HISD students have been busy this spring making short videos to teach their fellow students about digital safety.
The district’s Educational Technology department received 39 multimedia submissions from 61 HISD students (four high schools, two middle schools, and five elementary schools) regarding online safety, digital citizenship, and privacy security.
October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, and the theme of this year’s observance is “our shared responsibility.”
Students and their parents can learn more about their role in that shared responsibility by visiting the cybersafety section of the PowerUp website at http://www.houstonisd.org/cybersafety. There, they will find articles on everything from plagiarism and cyberbullying to sexting and online safety.
HISD will also be hosting a phone bank at Univision on Wednesday, Oct. 1, to answer callers’ questions. The phone bank will be manned by district staff members. Call 1-855-841-4545 between the hours of 5 and 7:30 p.m. that night to participate.
This is the third in a series of stories counting down to the start of school, spotlighting what is new in HISD in the coming year.
As 21 more HISD high schools gear up to become part of the PowerUp one-to-one laptop initiative in the 2014-2015 school year, HISD has unveiled a powerful new companion — an all-encompassing cybersafety website to make sure students’ cybercitizenship matches their technological knowledge.
Developed for use by students, parents, and educators at all grade levels, the new site offers updated and user-friendly information about safe and sensible use of the Internet and social media. The site, which includes content from Common Sense Media, features resource links, tip sheets, videos, learning resources, parent information, and a model media agreement for families to use to set down guidelines for use of cell phones, tablets, laptops, and gaming devices. Continue reading