Award-winning project on digital security
Better eSafe than sorry. Under this title, students from five European countries investigated how they can safely handle digital media. Initiator and teacher Dennis Jurhill won a prize with it.
Two years ago Dennis Jurhill, English teacher and mentor at St. Michaël College in Zaandam, wondered whether his students are aware of the risks of social media. “The consequences of bullying are now so much greater than before, if only because you reach a much larger audience digitally. I was curious about what is already being done and what else we can do to counter this.”
He conducted a survey among his students via Google forms, which showed that the smartphone is actually in continuous use and often even goes to bed with them. Many students were not aware that this negatively affects the sleeping pattern. They were also not well informed about topics such as sexting, grooming, cyberbullying or (online) game addiction.
Answer to questions
Jurhill decided to set up an international project to motivate his students from 3rd VWO to find answers to their questions. He contacted Maxime Drouet, a French colleague in Brittany, with whom he had previously carried out international projects through eTwinning. This is a free online platform for schools in Europe that encourages and enables international cooperation. The two teachers jointly developed the Better eSafe than sorry project, put it on the platform, after which colleagues from Bulgaria, Denmark, England and Spain decided to participate as well.
The project lasted a school year in which pupils from the five schools worked in mixed groups. They conducted a survey to find out what knowledge they already had and examined per theme how you can safely handle digital media, among other things. “They worked in Google drive, where you can easily change and add to a document together,” explains Jurhill. “Everything stands or falls with the efforts of students. That was sometimes difficult, then students from Bulgaria, for example, did not react quickly enough, to the frustration of my students, who were very enthusiastic and driven. But in the end, the project is about what you can get out of it yourself and I found the results very valuable.”
The students worked about eight hours a month on the study, which concluded with a presentation that they filmed and shared with each other. The project not only promotes their English, but also 21st century skills such as media literacy, collaboration and assessing information. “Students really enjoy communicating with their peers abroad. In this way they get to know other cultures and you also give substance to the theme of global citizenship unnoticed," says Jurhill enthusiastically.
spicy photo
The fact that students in other countries sometimes talk less freely about these kinds of subjects was one of the things that struck the Dutch students. “It was also striking that many students were not aware that they are punishable if they send a spicy photo to someone else,” the teacher explains. “Because they are minors, such a photo legally falls under child pornography.”
In order to visualize the state of digital safety at school, the pupil applied for an eSafety label. For this quality mark from the European Commission, schools first make their own analysis based on a checklist and are given tools for drawing up a digital safety plan. All participating schools meet the requirements and have been awarded the quality mark. And to top it off, a jury of experts selected Dennis Jurhill's project from many entries as the best in the category XNUMX to XNUMX years. “Very beautiful”, Jurhill responds. “Together with my French colleague, I happily put in a lot of extra time and effort, and it was of course more than worth it. I see the price as a crown on the work.”
Recommend
Jurhill can wholeheartedly recommend the project to other teachers. “The lesson plan is already there and the project is easy to fit in and implement. International cooperation yields so much. Not only for students, but also for teachers it is fun and inspiring to take a look at colleagues across the border. It's a win-win approach.”
More information: www.etwinning.net or via Dennis Jurhill: djurhill@stmichaelcollege.nl
