Archive for the ‘Digital School’ Category

The Aston Community Festival 2010 is a free for all event taking place on Sunday 27 June 2010 at Aston Villa Football Club, Witton Lane, Birmingham. B6 from 12pm - 7pm.

The event will host live music, a fun fair, food, face painters and much more.

For more information, please click here.

Well, it may be 5 years too late but at last Central Government has decided to catch up with the times and revise the primary school curriculum to include Internet Safety and prepare our children for the digital age.

It has long been the belief of IT educationalists that there is no point in restricting young people’s access to the wealth of information held on “t’internet”.  But, wouldn’t it be better preparing our future generations by providing them with the knowledge and understanding of not only the benefits, but the dangers of “t’internet” and enabling them to make informed decisions and judgements for themselves.  Because we all know, if you tell a young person not to do something … the likelihood is that they WILL go and do exactly what you’ve told them not to!

There are many crimes that are on the increase. If you watched the BBC’s excellent (in my opinion) three part series called “The Truth about Crime” a few weeks ago, you will know that is true (although the people of Oxford, the city that was the focus of the series, may not agree). It was reported today that the police are cracking down on people who drive while under the influence of drugs. We are told that it is just as dangerous as drink driving (I would have thought that was obvious).

However, one of the ways that the police are doing this is by using social networks, they are jumping on the bandwagon and using a successful medium with a massive captive audience - many of which may be the exact people they need to get the message across to. The one(s) that will be targeted have yet to be specified, but I think it is a great way for them to be used.

More - Multi-use of social networks

The annual fundraising event that is Comic Relief takes place on 13th March, but as is always the case, the publicity drive has started much earlier. This year you will find the Red Nose Campaign on the usual TV channels, radio and newspapers but also the social networks Twitter, Facebook and Bebo as celebrities and the public alike don their red noses to raise millions of pounds for UK and African causes.

More - Digital Relief

It has been recently reported that one in three teenagers are suffering bullying by mobile phone, text messages, messenger or on the Internet.  Tuesday saw the launch of a team of online Cyber Mentors to help teenage victims of bullying and they were deluged with calls for help with hundreds of victims and friends of victims logging on to chat to one of the 700 specially trained teenagers about their problems. More - Teenagers Tackle Cyberbullies

Deputy Leader, Cllr Tilsley and Annette King, Digital Birmingham Innovations Manager put the Wii to the test

Kids who spend ages on computer games can develop a nasty palm rash, doctors have found.  The condition has been dubbed PlayStation palmar hidradenitis by medics, who blame hours spent gripping consoles allied to sweaty palms.  Other medics report a tendon condition called Wii-itis among Wii players. More - Gamers at risk from ‘Playstation rash’

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Keeping a theatre full of 15 year olds captivated and engaged for nearly half an hour on the topic of internet safety might be a challenge for the best of speakers, but for Ed Gibson, it appeared to be a breeze - but then as an ex FBI agent, I’m sure he’s been up against worse situations!

As part of Safer Internet Day, I had invited Ed Gibson, Chief Security Adviser at Microsoft to talk to children at Sheldon Heath Community Arts College around internet safety, particularly to highlight the use of social networking sites and dangers of disclosing personal information online. More - SPAM, more spam and much more

Ed Gibson, Chief Cyber Security Adviser at Microsoft

Next Tuesday is International Safer Internet Day, which provides a focus to look at how to help our youngsters stay safe online and ensure that they grow up knowing how to behave and act responsibly when surfing and chatting on social networking sites or even gaming online.

The internet is probably one of the most significant digital technologies for the children of our time - it’s become a vital tool for homework, as well as being their playground and entertainment centre all in one. Facebook celebrated its 5th birthday on Wednesday with a staggering 150 million users where many see it as central to keeping track of their social life and what’s on. More - Being safe and secure online is paramount

Children benefit from having a computer in the home

For a number of years, I was involved in taking coach loads of Birmingham teachers down to the BETT show in London so that they could view the latest educational technology products, resources and best practice. The potential of technology in transforming the way children learn and interact was just starting to be unveiled.

Technology has moved on at a pace since those early days and in Jim Knight’s opening address on Wednesday at this year’s BETT show, it is all too clear the reliance and acceptance that we place on technology as the norm for enhancing the learning experience for students both in and out of school. More - Taking learning home in Birmingham