Information Technology Update – August 13, 2015

Keeping our Safe online

There was an alarming article in last week’s Herald Sun with regards some of the dangers our children, indeed all of us face when going online. It also highlighted the major role we as parents can play in keeping our children safe online. Obviously in the cyber world, unscrupulous people are able to masquerade as someone other than who they really are without anyone knowing. Some even pose as fake entities who pretend to be a friend and even pretend to protect the child from a supposed bully to gain the victim’s trust. The fact is we can be in discussion, exchanging messages and providing personal details to these people not knowing their true identity. These fake entities have been using this information to harm other users, often in illegal circumstances. Unfortunately, some children and adults often put details of their personal life online in public on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr and Instagram profiles that can be used by these unscrupulous people. This is just another chilling example of how we need to educate our children about being careful about posting data online. Unfortunately we need to be totally sceptical about who is receiving our data and what they will do with it. I heard a cyber-expert on the ABC say that unfortunately, if we put our information online we have to presume it is public, that is viewable by anyone. On our recent visit from the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) as part of their Cybersmart presentation they highlighted how important it is that parents keep an eye on their child’s internet use. They also recommended children do not publish personal information on public sites and only give access to people they know when they accepting -‘friends’ on social media sites.

The ACMA team highlights 5 ways we as adults can help keep our children safe online:

• Have regular talks with our children so they are comfortable speaking with us when they experience a problem online

• We monitor their internet use

• Set house rules around when and where they can access social networking and gaming sites (I have posted some examples and links here http://ipads.stpats.vic.edu.au/family-agreements-and-resources.html )

• Advise them to never share passwords with friends

• Familiarise ourselves with the social media services and apps they are using (https://www.esafety.gov.au/esafety-information/games-apps-and-social-networking is an excellent site)

For more Cyber Safety resources please visit the parent support website page at: http://ipads.stpats.vic.edu.au/cyber-safety-resources.html

Kelty Resource Centre Online Resources

Often at home our boys are completing homework and assessment tasks and in search of reliable and curated information to use in their tasks. The Kelty Resource Centre (KRC) has a number of excellent online resources that can help our boys with their work. These online resources are available through the KRC Portal at http://krc.stpats.vic.edu.au/

This portal can be accessed from home using the above link and makes available to our boys many excellent research resources including the Britannica School Encyclopaedia, Brainpop, Science in Context, Echo Online, Newscan, New Internationalist and Clickview Online. The portal also provides access to a variety of literacy resources including information on ebooks as well as research guides and careers resources. Please note of the usernames and passwords required listed on the page.