New look Teachtoday website launches
A collaboration of the world's leading
communication providers including Buongiorno, Deutsche Telekom, Facebook,
Google, GSM Association, Microsoft, MySpace, Orange FT Group, Telecom Italia,
Telefonica and Vodafone have re-launched the Teachtoday website at
http://www.teachtoday.eu.
Teachtoday is specifically designed to help teachers
manage the challenges, both inside and outside the classroom, presented by
online technologies such as Facebook, YouTube, mobile internet services and
services such as Twitter. The website has been designed closely with UK government
and professional agencies including Becta, National Association of Head
Teachers, teacher unions, local authorities and independent educational
experts.
The Teachtoday website builds on the issues
outlined in the 2008 Byron Report and the work of the DCSF Cyberbullying Task
Force. It has a particular focus on problems that affect teachers directly; for
example, where they are subject to malicious comments, videos or fake profiles
posted on social networking sites by pupils.
These can all be instantly uploaded and shared virally using mobile
technologies such as Bluetooth or internet access. The website also provides
professional guidance for teachers' use of personal devices from using a mobile
in the school environment, to blogging and social networking.
Teachtoday.eu provides teachers with valuable
information and resources needed to manage the safe and responsible use of new technologies
within the classroom. It considers a
wide range of issues that can affect children and young people today, such as cyberbullying, privacy, health
concerns such as self harm and sexual grooming.
"Teachtoday.eu has been developed to
ensure that teachers and the whole school workforce have the information and
resources necessary to ensure they can deal with the ever changing challenges
of new technologies," said Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of ATL, the
education union. "We all recognise that changes in the way people share
information online have happened so quickly it is almost impossible for
teachers to keep ahead of their pupils so we felt, as the sector which works
most closely with young people, that it was important to help them address
this".
"The National Education Network welcomes
the release of Teachtoday.eu. Online and mobile technologies offer astonishing
opportunities for learning.
Teachtoday.eu considers both the personal and professional safety of Teachers
alongside resources that can be used in the classroom. Effective and safe use and navigation of the
Internet is a valuable life skill for all," commented David Wright,
National Education Network (NEN).
Teachtoday.eu is part of a wider industry
collaboration which will see further sites launched across Europe. It is developed in partnership with European
Schoolnet (EUN), a not-for-profit consortium of 28 European Ministries of
Education. EUN provides major European education portals for teaching, learning
and collaboration