Information Technology Update – November 1, 2018

Year 9 Students 1:1 Device 2019 and beyond

Our current Year 9 students are using parent owned iPads as their 1:1 device which they started using at the start of Year 7 2016. However, moving in to Year 10 in 2019, the boys will begin to be a part of the Senior School 1:1 program which sees the student device changing from an iPad to a Windows notebook. The Senior School 1:1 program started at the beginning of 2016 which saw each boy supplied with a HP Spectre 360 notebook. The College sources the notebook and parents are asked to pay off the notebook over three years with annual payments. Essentially, the notebook is owned by the parents and at the end of Year 12, after the three annual payments have been completed, the student can take the notebook home. More details on this program will be sent to parents soon.

Cyber Safety Pastoral Care Program

Cyber Safety will continue to covered in the Pastoral Care program being delivered to all students in Years 7 & 8 this term. Keeping our students safe while using electronic devices and teaching them to be good digital citizens has now become a critical part of the education of our young people. The Cyber Safety Pastoral Care Program is designed to educate and support our children in the positive use of technology and the value it can add to our daily lives and at the same time try to make them aware of their responsibilities in being good people and users of that technology.

Topics that will be covered in Weeks 3 & 4 include:

• Electronic media abuse

  • 3.3: Abuse using mobile devices

    • Examples of abuse on mobile phones

    • Legal implications of mobile phone abuse

    • What action can be taken to stop abuse

    • Implications around safety of students

      • information posted on websites that is accessible world wide

      • Privacy invasion

      • Being aware on the internet

  • 3.5: Developing a cyber safety fact sheet

    • In small groups, students design a fact sheet for internet safety and mobile phone use.

    • Students can refer to the College’s Responsible Use Policy on the internet and mobile phone use.

    • Look at an example of an internet safety brochure Safe Surfing by the National Crime Prevention Council

• Digital Life: Unit 1:

  • Cyberbullying: Be Upstanding

    • Students learn about the difference between being a passive bystander versus a brave upstander in cyberbullying situations.

    • Students reflect on what it means to be brave and to stand up for others.

    • They fill out the Why Care? Student Handout, create a diagram of the players involved, and generate ideas about how bystanders can become upstanders. They then identify concrete solutions for dealing with cyberbullying situations.

• Digital Life: Unit 2:

  • My media

    • Students review their media habits and the array of media they use on a weekly basis, and reflect on the role of digital media in their lives.

    • Students log the time they spend with different forms of digital media.

    • From this log, students create a My Media Bar Graph, a visual snapshot of their digital media lives that illustrates the amounts of time they spend with different forms of media.

    • Students then reflect on the role that digital media play in their lives.

A number of other topics will be covered over the course of the term which I will outline in future Crest articles.

Mr Mark Holland

Director of ICT