Tabling the report, Senator Wortley said, “Parents and carers have ultimate responsibility for educating and protecting their children, including in the online environment. The role that they play in cybersafety education is vital and, while many resources are available, it is not always clear where they can be found. We are concerned to assist those parents and carers whose familiarity with technology is not great and we have made recommendations that may assist this group. A number of other recommendations seek to strengthen the position of schools and teachers in dealing with cyber-bullying and other online abuses, including cyber-bullying of teachers themselves. Other important recommendations deal with the establishment of a greater degree of cross-jurisdictional cooperation between the various regulatory and law enforcement agencies.”

List of recommendations

Young people in the online environment
Recommendation 1
That the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth consider the feasibility of assisting preschools and kindergartens to provide cyber-safety educational programs for children as part of their development activities.
Cyber-bullying
Recommendation 2
That the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy invite the Consultative Working Group on Cybersafety, in consultation with the Youth Advisory Group, to develop an agreed definition of cyber-bullying to be used by all Australian Government departments and agencies, and encourage its use nationally.
Recommendation 3
That the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and the Minster for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth work with the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth and the Australian Communications and Media Authority to investigate the feasibility of developing and introducing a cyber-safety student mentoring program in Australian schools.
Breaches of privacy and identity theft
Recommendation 4
That the Australian Government consider amending small business exemptions of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) to ensure that small businesses which hold substantial quantities of personal information, or which transfer personal information offshore, are subject to the requirements of that Act.
Recommendation 5
That the Australian Privacy Commissioner undertake a review of those categories of small business with significant personal data holdings, and make recommendations to Government about expanding the categories of small business operators prescribed in regulations as subject to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
Recommendation 6
That the Office of the Privacy Commissioner examine the issue of consent in the online context and develop guidelines on the appropriate use of privacy consent forms for online services and the Australian Government seek their adoption by industry.
Recommendation 7
That the Australian Government amend the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) to provide that all Australian organisations which transfer personal information overseas, including small businesses, ensure that the information will be protected in a manner at least equivalent to the protections provided under Australia’s privacy framework.
Recommendation 8
That the Office of Privacy Commissioner, in consultation with web browser developers, Internet service providers and the advertising industry, and inaccordance with proposed amendments to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), develop and impose a code which includes a ‘Do Not Track’ model following consultation with stakeholders.
Recommendation 9
That the Australian Government amend the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) to provide that an organisation has an Australian link if it collects information from Australia, thereby ensuring that information collected from Australia in the online context is protected by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
Recommendation 10
That the Australian Government amend the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) to require all Australian organisations that transfer personal information offshore are fully accountable for protecting the privacy of that information.
Recommendation 11
That the Australian Government consider the enforceability of provisions relating to the transfer of personal information offshore and, if necessary, strengthen the powers of the Australian Privacy Commissioner to enforce adequate protection of offshore data transfers.
Recommendation 12
That the Australian Government continue to work internationally, and particularly within our region, to develop strong privacy protections for Australians in the online context.
Schools
Recommendation 13
That the Attorney-General, as a matter of priority, work with State and Territory counterparts to develop a nationally consistent legislative approach to add certainty to the authority of schools to deal with incidents of inappropriate student behaviour to other students out of school hours.
Recommendation 14
That the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth propose to the Ministerial Council of Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs:
to develop national core standards for cyber-safety education in
schools,
to adopt a national scheme to encourage all Australian schools to introduce ‘Acceptable Use’ Agreements governing access to the online environment by their students, together with the necessary supporting policies, and
to encourage all Australian schools to familiarise students, teachers, and parents with the ThinkUknow program, and the Cyber- Safety Help Button and other resources of the Australian Communications and Media Authority to promote the cyber-safety message.
Recommendation 15
That the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth and the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy consider extending the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s Connect-ED program and other training programs to non- administration staff in Australian schools including school librarians, chaplains and counsellors.
Teachers
Recommendation 16
That the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations and the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy work together to ensure that sufficient funding is available to ensure the Australian Communications and Media Authority can provide the necessary training for professional development of Australian teachers.
Recommendation 17
That the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations and the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy encourage all Australian universities providing teacher training courses to ensure that cyber-safety material is incorporated in the core units in their curriculums.
Recommendation 18
That the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth establish a position similar to Queensland’s ‘reputation management’ position to provide nationally consistent advice to teachers who are being cyber-bullied by students about the role and processes of the Australian Communications and Media Authority, law enforcement agencies and Internet service providers in facilitating the removal of inappropriate material.
Recommendation 19
That the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth and the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy investigate funding a national, online training program for teachers and students that addresses bullying and cyber-bullying, and is validated by national accreditation.
Whole-of-school community
Recommendation 20
That the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth invite the Ministerial Council of Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs to formulate a cooperative national approach to the development of a whole-of-school community approach to cyber-safety, and to provide all schools with the necessary information and strategies to measure the effectiveness of their cyber-safety policies.
Legislative basis
Recommendation 21
That the Attorney-General work with State and Territory counterparts to invite all Australian Police Forces to develop a range of online courses to provide training in cyber-safety issues for all ranks, from basic training for recruits and in-service and refresher courses for more senior members.
Recommendation 22
That the Attorney-General work with State and Territory counterparts to initiate a mandatory training program for judicial officers and all relevant court staff addressing cyber-safety issues, to ensure they are aware of these issues, and of emerging technologies.
Recommendation 23
That the Attorney-General in conjunction with the National Working Group on Cybercrime undertake a review of legislation in Australian jurisdictions relating to cyber-safety crimes.
New technologies
Recommendation 24
That the Australian Communications and Media Authority facilitate the development of and promote online self assessment tools to enable young people, parents/carers and teachers to assess their level of awareness and understanding of cyber-safety issues.
Recommendation 25
That the Consultative Working Group on Cybersafety investigate possible improvements to the information provided to parents at the point of sale of computers and mobile phones.
Recommendation 26
That the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy negotiate with mobile phone companies to increase affordable access to crisis help lines, with a view to ensuring greater accessibility by young people seeking assistance.
Input from young people
Recommendation 27
That the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy invite the Consultative Working Group on Cybersafety, in conjunction with the Youth Advisory Group, continue to advise Government on enhancing the effectiveness of cyber-safety awareness campaigns including targeted media campaigns and educational programs.
Recommendation 28
That the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth consult with the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy to develop measures to introduce:
youth leadership courses enabling students to mentor their school communities about cyber-safety issues, and
courses on cyber-safety issues for parents/carers and other adults are developed in consultation with young people and delivered by young people.
Recommendation 29
That the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy facilitate a cooperative approach to ensure all material provided on cyber-safety programs is accessible through a central portal, and that a national education campaign be designed and implemented to publicise this portal, especially to young people.
Recommendation 30
That the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy encourages industry including the Internet Industry Association, to enhance the accessibility to assistance or complaints mechanisms on social networking sites; and develop a process that will allow people who have made complaints to receive prompt advice about actions that have been taken to resolve the matter, including the reasons why no action was taken.
Recommendation 31
That the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy invite the Consultative Working Group on Cybersafety to negotiate protocols with overseas social networking sites to ensure that offensive material is taken down as soon as possible.
Recommendation 32
That the relevant Ministers in consultation with service providers consider how costs may be reduced for law enforcement agencies collecting evidence against online offenders.

Hussen Raza, Roar’s UK General Manager said, “Quite a few of the Local Authority clients Roar was working with for the past few years have now had to set up their own private consultancies because of funding cuts within the LA. At first this was obviously bad news for all of us. But now we are forging new business relationships with these consultants whereby they can promote our range of cyber-safeguarding and Citizenship elearning modules to the schools they consult to.”

“I think it’s a great approach for schools. Obviously they already have a relationship with these Consultants and the schools trust them as a source of credible information. From Roar’s point of view it also works, these are people who know our products and can provide an unbiased appraisal.”

Craig Dow Sainter, Roar’s Managing Director said, “It’s good to see something positive happening in these difficult times. Roar would welcome any approach from individuals or organisations that believe they can represent our learning modules to schools.” He added, “It’s certainly tough times for companies such as Roar as I know it is for Consultants, so we are making our business model as flexible as possible. At the end of the day, it needs to be a win for everyone, the school, consultants and Roar.”

If you are, or intend to become a Schools Consultant then please contact Hussen Raza on
07528 549 767 or raz@roareducate.co.uk

The modules called Us Online promote digital literacy by teaching kids (years 1 – 10) about the safe, responsible use of digital technologies including issues of cyber-bullying. Us Online was developed by Roar Educate, and has been licensed by the Tasmanian Department of Education for use by students and teachers in all Tasmanian state schools.

Speaking in Hobart today, Roar Educate Managing Director Craig Dow Sainter said, “Children don’t need to be taught how to use digital technologies per se, but they do need help to learn about using technologies safely and responsibly… And they need to understand the potential consequences of improper use. It’s important that people don’t use technologies to harm or bully others. Personal responsibility is critical.

“If I have one key point to offer on using connected technologies safely and responsibly, it would be to think twice before posting. Once it’s up, it’s up and you can never really get it back,” he said.

Dow Sainter said that with the Department’s licensing of the Roar cyber-safety modules, plus their licensing to the majority of independent schools, Roar’s cyber-safety and anti-bullying modules would be available and supported in almost 75 per cent of schools in Tasmania.

“I’m hoping that the Catholic school sector will join us soon as it makes sense for all Tasmanian children to have access to these learning resources which have been developed here in Tasmania and have achieved such acclaim beyond the State.

“Educating children about the safe and responsible use of connected technologies is definitely a Roar specialty. Us Online was a finalist at the prestigious 2009 British Educational Technology and Training (BETT) Awards in London. And last year we won Best Children’s Interactive Media at the national AIMIA Awards for our e-security module Budd:e, developed for the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.”

“Cyber-bullying, cyber-safety and e-security are related issues, and not just for young people. I’d say there are a lot of adults who could use some help finding their way through these critical 21st century issues”, he said.

Dow Sainter said that with the support of Tasmanian Electronic Commerce Centre (TECC) and Adobe partnership, Roar would be conducting free online seminars for parents, using Adobe Connect collaboration software in the next few months. To register interest people were invited to contact Roar at info@roareducate.com

In particular, the survey found that:
• Almost 70% of parents are concerned about the safety risks of their children accessing the internet
• the majority of parents had implemented some form of preventative measures to reduce the risks to their children when online or had spoken to their children about the risks involved, however almost 20% of parents had not even spoken to their children about the risks
• just under half the parents surveyed felt they were well informed about cyber safety issues.

Full survey results were recently reported as Australian Children’s Cyber-safety and E-Security Project: Report on the results of a parents’survey, by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE).

The Multiple Intelligence Theory of Howard Gardner (1983) goes some way towards explaining this phenomenon.  Gardner proposed that human beings have eight types of intelligence, but that the strength or weakness of each will vary person to person.  Gardner’s eight types of intelligence are categorised as…  linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist.  The proposed eight types of intelligence are usefully described here, and links are included to good educational sites for each learner type.

Thanks to Lauren at Pacific Northwest Librarians for recommending these links :)

1.  Cyber-safety education needs to be mandated, and supported in real ways.  In order to genuinely safeguard children and young people online, cyber-safety education must be provided for children and young people, their parents, carers and families, and their teachers and school staff.

2.  We submit that it is the proper role of government to establish educational standards – standards for cyber-safeguarding, and the safe, responsible use of digital technologies.  Standards are necessary for evidence-based initiatives and programs.  Given the health and personal safety implications, agreed standards for cyber-safeguarding need to be a priority of government.  We recommend that government in consultation with stakeholders establish educational standards for cyber-safeguarding and the safe, ethical and responsible use of digital technologies.

3.  We also recommend that government consider ways to coordinate across the relevant departments and agencies (DBCDE, DEEWR, ACMA, and AMF) so cyber-safety policies and programs are no longer siloed.

4.  Beyond the establishment of educational standards and coordination of departments and agencies, government might then step back and allow the market more room to contribute cyber-risk solutions.  We argue that Roar (and other education software developers) are well placed to efficiently and cost-effectively serve the cyber-safety education market.  After all, government sets road rules and minimum standards for safe, responsible road use, but government doesn’t actually teach motorists to drive.

In the UK there are abundant free resources made available to schools, yet Roar has still been able to sell product to more than 40 per cent of government schools.  Why?  Roar has brought cyber-safety into the domain of citizenship and digital literacy:  promoting safe, ethical, responsible use of digital technologies as the social norm online.  Roar’s content is dynamic and updated regularly.  And its modest cost per child represents value for money.

Download PDF

So pay attention to Colbert.  Otherwise you may find yourself ‘surgically altering your appearance and getting rid of all your old friends’ to scrub up as the ‘ideal job candidate’.  Enjoy!

In Tasmania the excitement is palpable.  The possibilities for education, health, the world of doing business, and community-building are being spruiked on almost every street corner.  But what about the ‘dark side’, the seedy cyber-underbelly that high-speed broadband is likely to bring?

Experts say that the NBN will heighten the levels of cyber risk: from serious threats to individuals via cyber-bullying, online grooming, and sexting, or incidents of ID theft or fraud, or matters relating to intellectual property, through to less personal but more insidious forms of cyber-threat including spam attacks, phishing attacks, compromised personal computers adding to botnets, distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks etc – matters of personal security that directly impact on national security and Australia’s digital economy.

So what’s to be done about cyber-safeguarding?  Do children and young people, parents and families – indeed all citizens – know how to make safe, ethical, responsible use of digital technologies?  What should be the mechanisms for delivering current, dynamic cyber-safety education to the citizens of the nation?  Needless to say, Roar is ready, willing and able to tackle this challenge…

Given the capacity to adapt, it seems inevitable that a powerful, immersive stimulus like ‘screen time’ will be impacting the human brain in significant ways. But who’s to say this must be a negative thing.

The point about structural or functional change as Doidge describes is that adaptions generally tend to the positive.   Moreover, as Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker recently noted, new forms of media have always caused moral panics: “Yes, every time we learn a fact or skill the wiring of the brain changes; it’s not as if the information is stored in the pancreas. But the existence of neural plasticity does not mean the brain is a blob of clay pounded into shape by experience…”

Presumably cognitive neuroscience and brain imaging will help us to better understand the impact of ‘screen time’ on the developing brain. Meantime, do you have a view?

In their Point/Counterpoint series of discussions, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) is calling for arguments on both sides of the question, ‘should there be limits on students’ screen time?’ Tell us what you think, or post directly to ISTE.

@ ISTE, posted by Andra Brichacek:  Today’s students are called ‘digital natives’ for a reason. For most of their lives, they have been surrounded by screens at home, at school, and even in their pockets all day, every day. The engaged learning experiences those technologies provide will likely be invaluable in their futures, when they are part of the digital-age workforce. But critics have pointed to a number of possible negative side effects to media use, including increased aggression, vision problems, obesity and diabetes, vitamin D deficiency, and attention-deficit disorder. Some even argue that technology use from a young age affects children’s brain development. But is this change damaging or adaptive? Should we restrict their technology use or encourage more of it?

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Did you know that web 2.0 and social media are radically changing our traditional media landscape?  Three years and 20+ million online views later, the Did You Know? (Shift Happens) video is still going strong, this time to examine social media and convergence.

The latest in the series, Did You Know 4.0 was created for The Economist’s Media Convergence Forum in New York in October 2009.  Earlier versions of Did You Know? were to explore globalisation and the information age, and education for 21st century living.

Did You Know? is licensed by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and XPLANE under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike license.  This means that you are free to copy, distribute, remix and transmit the presentation as long as you give proper attribution to the original creators and share the resulting work under the same license.