A new approach to Cyber Safety

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Over the last year I have been working with the Family Zone team on their comprehensive approach to online safety. As a Cyber Expert, I provide settings that are custom-designed and age appropriate. I eliminate the hard work of keeping up to date with technology, apps and online risks, which makes it easy for you! The aim helping educators, school and parent communities to understand the challenges of the digital world and equip them to meet these challenges.

FamilyZone LogoWhether in the classroom or at home, children are using technology – computers, mobile phones and the internet – more and more in their day-to-day lives. Cyber Safe School provides advice on keeping your child safe in the online world.

Children are the greatest beneficiaries of the digital era and are learning to navigate the online world at a younger and younger age.

However exploring the world wide web is not without risk.

When interacting in an online environment children need to be educated on what to do if they are exposed to age-inappropriate content; encounter cyber bullying; or when they might be putting their privacy at risk.

You can find out more at familyzone.com

What is Family Zone?

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I’m deeply involved in cyber safety. I work with the faculty, our kids and their parents on issues, incidents and solutions. And I have seen the worst of kid’s exposures to the cyber world. What kids can access, do, do to each other, get caught out by and how the digital world can re-wire their minds is very confronting. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t advocate a shut-down-access approach, but I think all parents need to apply some basic tools to limit appropriate access and to set and monitor boundaries. Family Zone is designed for parents, by parents to be easy, intuitive and effective.

Family Zone is a cloud based platform in which you register your family and select a trusted cyber expert. To use Family Zone you must first subscribe to a Family Zone plan, which allows you to connect a number of devices or home networks to Family Zone.

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Next you subscribe to a Cyber Expert so you can be fitted with parental control settings most suited for your family.

Once set up in Family Zone you then activate access services such as installing the device controller on your kids tablet or cellular mobile and installing a Family Zone box in your home.  These are simple 2 minute processes which are assisted by an online activation wizard.

Reshaping Education through CrowdFunding

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FundingGap is a CrowdFunding platform which is aimed at preparing students for a digital world through sustained engagement with technology and media. FundingGap brings a focus for Reshaping Education and putting together all the right ingredients to allow students succeed through project based learning.Crowdfunding education

With the FundingGap teacher resources, students have access to developing projects and ideas which come to life. helping you meet the Australian Curriculum Information and Communication Technology Capability simplicity, reliability, resourcing

If you’re new to CrowdFunding, CrowdFunding is exactly what it sounds like: getting a crowd (your friends, professional contacts, fans, even strangers) to fund your project, whatever it may be.

While anything can be CrowdFunded, it’s a strategy usually best-suited to creativity: off-beat, exciting projects that would be passed over by big investors for being too risky. But circumventing the big money guys has its rewards too: the freedom with product, content, and/or editorial that artists need, and that big sponsors usually don’t provide.

 

 

Active Learning Improving Student Performance

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Students in an Active Learning environment demonstrate better improvement in conceptual understanding than traditional classes. In these classes, students ask more questions, better questions, and offer explanations. This infographic from Falcon was created to help you adapt your learning environment to engage students.

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Students are Digging for Your Support

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Serpentine Jarrahdale Grammar School’s year 8 students are working towards reviving the back garden at St Aidan’s Anglican Church in Byford during the second half of this year.Crowdfunding education

The year 8 students have been organising this community service activity and with teacher Mr Pete Brown’s crowdfunding website, FundingGap, they aim to raise $1,000 to see this project happen. Funds will help to buy equipment for the garden such as shovels, garden rakes, gardening gloves and watering cans.

Year 8 homeroom teacher Skye Riseley is overseeing the project with students and said, “This project enables the year 8’s to get to know their community better and work toward a common cause to help others. They are very enthusiastic about the endeavour and have already received a lot of support by parents and teachers at the school.”

This initiative is part of the Middle School Oxygen program which was launched at the beginning of the school year and focuses on year seven to nine students engaging with the concept of change, challenges and involvement in the community.
For more information visit www.fundinggap.com.au

What should leaders do with technology?

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What should leaders do with technology? Education leaders are not expected to dream up their own new tech-enabled products. Far from it. But it is absolutely critical that a leader in education has a strong, informed opinion about where technology will lead education in the future.

What do leaders do with technology