Cyber safety ..

Cyber safety is the safe and responsible use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).Cyber safety includes advice for keeping your child safe in that online world.

Every body is using cyber space for many reasons.. some are : 

Surfing, Chatting, E-mailing, File sharing and downloading, social networking and also gaming.

Thats why cyber space is NOT safe.

Kids and teenagers may face many threats and dangers while using the internet. for example : Viruses and worms, pornography and expliciet sexual content, Advertising that is highly manipulative for children and many many others. 

We can't let our children face these dangers and watch them, and we can't at the same time stopping them using the internet. 

but.. 

How can we protect them ?

Make sure your child does not spend all of his/her time on the computer. People, not computers, should be their best friends and companions.

Keep the computer in an area where it can be monitored, like the family room, kitchen or living room, not in your child’s bedroom.

Learn enough about computers so you can enjoy them together with your kids.

Teach them never to meet an online friend offline unless you are with them.

Watch your children when they’re online and see where they go.

Make sure that your children feel comfortable coming to you with questions and don’t over react if things go wrong.
Keep kids out of chatrooms or IRC channels unless they are monitored.
Encourage discussions between you and your child about what they enjoy online.
Teach them what information they can share with others online and what they can’t (like telephone numbers, address, their full name and school.
Get to know their “online friends” just as you get to know all of their other friends.

 Warn them that people may not be what they seem to be and that people they chat with are not their friends, they are just people they chat with.

Use technology again. i.e. use some parental software and tools on PCs

Consult your Internet service provider since some of them have some parental control feature.

Increase social awareness and seek government help. (control already implemented in Bahrain)

Web Quests...

A WebQuest, as implied by the name, is an inquiry-based, on-line learning activity. During this activity students work in groups, dividing assignments among each other, so that everyone participates in a group-assigned role. 

I think web quests will add more to the education field if it was used appropriately. It will maximize the benefits of the learning process.

Why to use a web quest ??

The main reason is that it will make the learning process interesting for the students. And when students are interested in the lesson they will understand it better and will learn it better and faster.

Further more, good webquest puts the power of the web behind your topic. You can show students - or let them discover for themselves, not just tell them. Web sites can take your students anywhere in the world. It is also a good way to let students work at their own pace, either individually or in teams. And it will let them better socialized and create a good bond between themselves as they will work in groups. One more important point is that web quest lets students explore selected areas in more depth, but within limits that you have selected. This makes web quests ideal for classes which combine students with different ability levels, and that is what we actually need in our schools.

Webquests can also increase the "comfort level" of students using the Internet for learning activities. While your students are probably already computer literate, a properly designed webquest can help students become creative researchers rather than simply "surfing" from one site to another.

Inquiry based learning ...

Inquiry based learning is an instructional process uses the students centered learning approach withe the teacher acting as a facilitator. The students are encouraged to investigate real world questions that they choose within a broad thematic framework. People since born acquire this approach to gain and gather knowledge. The inquiry process is mainly the gathering of data and information and applying them to senses like smelling, tasting, touching, hearing and seeing. Unfortunately, tradition ways of teaching raise students whom even have the courage to ask about things they don't know.Inquiry based learning is a way of converting data and information into useful knowledge. A useful application of inquiry based learning involves many different factors, which are, a different level of questions, a focus for questions, a framework for questions, and a context for questions. Good teacher can apply this approach in their classrooms step by step Until the students can achieve well through.

Student Centered Learning SCL

Student-centred learning is an approach to education focusing on the needs of the students, rather than those of others involved in the educational process, such as teachers and administrators.

In this approach students have many characteristics, most importance are :

• Students are active participants in their learning, and they will be involved in sharing decisions. 
• Students construct new knowledge and skills by building on their current knowledge and skills
• Students understand expectations and are encouraged to use self-assessment measures

This approach is being widely used in schools because its good effect on the learning process.

My self have tried to use this approach last year, it was hard and took time for students to get used to it. I taught primary students and they didn't accept it so i had to use direct instructions but still I tried to allocate a time to apply activities using student centered learning. I think this approach must be applied more in schools so students will accept it and then get the most benefit they can get.

Computer as a tool, tuter and tutee..

Computers in the world are commonly used everywhere and in everyplace in the world. And in education field it is used in the framework of ( Tuter, tool, tutee).

There are many openions and there are different uses of the computer in this framework.

The computer as a tuter is comonly used by practicing on an educational applications or games. To preapare the computer to be used as a tool, experts need to spend long hours programming such applications, lessons and games to produce a one hour learner working on these applications.

Throughout my experience as a teacher, I have always used the computer as a tutor and a tool. As a tutor, I had always prepared CDs and websites where students can learn through, it contained informations and interactive activities where can learn and spend time without being bored. That way enhanced my students achievement and let them love to learn. It also reduced the work that i had to do anyway. As a tool, we had always used the datashow for introducing the work and projects that we produced. We had used the net-support to share informations and media.

Nowadays, I am using the computer as a tutee. I am working on developing an i pod app where students can learn through. It is a questions game all about computers and i may extend it later on and share it with other subjects.

About me

My name is Seddiqa AlMadani. I am 26 and i am a mother of two children.
I have a degree of Bsc in ITC from the Arab Open Univesity.

To know more about me just follow the link.. :)