosphere where I was trying to defend Wikipedia as a valuable source much to the anger (but ultimately confusion – due to a lack of understanding) of a few traditionalists (mainly journalists!). Who, quite frankly couldn’t see the woods from the trees. 

Anyway, the recent #eduwiki conference in Edinburgh seems to have built a bit of momentum again for the real value of Wikimedia (including Wikipedia) in Scottish Schools. So, I’ll send the next week posting a few ideas and tips to help teachers become more familiar with Wikipedia. There really is nothing new here – but perhaps the time is right to re-visit the agenda?

At the end of the series I’ll also post a few recommendations for Scottish Education.

 

Wikipedia Belongs to education