RESOURCES: Back to school with a new teachers' handbook

‘Sex and Violence in Digital Media. Prevention, Help & Counselling’ is the title of the new handbook for educators produced by the Austrian Institute for Applied Telecommunications (OIAT) which runs the Austrian Awareness Centre Saferinternet.at. The handbook contains useful information on media violence and phenomena such as cyberbullying, sexting and grooming. The resource is primarily designed to be used by teachers; therefore it contains tips on prevention, as well as how to handle such incidents at school.

The resource contains 23 practical exercises that can be used in school or in youth work. Since the handbook has been created in the framework of an EU Daphne III project, in cooperation with partners from Belgium, it is available in four language versions: English, German, French and Dutch. 

The brochures can be downloaded from the following website:http://www.saferinternet.at/chadvice.

Further information on safer internet activities in Austria is available from the Insafe website, or visit the Austrian Awareness Centre website direct at www.saferinternet.at.

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ARTICLES / SOCIAL MEDIA: The case for social media in schools

A year after seventh grade teacher Elizabeth Delmatoff started a pilot social media program in her Portland, Oregon classroom, 20% of students school-wide were completing extra assignments for no credit, grades had gone up more than 50%, and chronic absenteeism was reduced by more than a third. For the first time in its history, the school met its adequate yearly progress goal for absenteeism.

At a time when many teachers are made wary by reports of predators and bullies online, social media in the classroom is not the most popular proposition. Teachers like Delmatoff, however, are embracing it rather than banning it. They argue that the educational benefits of social media far outweigh the risks, and they worry that schools are missing out on an opportunity to incorporate learning tools the students already know how to use.

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NEWS / TECHNOLOGY / INTERNET: UK Teen ‘Schools’ Investors On Youth Media Preferences

UK Teen 'Schools' Investors On Youth Media Preferences

Posted on: Tuesday, 14 July 2009, 14:57 CDT

Matthew Robson is an average 15-year-old from the UK, but a major US bank in London is looking to him for advice.

In a research note written during work experience with Morgan Stanley in London, Robson described the current state of media through the eyes of a teenager, and influential people are listening.

Edward Hill-Wood, who supervised Robson during his work experience, referred to the report as "one of the clearest and most thought provoking insights we have seen."

The report depicts the way Robson and his peers consume media – from social networking to video games. One standard they abide by is that they do not want to pay for the media they consume, he wrote.

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