Eray Başar - COURSE COORDINATOR
Eray is a member of the Digital Citizenship team at the EUN. He works mainly on the youth participation and project assessment tasks of the Better Internet for Kids project, among others.
Digital Literacy and Online Safety
BIK3
Welcome to the MOOC Digital Literacy and Online Safety: How the Pandemic Tested Our Skills
On this page
The online life we live today comes with many opportunities as well as many risks to avoid. Being digitally literate and having awareness of such risks plays a crucial role in being safe online. Moreover, the importance of the digital literacy skills was further emphasised in 2020 when the world faced the COVID-19 pandemic. The necessity to exclude physical interaction from the daily life resulted in teleworking, remote education and increased digital media consumption throughout the year.
Against this background, this MOOC will explore online trends and issues in the context of the new COVID-19 reality. It will provide the course participants with essential knowledge, tips and tools to handle a wide range of issues such as misinformation and disinformation, conspiracy theories, online scams (such as phishing, malware and ransomware), account security, online privacy, benefits and risks associated with livestreaming and health online relationships among others. Overall, this MOOC will enable participants to gain a better understanding of risks and challenges that young people face when they go online. With the course moderators, they will discuss strategies for supporting young people and helping them to develop safe and responsible online and offline behaviours. A wide range of resources that can be used in schools will be provided, and participants will also be asked to share their own experiences, challenges and successes.
You can follow the course at your own pace. We will open one module at the beginning of each week, but there is only a final deadline you need to pay attention to (for the quizzes and the peer-assessment activity).
Join us in the Facebook group or share your thoughts on Twitter using the hashtag #DigitalLiteracyMOOC.
Learning objectives
- To understand the benefits and risks associated with digital technologies and the internet in the context of a pandemic, especially in relation to children and young people.
- To explore the opportunities that the internet provides to access knowledge, communicate, and develop skills and creativity, but also critical thinking skills.
- To learn about various online challenges such as disinformation and scams, and how to support children and young people if they encounter such difficulties.
- To raise awareness about the importance of heathy relationships with technology and the internet.
- To raise awareness of the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) strategy and Insafe network, as part of the network of Safer Internet Centres (SICs) in Europe, and associated resources.
Prerequisites
The course is targeted at primary and secondary school teachers of any subject. ICT administrators, school counsellors and parents may also benefit from the course.
Modules
- Module 1: How did the pandemic affect online life? opens on 19/04/2021
- Module 2: Digital literacy and disinformation opens on 26/04/2021
- Module 3: Online scams opens on 03/05/2021
- Module 4: Healthy relationships with technology and the internet opens on 10/05/2021
Certification
In order to earn a course certificate, course participants need to pass all the quizzes, submit a lesson plan and review 3 of their peers' lesson plans. The participation in the quizzes will count for 15%, and the lesson plan together with the peer reviews will count for 85%. The overall passing grade is 95%.
Note to teachers from Portugal: You can get your successful participation in a European Schoolnet Academy course formally recognised as a valid continuous professional development, and thereby acquire the relevant number of training hours, by sending your certificate to the Conselho Científico e Pedagógico de Formação Contínua (CCPFC) at Rua do Forno, nº 30, 1º andar - apartado 2168, 4700 - 429 Braga, Portugal. For more information, please contact the CCPFC.
Note to teachers from Emilia-Romagna: Per i docenti della regione Emilia-Romagna iscritti alla piattaforma regionale https://iscrizioni.istruzioneer.it/ è possibile ottenere, oltre all’attestato rilasciato da European Schoolnet Academy, anche l’attestato rilasciato dall’Ufficio Scolastico Regionale per l'Emilia-Romagna (Servizio Marconi) che attua un'azione di facilitazione ed accompagnamento a questa attività. Maggiori informazioni al link: http://bit.ly/euroSMooc.
Note to teachers from Castilla y León: Si eres profesor de Castilla y León, y además del certificado de la European Schoolnet Academy, quieres recibir un certificado oficial de parte de la Consejería de Educación de la Junta de Castilla y León inscríbete en la página web del CFP Idiomas de Castilla y León http://cfpidiomas.centros.educa.jcyl.es/sitio/
Course Staff
Gareth Cort - COURSE MODERATOR
Gareth works as an online safety consultant to European Schoolnet and the UK Safer Internet Centre, delivering education and awareness sessions to youth and adults. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and is a qualified primary school teacher.
Lorcan Tuohy - COURSE MODERATOR
Lorcan is a member of the Digital Citizenship team at the EUN. He has volunteered with Better Internet for Kids for 3 years and Is an ambassador on a national level in Ireland for the promotion of digital skills and online safety.
Behind the course
With funding provided by the European Commission's Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), the joint Insafe and INHOPE network of Safer Internet Centres collaborates to deliver a safer internet, promoting safe, responsible use of the internet and mobile devices to children, young people and their families, and working to identify and remove illegal content online, in line with the EC’s Better Internet for Kids Strategy. Visit the Better Internet for Kids portal for further information. For further information on CEF, visit the EC’s Digital Agenda for Europe website.
Disclaimer
The ‘Digital Literacy and Online Safety: How the Pandemic Tested Our Skills’ course is produced by European Schoolnet on behalf of the European Commission as part of the Better Internet for Kids contract with active involvement from Insafe network members.
This MOOC is provided in good faith with regards to the validity, accuracy or comprehensiveness of the information contained within it, but please note that the views expressed are not necessarily the views of the European Commission or any partner organisations. Please note also, the authors have no control over third-party references and linked sites, and any referenced links may be subject to change over time.
All content on this course unless specified otherwise is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License