Safer Internet Day 2012, an EU wide initiative to promote a safer Internet for all users, especially young people, will be celebrated in Ireland on Tuesday 7th February 2012. This year, Safer Internet Day, which is promoted in Ireland by the National Centre for Technology in Education NCTE), is urging families to get ‘webwise’ and to ‘discover the digital world together...safely!’.

Safer Internet Day (SID) will be celebrated around the world on Tuesday 7th February. Webwise, the Safer Internet Ireland Awareness Centre has arranged a number of events to mark the day. Webwise and the NCTE work with partners in Ireland and the 27 Safer Internet Centres of the European Union’s Insafe Network to celebrate SID. See how you and your child or school can join in the celebrations at webwise.ie

This is a call to action for parents to get involved in what their children are doing online from Webwise, Ireland's home for internet safety advice and tools.

In this clip an experienced parent discusses her experience of implementing the National Parents Council's advice on negotiating boundaries and communicating with children about their use of the internet.

Parenting expert, Áine Lynch from the National Parents Council, talks about the importance of having good, open communication with your child about their internet lives and provides some practical advice on how to achieve this.

This clip shows children in Ireland between the ages of 8 and 12 years talking about what they do online.

Parenting expert, Áine Lynch from the National Parents Council, discusses the benefits and practicalities for setting rules and boundaries for your child's internet usage.

This short clip shows you how to enable YouTube's safety mode. YouTube is one of the most popular websites with children in Ireland. You can very easily switch on the safety mode that blocks access to adult content on this site.

In this presentation at an Insafe regional conference in Dublin in 2009, dutch academic Hubb Nils outlines how recent advances in our understanding of how teenagers' brains work can explain some of their risk taking and poor decision making online.

This short clip from webwise demonstrates how to enable Google's safe search mode. If you are a parent and your children are using the intenret, you should do this. It is free, it's easy to switch on and only takes about a minute, and it is actually pretty effective.

Principal Rose Mary Lynch, Mercy College Beaumont explains the many uses of the school website and why they chose a Scoilnet Blog to create their site. The school website helps them communicate with students and parents.

Primary teacher Emma Hallinan, Culleens NS Mayo explains how using a Scoilnet Blog in the classroom has added fun to learning and teaching. Blogging with her pupils promotes collaborative learning and higher order thinking skills. Displaying the pupils’ Art work and Photo Stories gives an added purpose to their learning and allows parents and the wider community to share in their successes.

Catherine Fitzpatrick, SNA, Mercy College Beaumont shows the layout and organisation of the school’s website. Mercy College use a Scoilnet Blog for their website and find it “straightforward and user friendly.”

A tour of our Scoilnet Blog website video

Teacher Emma Hallinan, Culleens NS explains how the ease of blogging has helped all teachers in the school showcase pupils’ work and achievements. Their Scoilnet Blog has many advantages over their static website.

Principal Rose Mary Lynch, Mercy College Beaumont explains the many uses of the school website and why they chose a Scoilnet Blog to create their site. The school website helps them communicate with students and parents.

Principal Anthony Conlon, St Paul’s Community College explains how ICT has transformed learning, teaching and the school. The students enjoy using technology, it is their medium and they expect to be able to use it in the classroom.

The pupils in Gearóid O Duibhir’s class watch Nuacht TG4 on the IWB and then create their own video podcasts using the phrases and new vocabulary they have learned. See the fun they have being TV presenters and reporters while sitting at their desks in the classroom.

Learning Resource teacher Patricia Fielding explains how using laptops with her students has engaged them and involved them more actively in their own learning. Creating well presented work has added to their feelings of success.

The pupils of Bayside NS show their digital literacy skills.

Learning Resource teacher Patricia Fielding explains how using laptops with her students has engaged them and involved them more actively in their own learning. Creating well presented work has added to their feelings of success.

Principal Anthony Conlon, St Paul’s Community College explains how ICT has transformed learning, teaching and the school. The students enjoy using technology, it is their medium and they expect to be able to use it in the classroom.

Í Coláiste de hÍde, Tamhlacht insíonn múinteoir Staire Daithí agus a dháltaí scoile an méid taitnimh a bhaineann siad as bheith ag úsaid Teicneolaíocht Faisnéise agus Cumarsáide sa seomra ranga. Chruthaigh Daithí blag foghlama agus aimsíonn sé fístéipeanna agus gníomhachtaí áisiúla ar Scoilnet a chabhraíonn leis sa rang.

How ICT can help learning.. Advantages and some advice

Using Audacity - Online resources for class

d Ag taifeadadh le Audaci

Using ICT in the development of Gaeilge – Nuacht ar TG4 website

The Principal of Scoil na gCeithre Máistrí , Athlone tells us how important ICT is in her own school and what their plans are for its use.

FÍS bookclub for writing book reviews using simple technology (As Gaeilge)

Children are using the Fizzbooks in class.

Using the Visualiser and the tablet Laptop (As Gaeilge)

English teacher Pippa Brady sees many uses for ICT in her English classes. She employs it in class, she uses ICT to help her prepare classes, creating worksheets and slideshows, and she also uses it in her record keeping and administration. Pippa has gone further and adapted her classroom itself, creating a video wall to allow the film and drama sections of the syllabus to come alive. Instead of discussing film, the students become film makers and learn by doing. Pippa also recommends drawing on the techie know how of students who are willing and able to help.

German teacher Sandra Doyle and her students don't use textbooks for senior German, she and her students stay current with the language and bring the language alive by using the Internet in class. The students enjoy classes because they are so colourful and visual. The multi-media element of the Web brings a little piece of Germany into the classroom.

Science teacher Dónal Hegarty, St. Mary's College, Dundalk explains that ICT is not a substitute for good teaching rather it is a powerful tool to enhance teaching and learning. His students who have grown up with technology speak about the immediacy and impact of ICT use in their learning.

A video demonstrating how to use the Scoilnet Resource Finder. Please note there is no audio with this video.

Teacher Elaine King from St Mary’s School in Baldoyle shows how to set up and use a portable digital projector. The video is subtitled.

How to set-up and connect a fixed, short-throw digital projector to a computer.

Teresa Hennessy, ICT coordinating teacher of Tallaght Community School gives us a view of some of the many facets of her work. Teresa explains the current focus in her school is on using ICT in the classroom across the curriculum. As part of their whole school planning the staff is working on an e-Learning Plan and they have used the NCTE’s e-Learning Roadmap to assess their current use of ICT. They will prioritise a number of steps on which to work using the e-Learning Roadmap as their guide.

ICT is extensively used in Dunshaughlin Community College across the school day and at home by means the school’s virtual learning environment (VLE). A number of subject teachers demonstrate how they are creating an e-Learning school using ICT as a tool to enhance learning and teaching. Staff training and development in ICT is a regular feature in the school and the e-Portal and VLE allow for personalised learning and the sharing of resources and easy collaboration.

See how the 5th class boys of St. Joseph’s National School use digital video technology in presenting their work. They explain how they shot and edited their movie and why they enjoy creating and learning with digital media.

Watch the boys and girls of Ballyadams NS, Athy, explain with ease how they created a film for the FÍS Film Festival using Lego, animation and digital video. They developed the storyboard, wrote the script, designed and built the scenes and props and programmed using Lego Mindstorms. They like everything about it they say,” it’s a lot more fun than ‘normal’ work in your copies!”

See these 3rd Class boys class explain how with the aid of an infra red camera in the school’s bird nesting box and a digital projector they can ‘learn much, so much more’. ICT has brought nature into their classroom; it’s like being in the bird’s living room they say

Watch the Junior Infants in Fiona Hogan’s class having fun with an early Maths activity while the Senior Infants in Barbara Craine’s class deftly use the wireless mouse in learning how to spell. Both teachers explain how easy it is to engage a whole class of infants using the computer, a Visualiser, wireless keyboard and wireless mouse. All are absorbed and interested. The teachers can’t imagine classrooms without technology.

3rd Class teacher Colm O’Riain and his pupils explain how using multimedia applications in learning Irish encourages the pupils to use the technology not just to create their slideshows but to speak the language. Colm explains how through using multimedia they are now speaking Irish -- It has become a living language for the boys. The boys are so motivated they work on at home and upload their digital creations to the school’s virtual learning environment.

Learning Maths is fun when we use the computer say the boys of 2nd Class in St. Joseph’s NS. Teacher Carmel Durkan explains how using ICT adds a new dimension to learning and teaching. The interactivity and multi modal elements make learning enjoyable, it complements the class teacher’s work and easily reinforces concepts already taught. It’s a fun interactive way to keep the children engaged. The ICT Coordinator explains about the Resource Index they have created which lists useful websites and other digital content under various curriculum areas and the different strands, making it easy for teachers to find age appropriate digital resources.

Primary and Post Primary Principals speak about their vision for e-learning in their schools and the importance of establishing an e-culture throughout the school. Principal, Kathleen O’Connor, explains that children expect to experience technology in the classroom, they want to use it and are not afraid to use it. Principal Matt Hume traces the development of ICT in St. Joseph’s NS from 1987 to today. Involving the Board of Management and establishing an ICT Coordinator were important elements of his plan. Declan Donnelly, the ICT Coordinator, outlines his role in achieving the plan to embed ICT learning and teaching in the school. They installed a wireless network throughout the school; each classroom has a teaching laptop, data projector, wireless keyboard and wireless mouse to allow the children to use it at their desks. Realising their vision for ICT has also involved information evenings for parents and whole school continuing professional development for the teachers.

Jan Molloy, Learning Support Teacher finds numerous advantages to using ICT . Jan highlights the four different learning aids and explains the advantages of having diagnostic computer based tests. Pupils from 2nd to 6th class love the immediacy of response the computer allows them, they enjoy the game elements of many of the programmes and having fun while learning.

Sammy Snake words are easily spotted by these infants as they learn the new words in their new reader with the help of the Digital Visualiser.

Getting started with your e-Learning plan

Resources for the Classroom

Advice on Purchasing

Developing an e-learning Action Plan

What is a Visualiser?