For us who are aware—itis close to an accountability! What is? Helping ensure that the communities ofwhich we are a part are eSafe.
eSafety is one of thehottest topics in the European learning scene at the moment—spanning all areasand sectors from pre-school to continuous professional development andeverything in between. Hardly a day goes by without some report of Internet securitybreaches somewhere causing at least inconvenience and often misery and longterm harm to the victims. Research reports constantly highlight the lack ofawareness that is rife. Small wonder then that there is a daily litany ofshocking court cases as a result of abuse, all too frequently stemming from“friending” on the net. The list of risks is long and broad and seems to growwith little evidence of any ability to control, ameliorate, or eliminate them.Internet fraud, pedophilia, cyber-bullying, racism, and radicalization hit theheadlines. So too does the increasingly frequent hacking of organizationalsystems.
This piece throws aspotlight on a problem that affects us all directly but one in which I believe wehave some responsibility for helping those we provide with great learning, butwho in many cases are less skilled than ourselves in recognizing and managingthe risks associated with using the Internet.
The problem goesfurther than the abhorrent issues I have already named. Devices becomingpopular through the Internet of Things and our increasing use of remote controlof our homes are also very vulnerable because many contain little, if any, ofthe inbuilt security that has become axiomatic when we sit in front of acomputer. Failure to acknowledge and deal with the risk of hacking throughthese “open doors” is a real issue. In the workplace we have become complacentbecause the IT function gives us a safe environment in which to work—providedwe obey the rules! Then there is the issue of our Internet legacies—but that isa different topic.
We have to learn tosafeguard our own homes in a new way. And, even if we have the awareness,research throughout Europe reveals that most adults do not have the necessaryskills. Even using parental filters to protect children is beyond mostaccording to a UK survey! Many people pay little attention to the need forpassword security—sometimes failing to protect at all. As our world moves evermore to operating online, some are so scared of the security issues they refuseto engage—making themselves vulnerable in other ways as well.
I am a governor of asmall primary school in a quiet rural part of England. Even there we need togive an apparently disproportionate level of attention to the safety aspects ofwhat should be simply an incredible aid to stupendous learning. And the focuswe have on the learning may be the very problem—we direct our energies thereand forget that the Internet and electronic revolution is actually about theevolution of a new way of life and mind-set. It is a way of living that istotally natural for the youngsters in our little school. It is their world,they know nothing else. But its intricacies are learned behaviors for all of usborn in the world before the net. We need to make real efforts to createconscious competence in that new world.
For many, developingthat awareness and skill is a part of our ongoing learning, but for many othersthe whole complexity of the net, social media, and the increasinglytechnological future present a frightening and daunting scenario—and one wherefear and lack of knowledge and expertise leaves them and everyone around themin a vulnerable position. Recognizing that, like any system, eSafety is as goodas its weakest point, my little school is embarking on a journey that is a dauntingchallenge. An outcome of a robust strategy to support kids from pre-school totheir pre-teen years is to position the school as a developing Centre of Excellencefor the whole community—kids through to their great grandparents, some of themnonagenarians. The children will apply their own learning to “teach” theirparents, grandparents, and care givers. A pipe dream? No! That is exactly whatthe adults are asking for, here in our village, and also nationally.
So what can we do from our informed, influential, andconnected environments as eLearning professionals? Has the time come for our eLearningofferings to contain an eSafety “hint and tip” item in the same way thatworkplace safety has benefitted from constant reminders?
