The Association of Directors of Children’s Services HARNESSING TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT VULNERABLE CHILDREN Richard Stiff Chair of Information.

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

HARNESSING TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT VULNERABLE CHILDREN

Richard StiffChair of Information Systems and Technology Policy Committee

– ADCS

Deputy Chief Executive and DCS North Lincolnshire

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

OVERVIEW• The ADCS• ICT Defining E-Safety• The On-Line Environment• Access and Safeguarding• Opportunities• Final Thoughts

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

Access to technology at home benefits learners in a range of different ways:

Improving learning and achievementMotivating and engaging childrenEncouraging independence and creativity Connecting learning at school and at home Helping parents and carers get more involved.

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

The government's vision is to ensure that all pupils aged 5-19, in state maintained education in England, have the opportunity to have access to computers and internet connectivity for education at home

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

Next Generation Learning @ Home packages will be available for purchase by all

The package will include a user device, internet connectivity and service wrapper

Let’s think about home…..

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

Foster care

Adoption

Informal arrangements

Residential care

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

ACCESS

SAFEGUARDING

TWO KEY ISSUES….

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

E-safety

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

DEFINING E-SAFETY

E-Safety refers to:

‘all fixed and mobile technologies that children and young people may encounter, now and in the future, which allow them access to content and communications that could raise issues or pose risks to their wellbeing and safety’.

‘Safeguarding Children On-Line’ BECTA

www.becta.org.uk/corporate/publications/documents/BEC6189Safegd

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

Content - sexual, racist, violent unreliable/ bigoted i.e. safety of children’s minds

Commerce - scams, phishing and pharming, downloads which steal information from users !

Contact - via interactive technologies – IM, chat, multiplayer games

Culture – bullying, camera phones, blogging, social networking …..

Accessed anywhere anytime

Easy to communicat

e with friends and

family

Wide and flexible range of

information

Presentation

A key skill for life

Personalised Learning

Why do we and our young people use ICT?

Motivational and fun

ICT IN CONTEXT

Threat of physical

danger or abuse

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

THE INTERNET AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES

InternetOur spaceYour space

Their space

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

BLOGS

E-mail

Podcasting

Instant messaging

Gaming sites

Social networking

Chat Rooms

Mobile phones

Video broadcasting

Music Download

sites

Wikies

What next???

Text

P2Pfile-sharing

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

Camera phonesText messages

MP3 player

Mobile TV

Mobile phones

e-mail

Downloads

Internet access

Anytime Anywhere

Chat and IM

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

Video broadcasting

• Video sharing websites are where users can upload, view and share video clips

• Videos can be rated and the number of times viewed recorded

• Video recorded with mobile phones can easily upload

• YouTube is one of the ten most popular websites

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

Social networking

Based on the idea of networking with friends and friends of friends

In March 2006 MySpace (Rupert Murdoch owned) overtook the BBC website in visitor numbers and now has 5.2 million UK users

In its first year Bebo attracted 21.4 million registered users worldwide

US banned social networking sites within all public institutions

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

E-SAFETY: KEY RISKS

• Content - sexual, racist, violent unreliable/ bigoted i.e. safety of children’s minds

• Commerce - scams, phishing and pharming, downloads which steal information from users !

• Contact - via interactive technologies – IM, chat, multiplayer games

• Culture – bullying, camera phones, blogging, social networking …..

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

E-mentoring in North Lincolnshire

• Transition issues• The Brightside Trust• User experience

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

http://www.thebrightsidetrust.org/

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

http://www.northlincs.tv/index.php

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

The opportunities are limitless……the only limit is our imagination

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

But……

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

‘..the risks do not merit a moral panic, and nor do they warrant seriously restricting children’s internet use because this would deny them the many benefits of the internet. Indeed, there are real costs to lacking internet access or sufficient skills to use it.’

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services www.adcs.org.uk

‘However, the risks are nonetheless widespread, they are experienced by many children as worrying or problematic, and they do warrant serious intervention by government, educators, industry and parents.’