Internet Safety and Digital Citizenship

Hello Families of Division 1:

I hope that you are all enjoying some time relaxing with your families. Spring break is often an exciting time for our children. Sometimes they get to outside, go on a trip, have play-dates,  join camps, etc. However, due to the growing concerns of COVID-19, these plans have likely been affected.

Inevitably, our devices will be a “go-to” item for many students, which is understandable. I want to send a friendly reminder to everyone about internet safety and being responsible digital citizens.

Internet Safety

It is so important for all students to recognize both the benefits and the threats of the “online” world. Please see this link for details on how to be cyber safe! This is especially relevant as there have been cases of organized groups around the world that have taken advantage of the fear/confusion around COVID-19 to target people and access their personal information through their technologies. It is truly worth discussing together as a family.

Digital Citizenship

Digital citizenship is an important concept that I would like students to understand. This will be covered more in depth in Term 3, but it would be beneficial to read up on some of this ahead of time and having rich conversations about what it means to safe, kind, respectful, and responsible in the online community (all of which are pillars for what we hope for everyone in our non-online communities and our classroom). A risk that is growing in the teenage demographics is the issue of cyberbullying. It is often a very “grey” area to understand, but I hope that this link, these informational packages, and various other tabs on this site can provide everyone with clarity about what it means to be a responsible digital citizen. Here is another link to a short, but powerful message about cyberbullying from the Government of Canada to watch as well.

Stay safe this Spring Break!

Kindly,
Mr. Chu 🙂