| Marcin Sołodki, Nobody's Children Foundation, Poland |
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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE Marcin Sołodki is a graduate of the Cybernetics Faculty of the Military University of Technology, and the Academy of Special Education (pedagogical skills – computer support for the teaching process).  He comes from Bartoszyce – a small town in the north of Poland, where together with his friends from high school, he established the "LIFT" radio station. For a few years, he produced and led radio shows for the young people, and most of the events organized for both the younger and older residents of Bartoszyce. His professional interests have focused, for many years, on e-learning, distance learning and mobile-learning – he is involved in educational projects in commercial companies, as well as in the non-government sector. He develops e-learning platforms, as well as courses for adults, children and young people. In the Nobody’s Children Foundation, he coordinates the Sieciaki.pl (Web Kids) project – working on distance education of children in the field of Internet security. ABSTRACTS 30 September, Wednesday, 10.40 – 11.00 Plenary session: Launch of new Sieciaki.pl educational resource for children Presentation topic: The education of children in the area of safety in the Internet - 5 years of experience and planned measures under the project of the Nobody´s Children Foundation "Sieciaki.pl" Since September 2004 the Nobody´s Children Foundation has been implementing a project "Sieciaki.pl", aimed at the education of children in the area of safe and effective use of electronic media as well as the certification and promotion of websites which are safe for children. The main part of the project is a website www.sieciaki.pl. The plot of the website is based on the adventures of Sieciaki, the children who know how to use the Web in a safe way and who combat the evil present in the Internet, represented by black creatures called Sieciuchy. The main task of Sieciaki, who posses special skills is to promote information about safe, effective and constructive Internet use. The characters which are attractive for children should encourage the program participants to become a Sieciak. Over 116 000 children, to whom website editors have sent xxx messages, have signed up since the beginning of the website, i.e. since February 2005. During this time xxx competitions with attractive prizes have been organized. Another important element of the website are also educational picnics for children organized every year under the campaign "Sieciaki on holiday". The picnic agenda is related to the do plot of the website www.sieciaki.pl. Young Internet users get acquainted with the principles of safe surfing on the Web, Internet-related dangers and the ways to cope with dangerous situations while they are playing. The children who are active during the picnic, put the acquired knowledge into practice and play together receive 'bytes' – a web currency which they can later exchange for prizes. So far 43 picnics have been organized and nearly 20 thousand children participated in them. For nearly half a year the project team of Sieciaki.pl has been working on a new version of a website, which would take into consideration the most recent trends and phenomena related to the use of Internet by children and which would be based on state-of-the-art technological solutions. The new website will be equipped with functions proper for social networking (a profile, comments, friends etc.) which will create a space for educating children in the area of safety related to social networks. Communication possibilities between children will be limited to emoticons and defined phrases due to safety reasons. Moreover, the certification system of websites for children will also be further developed. The website will be also enriched with RPG elements, which shall enhance the attractiveness of the proposed educational activities. The planned date of launching the new version of a website is December 2009. The project Sieciaki.pl is an element of the programme Saferinternet.pl. The main partner in the project is the Orange Foundation. 30 September, Wednesday, 14.30 – 16.30 Parallel session: Teaching children about Internet safety Presentation topic: E-learning courses of "Child on the Web" campaign For nearly two years now the Nobody’s children foundation has been running, in cooperation with the Orange Foundation, under the "Child on the Web" campaign, an e-learning platform on which sessions for children and youths devoted to safe Internet use are made available. All those actions are undertaken under the Safer Internet program in Poland.Until recently, the e-learning method was used exclusively in the education of adults. Experience gathered during the "Child on the Web" campaign indicates that it may be also successfully used in the education of the young ones. 1526 teachers have registered to-date on the campaign’s e-learning platform, and the courses have been taken advantage of by 39 184 primary and junior high school students. In their evaluations, both teachers and students highly value the attractiveness and effectiveness of this form of education. Courses of the "Child on the Web" campaign are made available through a unique e-learning platform at www.kursy.dzieckowsieci.pl. The platform was prepared with the school environment in mind, which allows the teachers to group their students, evaluate and supervise their work, as well as to communicate with their pupils. During the presentation opportunities offered by the platform will be described along with the e-learning courses: a. Course for primary school students, grades I-III "Learn the safe Internet" b. Course for primary school students, grades IV-VI "Safe adventure with the Internet" c. Course for junior high school students, grades I-III "Znajomi-Nieznajomi.pl" |
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