Worries about Talking Angela in your school?

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/18/talking-angela-app-children-safety

Read this article and Talking Angela's alleged dangers are explained. Of course, it doesn't mean that children should be using it without being supervised, but it does help to explain some of the negative hype that has been stirred up about it again.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/18/talking-angela-app-children-safety

With the very best wishes for a happy Christmas and a peaceful new year

Do you have any useful websites for children to share?

I have created a form to collect some useful websites for use by after school clubs or as suggestions to parents.  I am particularly looking for sites with no extra advertising around them or chat within them to avoid issues over supervision.

Please note you will need to scroll to find all the questions...



Once I have a selection I will make the list public so that you can share them with colleagues.

Useful Channel 5 videos related to child exploitation

Channel 5 reports on child exploitation issues
http://www.channel5.com/shows/5-news/features-archived/special-report-tackling-online-child-abuse#!

With all the recent focus on issues related to safeguarding and the Internet, I would recommend the link above to get a varied view of the problem (victims, police, paedophiles and kids).

There are 5 videos – each only a few minutes long and worth a few minutes of your time. (If you view then full screen, press Esc at the end of each video to go back to the host page.)

Remember e-safety is not an ICT problem!!

Python - text based coding opportunity

If you've had a look at Kodu and Scratch, which are more visual approaches to programming, you might like to have a look at Codecademy.com where you can get a feel for Python.

Sign up is free after a taster session. You can then develop your (or the children's)understanding in bite sized chunks which take the user gently through the basics of the language.

Need to get your staff using Scratch?

This useful video (hosted on Vimeo) will help your teachers get their heads around some of the possibilities.

Intro to Scratch 2.0 from ScratchEd on Vimeo.

Useful Introduction to KoDu on Prezi

Need a starting point for a staff meeting introducing Kodu to your teachers? 

This Prezi is very helpful in getting the basic principles across and showing the range of resources as well as cross-curricular links e.g. to English.