It is no secret that children today spend most of their time online. Apart from the physical world around them, they are living in, and being influenced by, the digital world (Ott & Tiozzo, 2022).
Whilst the online world has created a multitude of opportunities for learning, access to information, and development of new skills, it does not come without risks such as:
- Cyberbullying
- Scams
- Fake news & misinformation
- Grooming
(Ott & Tiozzo, 2022)
What we aim to do with this blog is to help students understand how to manage and handle these situations, and in doing so, they will be able to use social media safely.
We believe that limiting or restricting children and students’ social media or online usage will not solve the issues mentioned. On the other hand, by censoring them from these issues, they will not know how to react once they are faced with them.
In several countries, initiatives have been taken to teach students about online safety, rather than dissuade them from the online world. In Singapore and Mexico, an initiative called the ‘digital intelligence quotient’ or DQ, is being rolled out in schools, and aims to increase students awareness and competency in the digital world (Singh Chawla, 2018). In an elementary school in the United States, young children are being educated about online safety in creative ways.
One of these methods is teaching their students to use the THINK acronym:
- T – Is it true?
- H – How does it get my attention?
- I – Is it a good choice for me?
- N – What are they not telling me?
- K – Do I know who made the post and why?
(Hoffman, 2018)
Our Goal
With this blog Stay Sharp Online, we hope we can guide students to:
- Develop their critical thinking skills: meaning they do not consume content blindly
- Be responsible in their own content creation: by having students be aware of the impact and the spread of information online
- Encourage students to pause and think about what they see online.
Chawla, D. S. (2018). 'The need for digital intelligence'. Nature, OUTLOOK SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION, 562(7725), S15-S16. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-06848-6
Hoffman, M. (2018, Oct 08). 'Billings elementary PTA focuses on teaching kids to use the internet safely'. TCA Regional News https://ejournals.um.edu.mt/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/billings-elementary-pta-focuses-on-teaching-kids/docview/2117025273/se-2
Ott, T., & Tiozzo, M. (2022). 'Digital Media Ethics: Benefits and Challenges in School Education'. International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning, 14(2), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJMBL.304459
AI tools were used for this blog post to help generate initial ideas and offer guidance on structure of the content. The research, source selection and writing and editing of the post were done by the authors.
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