ICT in the 21st Century is seen as an essential resource to support learning and teaching, as well as playing an important role in the everyday lives of children, young people and adults. Consequently, schools need to build in the use of these technologies in order to arm our young people with the skills to access life-long learning and employment.
Information and Communications Technology covers a wide range of resources including; web-based and mobile learning. It is also important to recognise the constant and fast paced evolution of ICT within our society as a whole. Currently the internet technologies children and young people are using both inside and outside of the classroom include:
- Websites
- E-mail, Instant Messaging and chat rooms
- Social Media, including Facebook and Twitter
- Mobile/Smart phones with text, video and/or web functionality
- Other mobile devices with web functionality
- Gaming, especially online
- Learning Platforms and Virtual Learning Environments
- Blogs and Wikis
- Podcasting
- Video Broadcasting
- Music Downloading
Whilst exciting and beneficial both in and out of the context of education, much ICT, particularly web-based resources, are not consistently policed. All users need to be aware of the range of risks associated with the use of these Internet technologies and that some have minimum age requirements, usually 13 years.
At St Nicholas Priory School we understand the responsibility to educate our pupils on eSafety issues; teaching them the appropriate behaviours and critical thinking skills to enable them to remain both safe and legal when using the internet and related technologies, in and beyond the context of the classroom.
It can be very difficult to keep up with the trends and stay in touch with what online technologies students are using. Gooseberry Planet has provided us with tips and alerts gathered from other other schools, helping us to keep abreast of changing issues that may affect our children. You can find these tips and alerts on our website – Alerts / Tips.
