Joining the world of blogging!! (Week one)

Hiya,

I am a student who has just started the PGCE and this is my first ever blog!!

Although I use the internet regularly and participate in some social media, I soon came to realise that my knowledge and use of the internet was actually very limited and that primary school aged children would run circles around me! Thank goodness the course includes a module on ICT as to be honest I also have no idea how to use an Interactive Whiteboard...it was blackboards and chalk when I went to school...
 

In my first ICT session we were taught how to blog amongst other things such as what is web 2.0 which I will tell you about in this post.

Web 2.0
This is a new use of the web. Whereas in the past the internet was just used to take information and content from, now it is largely being used the other way round in that people are adding content. The term refers to the way that it is now being used for things such as information sharing, networking sites and blogs amongst other things. This is an amazing thing but does also have a few down sides. For example, as content is added by the 'regular Joe' it means not everything on the web now is always accurate...so take what you read with a pinch of salt unless you know it's a trustworthy source.





There's also the issue of copyrighting and these laws being breached, which reminds me...am I allowed to copy and paste all these pictures that I found via google???


 





Another point that is important...especially when children are using the internet, is e-safety! E-safety refers to making sure the things that children see and do when they are online is safe and suitable to their age.

There are a number of things that parents/carers and schools can do to improve e-safety for children and there is lots of information and many websites that can explain what to do and how to do it. I have listed a couple below that I found from simply googling 'e-safety' which shows how easy it is to find help in this area:

http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/ This one is great as it has pages directed to the children themselves according to their age and also pages with information specifically for parents/carers and schools. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/topics/stay-safe is a great one for kids as it makes learning about e-safety fun by using characters they already know.

Tops tips mentioned on these sites include:

• Telling children not to give out any personal information about themselves such as their address, mobile number or where they go to school.
• Not to meet people you have met online in person.
• Not to open emails from people or email addresses that you don't recognise or open any attachments as they could be viruses or trying to find out your personal information (phishing emails).
• Parents should try to locate the computer in a family area of the house so they can be aware of what's going on.
• Check and set security levels within Internet Explorer.
• Parent's should show an interest and talk to their children about what they are doing online.

Think that's enough for my first attempt...got to leave you wanting more otherwise you won't come back! Think our next session is on the infamous Interactive Whiteboard!!