That may sound a rather strange question. After all,
the internet is there, and young people use it every day.
But what the National Education Network and Lancaster University want to know is, "how do
young people and schools use the internet?" "Have they had any
bad experiences?" "Do they understand about filtering and
esafety?" "And how do their views of digital technology relate to the
views of their teachers?"They also want to know about their attitudes to social
networking sites. Are they worried about what can happen through the use
of these sites, or do they see them as an unremittingly good thing?
Going further, there's also the question of their mobile
phones - how do they use them? When do they use them, and again, do they have
any concerns? And indeed should educators, be concerned with how
these devices are being used.
At the moment no one is quite sure what young people feel
about these digital devices, and how their feelings accord with those of their
teachers. Because of this we can't be sure if current approaches to such
issues as filtering and e-safety are the best approaches, or whether we should
be working in different ways to ensure that pupils and teachers remain safe
when using digital technology.
This new research, (to be conducted across the UK), is being undertaken by the National
Education Network (the UK
collaborative network for on line education funded by government), and Lancaster University. It consists of simple
surveys, one group directed at teachers and personnel in schools (head
teachers, safeguarding officers, teachers, non-teaching staff, and governors),
and one at pupils - obviously with different questions for each different age
group (14-19, 12-14, 10-11, 8-9, and 5-7 years of age).
To find out more, and to access the surveys, go to: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/projects/nen/
The hope is that the results from these surveys will help us
develop strategies and educational programs for the future. School teachers,
e-Safety Leads and other adults working with children are all encouraged to
complete the survey. The results will be viewed in geographical location and
all schools who participate can receive an analysis (with no personal details)
of the findings for their specific school .