Crossing Borders – Netiquette

	Networking in cyberspace (social networking) lets you interact with a large number of people, create groups based on common interests, participate in public fora, etc. How does online communication differ from other ways of communicating?

Age: Primary and secondary school pupils
Duration: 3 months

Pedagogical Value

ICT Literacy & Knowledge Building

Pupils taking part in the project will have to work in groups and analyse safety aspects of ICT tools. This will help them build their ICT literacy, an important asset today. While they are discovering the possibilities these tools offer, they will also realise potential dangers and come up with ways of avoiding them.

ICT tools in this case will not only be the thematic focus but also the means of achieving cross-border communication and synthesis of the project outcome.

Safety, Privacy and Netiquette
Pupils will be led to reflect on netiquette and how to manage privacy and safety issues when they use tools that offer huge potential for public exposure. They will have to reflect on responsibility and solidarity.

Cross-cultural and Cross-border Communication

Pupils will become aware of cultural similarities and differences and find ways of overcoming the latter. By working with a partner school from another country on internet and mobile safety issues, they will also realise the universal character of the chosen topic.

Working in a Group: Planning, Organising, Delivering

Pupils will have to create a project plan for their own class, as well as for the team, and deliver within the given 3-month framework.
Working together with teachers, pupils will not only have to master group collaboration, they will also have to manage working with peers at a distance. For teachers, this will be the ideal occasion to experiment with new teaching methodologies.

Practical Tips

After signing up for the competition and registering at the eTwinning portal (if both partners are in the EU, Norway, Iceland or Bulgaria)

• Decide which communication tools to use
• Examine how to use them
• If necessary, register and get an account for each of the tools to be used
• Install all the necessary software, subject to school software and firewall policy
• Decide which language you are going to use with your partner school
• Identify the person(s) who could deal with translating and proofreading tasks
• Set up a work program, using a calendar to plan dates and times for group meetings and exchanges with the partner school
• Decide on how tasks will be shared, create working groups and assign rapporteurs
• Decide on how you will evaluate the material produced

Suggested Thematic Work

You could start by discussing social networking and how it’s used by your pupils. Partner schools could hold a joint brain storming session to initiate the discussion/debate. You may decide to work in smaller groups on some of the questions arising, using relevant material. The suggestions below are meant as guidelines:

How many pupils in your class already use social networking tools?

Did they read any instructions before they began using these tools?

Discuss their experiences and what they like about social networking. What are the negative aspects of belonging to an online community?
Anonymity can in some ways provide protection. On the other hand, how does it influence the way people interact online and what are the negative aspects of this?

Workshop Ideas

Discuss pupils’ social networking experiences. Try to create a set of typologies/profiles of users, analysing and synthesising online behaviours.

Study the profiles your pupils have set up. What impression do they give? Get them to compare their online and “real” life profiles.

Get pupils to compare discussions in the classroom, at home, or with friends to online discussions through a discussion group or a forum. Is there any difference?

Compare popular communities like “bebo” or “my space” to smaller, more specialised communities. What differences do pupils see in the way people communicate?

Compare how pupils meet people online with how they approach people in “real life”. What attracts them to other people and how do they initiate contact on- and offline?

When you have analysed online communication vs. communication in the physical world, map the positive and negative elements of each. What would pupils like to tell other young people about social networking and netiquette? What would they like to tell grown-ups about it?

Before your pupils start constructing their awareness material, make sure they clearly define their target audience so that their material will be structured suitably.

	Ippubblikat :	11/10/2006

	Mibdul l-aħħar :	22/06/2007

	Lingwi oħra :	bg | cz | da | de | el | en | es | et | fi | fr | hu | it | lt | lv | mt | nl | no | pl | pt | sk | sl | sv