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Everyone thinks of a famous person but doesn't tell anyone who they are.
They then private message the leader their name.
Once all names are in the leader will read out all the famous names in a random order (read twice)
The leader then chooses someone to start.  They then need to guess who each other is.
If you are guessed then you join that person's team and can help them until everyone has been guessed.
The winner is the person who has not been identified.

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Just click the plus sign to add any new game ideas.

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Count to 15 Ask the group to count to 15. Two rules only one person speaks at a time, if you speak at the same time your back to 1. If there is a pause more than 3 second it’s back to 1 again.

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It works exactly the same online as if you are all in a room together!!

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Ask everyone to draw their own monster - any way they want, but don't show or share. Then ask for a volunteer - they need to describe their monster verbally and everyone else draws. Compare results!!

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This game is great for getting interactions going while people are still joining the call. The leader will say things like"Switch off if you had cereal for breakfast" or "switch off if you are wearing red jumper". Participants switch off by turning camera off.

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While everyone buzzes (flap your hands and make buzzing sounds like a bee!) a volunteer chooses a letter from the alphabet. All players the simultaneously mime an action for anything starting with that letter. The volunteer then has to identify everyone's action.

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Great ideas for fun things to do online with youth groups.

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We care about your students' privacy. CoSpaces Edu takes student privacy very seriously and is COPPA and FERPA-compliant.

We have several measures in place to make sure that the data that you and your students store in CoSpaces Edu is always kept safe.

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CoSpaces Edu for kid-friendly 3D creation and coding

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Boost your kids' learning experience by letting them invent, build and code their own creations. Runs on mobile, tablet and desktop, including Chromebooks.

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Funding for devices for young adult learners.

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A new £250K Scottish Government programme open to CLD organisations working with young adult learners. CLD organisations can apply on behalf of young adult learners they are supporting. The programme supports the purchase of equipment to support digital inclusion and connectivity

To qualify, the supported young adult learners must be:

Aged 16 to 30

Who are actively supported by Community Learning and Development

Are not in full-time education, employment or training.

Covid-19 has highlighted the stark digital divide that exists in Scotland.

YouthLink Scotland, WEA and LEAD Scotland will work together with their networks to reach those who could benefit most from support to access digital equipment and the internet.

Further information on the fund criteria
Online Application Form *The closing date for applications is 25 September 2020*

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YouthLink Scotland | Digital Inclusion Fund

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A new £250K Scottish Government programme open to CLD organisations working with young adult learners. CLD organisations can apply on behalf of young adult learners they are supporting. The programme supports the purchase of equipment to support digital inclusion and connectivity To qualify, the supported young adult learners must be: Aged 16 to 30 Who are actively supported by Community Learning and Development Are not in full-time education, employment or training.

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8 and 9 September

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Please keep an eye on the events section of our website for information on future events which may be of interest to you: THIS EVENT IS NOW FULLY BOOKED.
Join us for two days entirely focused on digital youth work on 8 and 9 September 2020. Come to the whole two day event for a real conference feel or simply choose one or more events that interest you.

Adapting to online: The last few months have been busy and challenging for youth work organisations across Scotland, with many having to take the plunge and switch to digital unexpectedly. Now, as we get ready for autumn there's an opportunity to think about the learning from the lock-down months, share experiences and plan for the future.

Who is it for?: Whether digital youth work was already at the heart of your activities or it has come to the fore because of the COVID-19 emergency, this event is for you. There will be time to reflect, share best practice and learn from each other, as well as input from experts. Whether you are a youth work practitioner delivering digital youth work or a manager choosing apps with online safety in mind, please join us to share your experience and learn from each other.

Whether you want to come for the whole time or sign up for something in particular, please register now to receive the detailed information about the event.

Events will include:

Reflect and share sessions - key lockdown learnings

Practice sharing

Peer-to-peer learning on popular apps

Online games swap session

Techniques for creating engaging online sessions

Digital storytelling

Digital collage

Virtual Reality

Digital youth work hackathon

Staying safe online

What's next for digital youth work in Scotland?

An online conference? Really?

The whole conference will be hosted online. We will plan the sessions so there is time to breathe in between. There will also be plenty of time to interact in small groups, share chat online and take part in some virtual networking. We know it's not the same as face-to-face, but we're committed to delivering an event that makes being online engaging, relevant and even, just maybe, good fun! We hope you'll be able to take part.

See our conference programme for further information.

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Please keep an eye on the events section of our website for information on future events which may be of interest to you: THIS EVENT IS NOW FULLY BOOKED. Join us for two days entirely focused on digital youth work on 8 and 9 September 2020.

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Risk Assessment for not doing digital youth work

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Risk Assessment for not doing digital youth work

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These training materials have been developed as part of the 'Digital Youth Work' project, a strategic partnership between 7 organisations across Europe, to build the capacity of the youth work sector to deliver high quality youth work in a digital age. The project has been funded by Erasmus+.

They are based on training needs for practitioners identified by the EU expert group on digitalisation and youth's 2018 report .

The full collection includes materials from partners from Scotland, Ireland, Finland, Austria, Germany and Denmark. This can be found at www.digitalyouthwork.eu

All the partners are experts in their fields and the resources address a broad range of approaches to youth work in the digital age, including media literacy, STEAM in youth work, online counselling, safety online, social media in youth work, innovation and strategic development.

YouthLink Scotland would like to thank Lauren Plüss, Claire Dunn, Dana Cohlmeyer Jupp and Liz Green for their work developing these materials.

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YouthLink Scotland | Digital Youth Work Training Materials

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These training materials have been developed as part of the 'Digital Youth Work' project, a strategic partnership between 7 organisations across Europe, to build the capacity of the youth work sector to deliver high quality youth work in a digital age. The project has been funded by Erasmus+.

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How to set up a Minecraft Club for inclusion 

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How to set up a Minecraft Club for inclusion 

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A really useful looking toolkit for young people.

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London School of Economics and Political Science

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Imagine that the internet knows everything about you! Does it matter if it does? What can you do to protect your privacy and data online?

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A guide to digital safeguarding.

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Since April 2020 charities across the UK have been rushing to migrate their face-to-face services online. They've applied their safeguarding knowledge to a new context with enthusiasm and commitment. But best practice guidance has been dispersed and sometimes hard to find. Until now.

Launched today, DigiSafe is a step-by-step digital safeguarding guide. It's written for charities designing new digital services or taking existing ones online.

"A guide that helps charities continue to deliver safe and effective services while breaking new ground in both content and style." - Charné Tromp, DigiSafe Lead at CAST.

DigiSafe's backbone is a risk assessment process. Charities can use this before, during and after taking their services online. It advocates an iterative approach to risk management. This means using your risk register as a dashboard to guide how you design your service.

For designing new or existing services

If you're moving your services online, DigiSafe will help you:

- learn the principles of digital safeguarding

- think about how to apply them in specific service scenarios e.g. video, online groups etc

If you've already taken your services online, DigiSafe will help you track risks and review your progress.

For training staff to recognise safeguarding issues when delivering online

Recognising risk and spotting abuse when delivering online can be different. So DigiSafe explains how to identify both offline and online abuse when delivering this way.

It also takes a design-first approach. It helps charities to build safeguarding and risk assessment into each stage of their digital journey. It works for charities taking services online for the first time who may be working out how to write a digital safeguarding policy. And it works for those who are already risk assessing, designing and delivering services online.

DigiSafe is written in GitBook, an online publishing platform. Easier to navigate than a PDF, it also enables users to feed back on their experience. Because it is easy to update it avoids the pitfalls of PDFs that become out of date.

Written by four organisations

DigiSafe is a Catalyst resource. This means it was written and designed by a network of organisations working to the Catalyst charter. In this case the people involved were:

Charné Tromp of CAST, a UK charity accelerating use of technology across the social sector.

Cordelia Ruck and Jo Sharpen of AVA, a UK charity committed to ending gender based violence and abuse.

Joe Roberson of Working with Joe, a content design agency for the social sector.

Noam Sohachevsky of SIDE Labs, a user-research and no-code design agency for the social sector.

Funded by The Clothworkers' Foundation

"Our grantees have asked for DigiSafe. So we're really pleased to have funded it. We'd encourage all charities to use it to make their online services safe and effective." - Philip Howard, Head of Grants at The Clothworkers' Foundation.

DigiSafe is ready to use at www.digisafe.thecatalyst.org.uk

‍

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DigiSafe: your new step-by-step guide to digital safeguarding - Catalyst

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Since April 2020 charities across the UK have been rushing to migrate their face-to-face services online. They've applied their safeguarding knowledge to a new context with enthusiasm and commitment. But best practice guidance has been dispersed and sometimes hard to find. Until now. Launched today, DigiSafe is a step-by-step digital safeguarding guide.

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Short training videos on key aspects of cyber resilience.

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We live in an increasingly digital world. The pace of change is rapid and has an impact on everyone's day to day lives, with 2/3 of the world's 7.6 billion inhabitants now having a mobile phone.

Adapting to the digital world has been exciting for some, while others feel left behind by the pace of change and many can feel that they lack the skills and knowledge to get on board or keep up with everyone else.

The barriers aren't just about skills and knowledge in relation to the technology. When we engage with online services, if we feel our skill levels aren't good enough to enable us to achieve what we are trying to do, our confidence can be affected and we can become less likely to try again or put in the time to improve these skills.

Digital skills are now important for life and work and many organisations and public services are moving to digital systems for payment, benefit claims and online communication.

Adapting to the digital world is just not about emails, social media and online services, it's about maximising the opportunities and learning but also minimising the threats and misinformation that affect confidence, motivation and access for everyone.

Within Community Learning and Development (CLD) and the non-formal learning sector, practitioners need the skills and knowledge to provide opportunities to help learners and service users to:

Develop their digital skills

Build confidence

Improve resilience to deal with online situations

As practitioners, we need to feel confident in our skills and knowledge in order to engage with our learners and service users. We also need to feel confident in the resources we have access to.

There is so much information online and finding the best, up to date, resources are important. The tools attached to this project are a great starting point.

This resource is a reflection of the information and insights we gain from the consultations carried out this year. It highlights issues and areas that practitioners, learners and services users have fed into this process.

By placing CLD and non-formal learning at the centre of transformational changes to digital learning, it can have a positive and empowering impact on individuals and communities.

Resources developed by YouthLink Scotland in partnership with: Midlothian Council, Police Scotland, The Prince's Trust Scotland, Learning Link Scotland, Young Scot, Carnegie UK Trust, North Ayrshire Council, Lead Scotland, Scottish Community Development Centre. CLD Standards Council.

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YouthLink Scotland | Safe, Secure & Empowered

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We live in an increasingly digital world. The pace of change is rapid and has an impact on everyone's day to day lives, with 2/3 of the world's 7.6 billion inhabitants now having a mobile phone.

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How to listen to young people in a digital setting

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How to listen to young people in a digital setting

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Aims to connect up to 9,000 more people on low incomes who are considered clinically at high risk.

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Whilst we're at home throughout the coronavirus crisis, the internet is keeping us connected to friends and family, informed and entertained, and able to learn, work, shop and access health information and other public services.

However, some people can't access these benefits because they don't have the confidence, kit and connectivity at home.

The Connecting Scotland initiative aims to connect up to 9,000 more people on low incomes who are considered clinically at high risk so they can access services and support and connect with friends and family during the pandemic.

Are you an organisation working with vulnerable individuals and families?
Find out how organisations can support
Are you an individual looking to help and support someone to get online?
Advice on how to get online confidently and safely

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Whilst we're at home throughout the coronavirus crisis, the internet is keeping us connected to friends and family, informed and entertained, and able to learn, work, shop and access health information and other public services. However, some people can't access these benefits because they don't have the confidence, kit and connectivity at home.

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©AbilityNet 2020. AbilityNet is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales No: 3469653. AbilityNet is a Charity, registered in England and Wales, registration number 1067673, and in Scotland registration number SC039866. Registered Office: Acre House, 11/15 William Road, London NW1 3ER. VAT No. 380597914.

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Borrow a refurbished lap-top for the rest of lock-down from Edinburgh Charity Pass IT on.

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COVID-19.

Home IT not up to the job? We can lend you a computer system...

Organisations: Are your staff struggling to video-conference via their phones, or sitting hunched over small laptop screens?

Parents: Are you and your children competing to use the only family computer for work, homework and keeping in touch with others?

Individuals: Do you need a computer to stay in touch with family and friends or to shop online more easily?

In response to the current situation with Covid-19, Pass IT On is in a unique position to help ensure you DON'T Pass IT On!. We're a well-established Edinburgh charity that has a stock of good quality refurbished PCs that we normally sell to raise funds. If you need a computer (or more than one!) for a short-term period to weather this pandemic, you can borrow one from us.

How does the loan scheme work?

As long as our stocks last, we can lend you a desktop PC, monitor, keyboard, mouse, webcam, speakers and all cables plus a wireless dongle. We just ask for:

a refundable deposit of £83 per computer system

a non-refundable charge of £12 to cover the cost to Pass IT On of software licenses (Microsoft Windows 10 Professional and Office 2010 - £6 each)

We can safely deliver a fully sanitised computer to your location within the City of Edinburgh, along with instructions for set up. We will observe the strictest protocols to ensure that appropriate social distancing is used, in line with Government guidance. We are currently seeking funding to employ a driver to help us with deliveries, however in the meantime if you live outside Edinburgh, you can arrange to collect from us.

The loan will be open-ended while the current crisis continues. When you return all the computer equipment you have borrowed, we will refund your deposit of £83 per PC.

Contact us to find out more.

Please pass THIS on to anyone who could benefit!

Please help us spread the word in any safe way you can think of:

post on social media and ask people to share

tell people on the phone

text

e-mail

shout from the rooftops!

NB: we are still delivering our core services as usual:

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COVID-19. Organisations: Are your staff struggling to video-conference via their phones, or sitting hunched over small laptop screens? Parents: Are you and your children competing to use the only family computer for work, homework and keeping in touch with others? Individuals: Do you need a computer to stay in touch with family and friends or to shop online more easily?

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Resources gathered during the pandemic

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Feedback on digital inclusion

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Staying Connected: A digital inclusion report by Includem

Posted on May 22 2020 at 16:45
Today Includem has published our Staying Connected report which looks at the digital inclusion of young people and families we support.
We were already living in an increasingly digital world, but the Covid-19 emergency has accelerated the introduction and use of digital technologies at an unprecedented rate. With lockdown and social distancing measures in place, many services and organisations, such as Includem, are trying to continue to deliver services and support young people and families remotely via predominantly digital tools.

However, this approach requires families to have access to data, devices and digital knowledge. For those experiencing digital exclusion, therefore, this change in the accessibility and delivery of services could exacerbate existing problems of social isolation, exclusion from services, poverty and poor educational attainment.

It was essential for both the continued delivery of our own support to young people and families, as well as their ability to access other services and full participate in society, that we assess the levels of digital exclusion amongst the young people and families we support.

This report does just that. We heard from 150 young people and families about their experiences and collated it in this report, allowing us to identify and provide digital devices to those who need them and to make recommendations to Scottish Government about how digital exclusion can be tackled going forward.

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News | Staying Connected: A digital inclusion report by Includem

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Posted on May 22 2020 at 16:45 Today Includem has published our Staying Connected report which looks at the digital inclusion of young people and families we support. We were already living in an increasingly digital world, but the Covid-19 emergency has accelerated the introduction and use of digital technologies at an unprecedented rate.

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10 outstanding digital services by children and young people’s charities

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Ross McCulloch's top 10 outstanding digital services by children and young people's charities Our recent DigiShift zoom was packed with insights and inspiration from charity professionals working with children and young people. This blog pulls together ten great examples of organisations delivering digital services that you can learn from.

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players protect the virtual city ‘CyberLand’ from cyber attacks while learning key skills.

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Welcome to the new online CyberFirst courses

All of the courses are carefully designed to bring out every student's potential. You'll delve into how everyday technology really works; how the systems and software that surround us are connected to each other; how information flows through networks; and how we can take sensible steps to protect our digital world. Perhaps most importantly, everyone who does CyberFirst gains a strong sense of responsibility - to act safely, legally and ethically. Integrity is an underpinning principle of everything we teach and something that defines the cyber security profession.

Our Trailblazers and Adventurers Virtual Courses are:

Fun, free and interactive;

Instructor-led in virtual classrooms;

Over two half-day morning or afternoon structured sessions;

Available during February 2021

Show you've got what it takes to safeguard our digital planet by applying for a place on one of these CyberFirst courses:

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All of the courses are carefully designed to bring out every student's potential. You'll delve into how everyday technology really works; how the systems and software that surround us are connected to each other; how information flows through networks; and how we can take sensible steps to protect our digital world.

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Teens can learn how to crack codes, fix security flaws and dissect criminals’ digital trails while progressing through the game as a cyber agent.

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Students will take on the role of a security agent, gathering information, cracking codes, finding security flaws and dissecting a cyber criminal's digital trail, using our in-tool resources, working together and researching techniques.

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Students will take on the role of a security agent, gathering information, cracking codes, finding security flaws and dissecting a cyber criminal's digital trail, using our in-tool resources, working together and researching techniques.

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Inspiring young people through formal and informal learning about STEM.

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Young STEM Leader Programme | YSL Pilot | SSERC | Scotland

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The Young STEM Leader Programme was developed after the Strategy for STEM Education and Training (2017). The Scottish Goverment has commited to 'establish a new YSL Programme to stimulate and strengthen the development of peer mentoring and inspiration in STEM for young people by young people.'

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Sign up for webinars and view recordings of the previous webinars

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As well as our Digital Youth Work training sessions we are putting on a series of webinars with youth work practitioners sharing their use of different platforms and/or addressing some relevant issues.

Each webinar is 30 minutes long and will be recorded and then published on the YouthLink Scotland YouTube channel.

You need to register on Zoom for each webinar you want to attend, on registration you will be sent the link. Places are limited to 99 per webinar (we need a place for our guest expert too). New webinars will be added soon.
Watch recordings of previous webinars:
How to make TikTok a part of your youth work offer
Featuring guest presenter Andrew Shields from Escape Youth Services.

How to use Zoom in youth work practice
Featuring guest presenter Kobi Cooke from Youth Scotland.

How to use Houseparty and WhatsApp in a youth work context
Featuring guest presenter Eve Tunstall from Citadel Youth Project.

How to combat COVID-19 disinformation
Featuring guest presenter Dr Alicja Pawluczuk to explore data literacy and critical thinking.

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As well as our Digital Youth Work training sessions we are putting on a series of webinars with youth work practitioners sharing their use of different platforms and/or addressing some relevant issues. Each webinar is 30 minutes long and will be recorded and then published on the YouthLink Scotland YouTube channel.

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Glasgow Life - links to resources to use in practice on a broad range of themes, including some from Penumbra on mental health

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Safeguarding checklist for online youth work

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Safeguarding checklist for online youth work

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Collection of resources about cyber resilience.

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Whether you're putting snaps on social media or online shopping, find out why it's important to keep your personal data safe with 'Digi Know?'.

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Ideas from Children's Parliament and Scottish Youth Parliament on how to use screen time positively.

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Mind Yer Time Designed by children and young people from Children's Parliament and the Scottish Youth Parliament, Mind Yer Time has been created to support everyone who loves social media and screen time. We've got positive tips, stories and information for children and young people, to help you use your screen time positively!

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Impact of video conferencing on personal wellness

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Impact of video conferencing on personal wellness

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In the early days of the pandemic, as shelter-in-place orders became the norm and people rushed to find ways of staying connected, it became clear that technology would save us. We wouldn't have to be alone while staying at home, and this was good news.

While remaining grateful for the incredible way in which our screens have offered us up to each other, fast forward five weeks and many of us are finding ourselves exhausted from the never-ending video calls and virtual experiences. It's not that we don't want the option of connecting in digital spaces, it's just that we are finding them emotionally and energetically costly. We can't quite name why, but they seem to take more energy than the face-to-face encounters we are used to. Oddly, in many cases, they actually leave us feeling lonely.

Given the novelty of our current reality, there's no research to look to for specifically why this is the case right now, even though we know there is a precedent for this in online vs. embodied connectivity. We can, however, consider some basic ideas in order to help us evaluate how to best care for our selves and our relationships in this time of primarily digital connection.

While humans are neurodivergent in terms of sociability and interpersonal preferences, we are all sensual beings. When we encounter each other, we take in information from many senses. Certain people and their places have specific smells. Often, physical touch in one form or another is involved in an encounter. In essence, the mere physical presence of another has the power of stirring feelings and awakening all of our senses.

When we connect via screens, much of this is lost. Limited to only audio and visual sensory data, it's easy for us to feel a sense of being "alone together." This term, coined by Sherry Turkle, deftly describes the odd sense of anti-presence that we are talking about right now. Whether this is related to the limited context that each party sees of the other, or the simple lack of full sensory data, we cannot know.

Another dynamic that plagues video-based connection is the constant presence of one's own image as they interact with others. Spontaneous and authentic communication is benefitted by the ability to be fully in the moment without the kind of acute self-awareness that comes with watching oneself during a conversation. For anyone with even a mild version of an inner critic, this can have a massive impact on how one is, or is not, in the present moment of a conversation in an authentic and available way. There's a certain kind of cognitive dissonance here. We are on the call to connect with another but our ambient awareness of ourself redirects our attention.

Finally, the odd new way in which time moves is likely a contributor to our feelings of exhaustion and overwhelm in regards to interpersonal interaction. When we were moving about in the world, every request for a get together was made with an awareness that peoples' calendars were full. Very likely we felt as though we had greater agency and options in responding to peoples' requests of us.

Now that all of our connections are done from home, I find people responding in primarily one of two ways to interpersonal offerings. One response is fear, guilt, exhaustion, or resentment which comes from feeling as though there is no "excuse" for saying no to a gathering or event since everyone knows we're all home and "available." The second is an automatic "yes" to as many offerings as possible to distract from the realities of our present situation.

It's crucial for us to pace ourselves in this time of physical distancing. To be healthy in our relationships with our selves and with others, we must consider what is and isn't working in this new economy. The following suggestions offer ways to enhance our digital connections and strengthen our intentionality in how we relate to self and others in this time of physical isolation.

1. Tend to your self.

Just as it's important to don our own oxygen mask before helping others with theirs, it's important to ask ourselves, "Will my emotional and energetic cup be filled or depleted by video conversations today?" To stay healthy, we must take our own internal-well-being "temperature" before we simply say "yes" to every opportunity to connect. We must also realize that our needs and desires for connection in digital spaces may change from day to day or, even, from hour to hour.

If we are feeling overwhelmed, emotionally dysregulated, or exhausted, it may be best to decline an online connection or two in order to preference some intentional connection with our own selves. We can only pour out to others from a full cup and filling our emotional reserves takes intentional effort.
2. Consider covering the image of your self on the screen.
There is a certain level of hyper-attuned self-awareness that happens when we observe physical images of ourselves. When we are experiencing this in real time during conversations, we are taken out of the moment and a part of our brain gets active evaluating how we are presenting our selves. This makes for costly conversations.

My son suggested I cover the square containing my image with a sticky note when I commented on this dynamic recently. This single action has saved me in the past week. I encourage you to give this a whirl in platforms where you can't hide your image. In platforms that you can, give that a try.
3. Make intentional choices about what platforms you use to communicate within and who you choose to engage in them.
As we all know, the rise in subscriptions to services like Zoom and apps like Marco Polo have been staggering of late. It is incredible that we have these tools to help us stay connected. It is also important to think intentionally about which platforms are least taxing with each conversation we hope to have.

Be sensitive to dynamics like lag or pixelated images as these make our conversations more draining. Ask others which platforms they prefer and respect their wishes if and when you can. If you are coordinating with people with less technological savvy than you, provide plenty of time to help orient them before the time of contact.
4. Consider the phone some of the time.
In this time of so many video connections, the limited focus of a phone call may actually enhance authenticity and felt/lived connection. Setting the stage for a call can enhance this even more. Brew a fragrant cup of tea and find a window to gaze out of. Resist the urge to multi-task while on the phone and bring yourself fully to the call. Notice how this feels in relation to video calls and connections.
5. Get creative about ways of increasing the authenticity and spontaneity of digital encounters.
Privilege experiences where you are sharing space with others but possibly not just sitting statically and looking at each other. I participate in a weekly movement experience with 50 other people. We all move in our own physical spaces, however we'd like, to the same music. While we can see the grid containing all the images of others, no one is focused there. It is surprisingly connecting and powerful. Similar spaces exist for art-making and meditation and, I'm sure, a million other activities. Seek these out or create these for your community.

Let's all keep connecting as we can, tending to the ways in which we do so. We're in this together and we'll get through this together. Let's do so with care.
Grusho Anna/Shutterstock

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In the early days of the pandemic, as shelter-in-place orders became the norm and people rushed to find ways of staying connected, it became clear that technology would save us. We wouldn't have to be alone while staying at home, and this was good news.

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The dos and don'ts of video conferencing

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The dos and don'ts of video conferencing

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How to secure your video conferencing from Scottish Business Resilience Centre

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Scottish Business Cares - the do's and don'ts of video conferencing

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Youth Highland

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Handbook for integrating virtual exchange into international projects

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Handbook for integrating virtual exchange into international projects

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from Erasmus+

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Online Safety Activities You Can Do from Home

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Online Safety Activities You Can Do from Home

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by Childnet, split into age specific

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In the coming weeks, as young people may be spending more time at home, with their families, and on devices, we have pulled together a list of resources that you can use with them to explore online safety in a fun, engaging and educational way.

For you as a parent or carer

As your family may be spending more time at home and finding new ways to access education, stay in touch and have fun, here are some top tips to help you protect and support your child with their online lives
1. Now is a great time to make a family agreement
A family agreement is a great way to start a conversation with your whole family about how you all use the internet, and how to behave positively online. Our family agreement provides a list of things to consider, and some examples to get you started. There's also an agreement template to help families set clear expectations for positive and safe internet use, and we have written a blog about how to put your family agreement in practice.
2. Have a conversation
Young people may already be thinking about new ways they can use the internet to socialise, play together or get creative, do sport or help each other out, and they might want to use different online tools for the first time. To support you, we have also produced a range of conversation starters and there's advice in our pack for parents and carers.
3. Set up or review your parental controls and internet filters
Parental controls are designed to help protect children from inappropriate content online. These controls can be used in a number of ways, e.g. to help ensure that your children access only age-appropriate content; to set usage times; and to monitor activity. You can find out how to set these up or review current settings here.
4. Get creative
We would love to hear what families are doing to make the most of the online world! Have you found a great way of setting up a virtual break time, are young people learning together across the internet, or have you used the family agreement to try something new as a family? Let us know by tweeting us @Childnet.

Resources for each age group

These resources are designed for you to use with your child, with some resources that young people can complete on their own.

Broken up into age appropriate categories, we have pulled together a list of different resources you can use to delve into different online issues such as fake news, bullying, strangers online and more.

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Online safety activities you can do from home

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In the coming weeks, as young people may be spending more time at home, with their families, and on devices, we have pulled together a list of resources that you can use with them to explore online safety in a fun, engaging and educational way.

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Webex videoconferencing offered for free to charities

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Webex videoconferencing offered for free to charities

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IBM and Cisco will provide the Webex conferencing tool for free to charities

Two technology giants have teamed up to offer free video conferencing to charity staff.

IBM and Cisco have joined forces to offer teachers in over 24,000 schools and staff in over 185,000 charities across the UK free access to video conferencing through use of the Cisco Webex web conferencing tool.

The technology offers simple and intuitive features for online collaboration in response to the challenges of the Covid-19 outbreak. To support new users get started IBM and Cisco employees are volunteering their time to help install the video-conferencing technology and provide ongoing guidance to maximise the tools.

Paul Reddish, chief executive of Volunteering Matters, said: "On behalf of the voluntary sector and our partners it's fantastic that IBM and Cisco want to support charities at this critical time. By Cisco providing video-conferencing software for free and IBM employees volunteering their skills and expertise to help charities put this in place, there will be huge benefit to charities. We know charities urgently need support like this to help people and communities respond to COVID-19, but they may not have the resources to do so. So thank you to IBM and Cisco for stepping up to support charities and help them provide essential services to those who need it at this vital time."

The Cisco and IBM collaboration is open to all schools and charities in the UK. The initiative began in Italy in response to the government's call for companies to support schools as they closed and has now expanded to over 14 countries, including the UK where it has expanded to support charities as well as schools. There are already 3,000 IBM staff volunteering to make this a reality across Europe, supporting over 200,000 students in 2,000 schools.

David Meads, Cisco's UK and Ireland chief executive, said: "These weeks have been challenging for all of us, and the need for us all to stay connected has never been more important. We're firm believers that we need to create a digital society for everyone, and that remains true in critical times like these, when the spirit of collaboration really comes to the fore. We're proud to be able to offer a tool that will hopefully help ensure students can continue learning, and charities continue their vital work."

The Cisco Webex platform has more than 130 million monthly users worldwide, and processes more than six billion minutes of meetings every month. Always accessible through an internet connection, it guarantees the privacy and security of the data and content exchanged in the sessions using advanced security and encryption tools.

If you would like to request support from an IBM or Cisco volunteer for advice on getting started and making the most of the tool, please register through the following form.

In the meantime as a teacher or charity worker you can sign up for a Webex account here.

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third sector scotland charity charities voluntary news

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IBM and Cisco will provide the Webex conferencing tool for free to charities Two technology giants have teamed up to offer free video conferencing to charity staff. IBM and Cisco have joined forces to offer teachers in over 24,000 schools and staff in over 185,000 charities across the UK free access to video conferencing through use of the Cisco Webex web conferencing tool.

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Alison Stone, SCVO

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To Zoom or not to Zoom? That is the question... Zoom has quickly moved from a niche platform to a ubiquitous part of 'lockdown life'. Along the way, the videoconferencing platform has run into controversy about its approach to security and privacy. So what's been happening, and should you be looking for another videoconferencing platform?

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Compiled by Verke, the Finnish Centre for Expertise on Digital Youth Work

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Note: this list is also available in German here.

The current epidemic sweeping the world puts new challenges for the whole youth work sector as well. How can we reach young people in digital environments? What activities can we arrange for young people online when youth centres are closed? Here are some tips compiled by Verke, the centre for expertise on Digital youth work in Finland. Therefore they are originally tailored for the Finnish youth sector, so you might have to make adjustments that take into account your particular youth work goals and traditions, as well as any legislation guiding the field in your country.

For a different set of tips, see the good practices section on this website; with a little creativity, a lot of the practices can be tailored to online work as well!

1. Tackle Discord, if you haven’t already. Discord is a platform where you can talk either by voice or typing. Originally Discord has become popular in the gaming communities, but it is well suited for youth work as well. The platform is free to set up and use, and many Finnish youth work actors have successfully used it for engaging young people online.

2. See what young people are sharing on TikTok.How are young people discussing the Coronavirus on social media? Do some other themes present themselves? Young people readily discuss current phenomena on their most used social media platforms, one of which is currently TikTok. While the short videos on the platform are often quirky and humorous, serious societal topics are also present.

3. Offer chances to discuss issues on WhatsApp (or other messaging platforms). Young people are most likely concerned about the current situation, and youth workers are potentially a neutral, yet familiar face to confide in. Using instant messaging platforms is also a very low-threshold way for young people to contact adults with their thoughts. It is advisable to use any available social media channels to make sure that the information about this opportunity also reaches as many young people as possible.

4. Ask how young people are doing on Instagram stories. You can host a Q&A (questions & answers) session on Instagram stories. Set aside time for questions and replying to them in your social media plan and allocate time to be „on-call“ to respond to any questions coming from young people. You can also host Q&A sessions on other topics since other issues facing young people have not disappeared during the Coronavirus outbreak and young people still need to discuss them as well. Q&A sessions are also an excellent way to take the pulse of what young people are talking about right now and tackle these topics with other approaches if need be.

5. Host a gaming stream on Twitch. Do you have a gaming-oriented youth worker that could host a live-stream? If you have the necessary equipment (which isn’t a lot), download Twitch, set up your account and jump live. A lot of people are interested in following streamers even if they’re not that much into games so that might be an engaging thing for many young people stuck at home. If digital games aren’t your thing, you can stream pretty much anything on Twitch – there’s even one example from Finland where a youth house live-streamed their cooking activities on Twitch, and it was a huge hit.

6. Inform young people of other available support services. If your country has online chats or other platforms dedicated to helping citizens in dealing with the Coronavirus or other help platforms (mental health, etc.), make sure you are aware of the central ones. Many young people need professional consultation when the media is saturated with scary scenarios, and the Coronavirus is worrying and frightening. While our help is invaluable to many, youth work has its limits as well.

7. Host a quiz on Instagram. A quiz is an easy and accessible way to organise activities for young people. Figure out the topic – or topics – of your quiz and prepare images beforehand with a platform like Canva. Young people can respond to your quiz for example via direct messages right on Instagram. You can set a predefined time period for responses and give out awards to all correct responses if you wish. A fun example was a quiz on meanings of emojis hosted by youth workers in Kemi in northern Finland.

8. Use simple games to engage young people. We might be forced to practice social distancing, but that doesn’t need to prevent having fun together. For example football teams started a game of Connect four on Twitter (tweets are in Finnish, but you get the idea). Challenge young people to games of connect four, tic-tac-toe or even hangman right in your organisation’s Instagram story. You can use Canva or a similar platform to create blank digital handouts to share in your stories for your followers to screenshot and share.

9. Discuss topics with young people on Instagram Live. Instagram Live is an easy platform to engage young people easily on a platform many of them already use daily. Live videos can be a chance for a light discussion on centred around a particular theme. It doesn’t always need to be overly serious, either. A radio channel in Finland hosts a weekly live stream called „Wednesday“, which is a collective coffee break where the host is tasting different cookies each day. Hosting a live stream is super simple; swipe right on your Instagram front page, and you are on the stories -page. From there by scrolling the toolbar on the bottom, you are good to start your live stream. Remember to let young people know when you plan to be live so that they can be there at the right time! After the live stream, you can also continue the discussion on other platforms, if you wish.

10. Host an Instagram live show with another user. Did you know that you can add other users on your Instagram Live? You could plan a live stream with an expert on a particular theme and add other speakers in the stream without having to be physically in the same place. To add another person, they have to request to be added via the chat in the live stream. You could also have young people participate by having them appear in the live stream as well, though we would advise being careful about the topics or structure.

11. Watch something together with young people. You could agree to watch a TV-programme, a YouTube -video or anything of interest together. You can use a digital messaging platform like WhatsApp to host a group to comment and discuss the content like you’re watching on the same sofa. Some platforms like Facebook („watch parties“ on that platform) also allow watching content together and discussing it.

12. Give out tips for passing the time at home. Now that we are encouraged to spend most of our time home, we all need to figure out how to pass the time. Gather tips among colleagues how time is spent well and share them as a series of tips on, for example, Instagram Stories. The repeating content continues to engage young people on your social media and keeps them coming back. You could even try to start a social media challenge with the young people you work with.

13. Have young people participate in writing a shared story. Grab your social media platform of choice and start a fictional story that can be added to by young people. You could, for example, share the beginning of your story („It was a dark and stormy night..“, anyone?) on Instagram and give young people 24 hours to continue the story. Choose the most interesting one, share it with your followers and then rinse and repeat. You could keep the story going for a week or so and see where it goes.

14. Host a group discussion on Instagram. One of the more recent features on Instagram are group discussions. You can host a group discussion using the stickers on Instagram stories. Read more about it here.

15. Provide opportunities for anonymous discussion. Young people might have concerns or questions they would not want to share face-to-face or with their own name. Use your social media channels to inform young people that you can be anonymously contacted via for example Discord, Snapchat or KIK messenger. Be aware, of course, of any legislation that concerns your particular work community and be transparent of the limits of anonymity.

16. Host an online jam session. Many gigs and concerts have been cancelled at this time. We also can’t host band activities at our youth houses. However, there are several online platforms you can use to be creative with young people! Many of the platforms that are usually used for online meetings like Google meet can be just as easily used to create music with young people, using any instruments they might have at home. There are also dedicated platforms for co-creating music online, for example, Jammr.

17. Start a challenge on TikTok. Engage young people with your challenge. Come up with a suitable hashtag – like #boredathome – and create a campaign around it. First, you need to create your first entry and ask young people to contribute their entries. A follow-up could be #stufftodoathome to approach the topic from a different angle. On TikTok relatability and simple, quirky observations from daily life tend to work well.

18. Organise a drawing event online. You can engage young people to be creative with a drawing game. For example, Drawesome and Skribblio allow you to host games where the platform randomly assigns a word for the one drawing and other participants try to guess what the word is. You can also make the event private so that you can limit the participants to ones receiving the links through your social media contacts. You could also make the whole thing even simpler by assigning kids a topic, having them draw it out and showcasing the creations (anonymously, if young people want) on your social media channels.

19. Host a tournament in an online game. Use your skills as a youth worker to organise a tournament with young people on, for example, FIFA or NHL, or whichever game is on your young people’s plate these days. You can use your existing social media channels to organise everything and run the show. You could even consider streaming everything to get an audience going. Another approach could be to pick a few multiplayer mobile games and organise sessions around those.

20. Make a game together with kids. The free, educational platform Scratch facilitates a low-barrier entry to creating games and animations without learning too much coding. As with any youth work activity, you could make things more engaging by having kids work in pairs or giving them a challenge, i.e. having one pair of kids create a maze, another a character and a third pair the bad guys for the game. The platform has loads of detailed instructions, and all previous creations are openly shared to help to make your custom creations.

21. Offer to play games with young people. For young people, it can be precious that the secure adult they know are also present in the gaming environment they frequent. In online games, we can combine co-operation and doing something fun together. Simultaneously we can offer young people a coordinated gaming session, where the adult guarantees a safe environment with common rules, starting with the etiquette of behaviour. You can use any existing social media channels to set up gaming sessions, whether it’s WhatsApp, Discord or Steam’s built-in chat. To facilitate youth work during gaming, it can also be a good idea to use Discord or a similar voice platform to enable talking during the game, if the game itself doesn’t provide this.

22. Start a podcast. Podcasts are a rising trend, also among young people. There are some good experiences on podcasts within youth work, both with just youth workers talking as well as young people. When we can’t be in the same place, you can use a free platform like Zencastr to record a podcast online. Themes can be anything you wish, or what young people choose to bring to the mix – although experience has shown that it pays off to have at least a loose structure for episodes. See one example of a youth work podcast here.

Something missing? Send your own good practice (in the format above, please) for us to add at juha(a)verke.org.

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Tips for online youth work - digitalyouthwork.eu

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The current epidemic sweeping the world puts new challenges for the whole youth work sector as well. How can we reach young people in digital environments? What activities can we arrange for young people online when youth centres are closed? Here are some tips compiled by Verke, the centre for expertise on Digital youth work in Finland.

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Digital Youth Work Good Practice Collection

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Digital Youth Work Good Practice Collection

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Short films from 6 countries highlighting a range of digital youth work practice. Films have accompanying descriptions of the practice.

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ME Workshops laden Jugendliche dazu ein, darüber nachzudenken, wie soziale Medien ihr Körperbild und Selbstwahrnehmung beeinflussen. Die Workshop richten sich an Jugendliche ab 13 Jahren, dauern drei Stunden und finden in geschlechtshomogenen Settings statt: eine #ME-Trainerin arbeitet mit den Mädchen, ein männlicher Kollege mit den Jungs.

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Fun quiz based games. Only downside is it works better with 2 devices, 1 to watch the game the other to act as the controller.

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European Guidelines for Digital Youth Work

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European Guidelines for Digital Youth Work

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2019 - YouthLink Scotland and European partners

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The European Guidelines for Digital Youth Work have been designed to clearly define Digital Youth Work, its impact and the value of youth work as an important educational practice which can empower young people in a digitalising society.

The guidelines give practical and ethical guidance to youth workers, managers and organisations. They also include a call to action for funders and policy makers for the youth work sector, outlining steps they can take to enable the development of digital youth work for all young people.

This work been developed collaboratively between partners in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland and Scotland. We have consulted with the youth work sector in these countries and through our wider international networks.

The Guidelines build on the report of the EU Expert Group on Digitalisation and Youth and are designed to complement the forthcoming EU Council Conclusions on Digital Youth Work and demonstrate how digital youth work plays a role in International agenda.

"The structure, methods and communication channels of youth work should adapt to the digital world: it should use technology and pedagogical practices to increase access and help young people cope with digital means. Digital youth work should be incorporated into youth workers' training and - where they exist - youth work occupational and competence standards."

(Communication from the Commission "Engaging, Connecting and Empowering young people: a new EU Youth Strategy" COM(2018) 269)

Download the full guidelines here (10MB, pdf)

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The European Guidelines for Digital Youth Work have been designed to clearly define Digital Youth Work, its impact and the value of youth work as an important educational practice which can empower young people in a digitalising society. The guidelines give practical and ethical guidance to youth workers, managers and organisations.

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What on Earth is Digital Youth Work? Online workshops - YouthLink Scotland

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What on Earth is Digital Youth Work? Online workshops - YouthLink Scotland

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31st March, 1st, 2nd and 3rd April

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Young people's lives are increasingly digitalised in so many ways and youth workers have a role in helping young people to navigate the digital aspects of their lives, but this isn't something we are automatically confident in. New technology also gives us lots of opportunities to enhance our youth work practice, to engage young people and their creativity and amplify their voices in different ways.

This challenge is particularly relevant at the moment when in coming weeks we may wish to provide more of our youth work offer online.Join us to explore different types of digital youth work, opportunities to make your youth work offer accessible online and discuss relevant ethical and safety considerations.

This will be an interactive workshop using a videoconferencing platform, not a webinar, so sign up prepared to get involved!

To take part in the workshop you will need:

Computer

Internet connection

Speakers / headphones

Camera

Microphone

There are lots of resources on digital youth work available here.

Any queries please get in touch with Liz Green lgreen@youthlinkscotland.org

Book here for 31 March PM.

Book here for 3 April AM.

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What on earth is digital youth work? Online workshops available

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Young people's lives are increasingly digitalised in so many ways and youth workers have a role in helping young people to navigate the digital aspects of their lives, but this isn't something we are automatically confident in.

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Covid-19: Digital service delivery for charities

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Covid-19: Digital service delivery for charities

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compiled by Ross McCulloch, Third Sector Lab

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COVID-19: Digital Service Delivery for Charities

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Crowd sourced problem-solving ideas for online education during Coronavirus

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Health officials are currently taking steps to prevent the introduction and spread of Covid-19 (Coronavirus) into communities across the world. The pandemic situation is affecting the lives of many students, families & communities. This special collection is compiling stories and solutions from schools around the world doing their best for students.

In these challenging times, tools, resources and tips are plentiful, but how do we find ones that really work?

We encouraged our community to share homeschooling & online learning resources that support student learning and wellbeing

Students, their parents, and educators around the world are feeling the extraordinary ripple effect of the novel coronavirus as schools are shutting down and quarantine methods are being ordered to cope with the global pandemic. While governments and health officials are doing their best slowing down the outbreak, global education systems are collaborating to collectively respond and provide quality education for all during these difficult times. Our job is to help everyone in providing quality education for all even in these exceptional times.

IN COLLABORATION WITH

Spotlight on quality education for all during Covid-19 crisis

HundrED has released a website and a summary report, Quality Education For All During Covid-19, in partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), expanding on the opportunities and challenges for education during this unprecedented time. A record number of 1.54 billion children and youth have been impacted by the pandemic, and as of 31st March, 185 countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America have announced or implemented school and university closures.

In the span of ten days, HundrED has documented, packaged and released a collection of 30 simple, yet effective solutions that help parents, teachers and children navigate through the plethora of challenges facing education during the pandemic. From the opportunity for teachers to form much stronger connections with parents, students (especially for students with disabilities) to challenges of untrained teachers and lack of access to digital learning resources, the report has plentiful insights and resources.
Download the report for free below.
save_alt Download PDF Press Release

What happens and when?

HundrED community invited to participate

Research on known problems faced around the world

Innovative Solutions for COVID19 Pandemic

These simple, yet effective solutions provide support and resources for parents, teachers and learners and help them navigate a plethora of challenges facing education because of school shutdown, learner isolation and more.

Students Call for More Empathy in Education during COVID-19

According to UNESCO, almost 1.3 billion students have been affected by the novel coronavirus around the world. Last week we sat down with over 45 young people from 18 countries in our first, Youth Voice Workshop. The goal of this workshop was to provide a safe space for young people to connect and share their experiences with others.

About Quality Education for all during Covid-19

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Quality Education for all during Covid-19

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Health officials are currently taking steps to prevent the introduction and spread of Covid-19 (Coronavirus) into communities across the world. The pandemic situation is affecting the lives of many students, families & communities. This special collection is compiling stories and solutions from schools around the world doing their best for students.

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Collated by Dan Moxon

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Hot Chocolate Trust

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Some of our ideas so far at HC, re: alternative youth work for the weeks ahead... in case these might be useful for anyone else out trying to figure this all out. What are you you all trying? :) #ywchat

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Some of our ideas so far at HC, re: alternative youth work for the weeks ahead... in case these might be useful for anyone else out trying to figure this all out. What are you you all trying? :) #ywchat https://t.co/7A6gU3n2JM

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Some of our ideas so far at HC, re: alternative youth work for the weeks ahead... in case these might be useful for anyone else out trying to figure this all out. What are you you all trying? :) #ywchat pic.twitter.com/7A6gU3n2JM
— Hot Chocolate Trust (@HotChocoTrust) March 18, 2020

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Some of our ideas so far at HC, re: alternative youth work for the weeks ahead... in case these might be useful for anyone else out trying to figure this all out. What are you you all trying? :) #ywchat https://t.co/7A6gU3n2JM

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Some of our ideas so far at HC, re: alternative youth work for the weeks ahead... in case these might be useful for anyone else out trying to figure this all out. What are you you all trying? :) #ywchat https://t.co/7A6gU3n2JM

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Some of our ideas so far at HC, re: alternative youth work for the weeks ahead... in case these might be useful for anyone else out trying to figure this all out. What are you you all trying? :) #ywchat

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YouthLink Scotland and partners.
Workshop plans for training youth workers, session plans with young people and organisational development tools.

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These training materials have been developed to build the capacity of the youth work sector to deliver high-quality youth work in a digital age. They are based on training needs for practitioners identified by the EU expert group on digitalisation and youth's 2018 report.

The materials are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from their respective authors.

Jump to materials from: Austria ° Denmark ° Finland ° Germany ° Ireland ° Scotland

Austria

Partner organisation , contact and further information: WienXtra - Medienzentrum

My media biography
This exercise invites a grown-up person to look back on his/her favourite media pastimes as a child and teenager to stir up memories and emotions connected to them.
Type: Method. Length: 3 pages. Other versions: DE

Denmark

Partner organisation , contact and further information: Centre for Digital Youth Care

Finland

Partner organisation , contact and further information: Verke

Innobox.
Toolkit that helps youth workers innovate new practices in a longer process.
Type: Method and tools. Length: 77 pages. Other versions: FIN, DE

Germany

Partner organisation , contact and further information: JFF

A youth work matrix of risks related to online-usage and digitalization.
This method tackles the need for knowledge of potential risks, as well as of ways to contain risks at an individual or collective level on young peoples' online usage and digitalisation. This is an essential area of educational work with children and adolescents, and "Safety" is also a separate area among the training needs in the report of the EU expert group "Developing digital youth work".
Type: Handout. Length: 3 pages. Other versions:

Ireland

Partner organisation , contact and further information: Camara education and NYCI

STEAM Toolkit & Activity Guides
The STEAM Toolkit is designed to support youth workers interested in developing their practice by incorporating STEAM learning approaches and tools in their work with young people.
STEAM in youth work toolkit Session plans Activity guide: LED shake Activity guide: Soda drinks machine Activity guide: 3D light up world Type: Toolkit. Length: 38 pages
Scotland

Partner organisation , contact and further information: Youth link Scotland

Young People's Digital Rights
A session plan challenging practitioners to identify their role in recognising and realising children and young people's human rights in the digital world. It introduces the 5Rights framework and work being done to uphold children's rights.
Type: Session plan. Length: 4 pages.

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These training materials have been developed to build the capacity of the youth work sector to deliver high-quality youth work in a digital age. They are based on training needs for practitioners identified by the EU expert group on digitalisation and youth's 2018 report.

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Guide about different social media channels, different ways to use social media with young people, discussions to have with staff re boundaries etc. in order to develop a social media and youth work policy.

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Faith based youth work (Christian) resources

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Faith based youth work (Christian) resources

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Shared by Youth for Christ

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Information about different apps and platforms and parental controls of devices

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Working with online safety experts, we're here to provide parents & carers with guidance, advice and support to keep children safe online | Internet Matters

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Info and ratings of popular apps for children and young people.
Partnership between O2 and NSPCC

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by Irene Warner Mackintosh - Mhor Collective

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Bullying, including online bullying

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Important points to discuss with young people

Online relationships deserve the same respect as offline relationships.

For most young people, the friends they have online are the same friends they have offline. Sometimes, they may connect with people they do not know over a shared interest such as music, films or football. Either way, people online should be treated with the same level of respect and consideration as they would if they were in the same room. If you wouldn't say it, don't send it.

Many people act differently online than they would offline. Many children and young people do not believe they will be caught for bullying online and do not fully appreciate how permanent their online communication is. Ask your child, 'Would you say this if the person was sitting in front of you?' If they answer no, tell them not to send it. Remember that you are communicating differently.

Without the ability to read gestures, facial expressions and tone of voice, it can be easy to misinterpret what is seen on the screen. For example, typing in capital letters can often be seen as shouting. Young people may need help to understand the impact of what they mean and what they actually write. Online communication can all be traced.

There is no such things as anonymity online. Everything sent and posted can be traced - a fake email or social media account will have a unique IP address from your service provider, and text messages can be traced though your SIM card. It is important that children and young people are aware of the consequences of posting messages online. Never give away personal information.

Young people should not give out personal information about themselves or others on the internet. Nor should they share private passwords with anyone, even those they trust. Keeping passwords secure ensures no third party can access your child's online accounts. What will happen if you are being bullied online?

Make your child aware of what will happen if they find themselves being bullied online. Some young people will be reluctant to come forward for fear of losing access to the internet, or that their phones will be taken away. Be mindful of this and remember that bullying is a behaviour displayed by people; it is not a technology issue. Internet and mobile phone usage.

Take an interest in how your child uses the internet, what they do online, what sites they use and why. Having general conversations about this can open up lines of communication to discuss deeper issues and can provide you with a valuable insight into your child's online and mobile phone activity. Agree a code of conduct.

Together with your child, come to an agreement about how the internet will be used and what will happen if it is misused in anyway. This will create a good baseline and may prevent issues in the future.

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While the internet can provide positive channels of communication, young people also tell us that they have experienced name calling, rumours being spread about them, and public bullying through social media and online platforms. For many, the people they interact with online are the same people they interact with offline, and online spaces are just ...

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Age specific resources on online safety, with child protection focus. By CEOP

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The National Crime Agency's CEOP Education team aim to help protect children and young people from online child sexual abuse.

We do this through our education programme, providing training, resources and information to professionals working with children, young people and their families.

I am:

Respecting me, you, us: building healthy relationships and creating positive cultures is a CEOP Education resource for 12 -14 year olds developed in association with clinical psychologist, Dr. Elly Hanson.

Under 18 and worried about online sexual abuse?
To report, click to visit the CEOP Safety Centre.

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The CEOP Education programme from the National Crime Agency’s CEOP Education Team aims to protect children and young people aged 4-18 from online child sexual abuse.

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Young Scot info on data allowances increase etc.

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Young Scot info on data allowances increase etc.

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Many of us are relying more than ever on the internet to stay connected to the outside world. It's important to be able to stay informed, be able to socialise virtually and to take our mind off things by streaming films, music or playing video games online.

The outbreak of coronavirus has meant companies that provide internet access to us whether through broadband or through our phones have also had to make change that can have an effect on our internet use.

How will my broadband service be affected?

A number of companies that provide services like broadband and mobile data in the UK have reached an agreement with the UK Government and OFCOM to remove data caps on 'fixed-line broadband'.

This means that if you have broadband provided to your home but the amount that you can use the internet is limited by your provider, that limit will now be removed.

For some providers, their ability to provide new services to new customers or fix faults has also been affected, you should check with your provider to see if there has been any changes to an order you have placed or the service you are getting.

How will my mobile data be affected?

As part of the agreement, providers have said they will offer 'generous' new packages for mobile and landline services.

The companies who have signed up to the broadband and mobile data commitments include:

Many mobile data providers have also made changes like not charging any data for you to access important sites like the NHS website or gov.uk, you should check with your provider as soon as possible to see what changes they have made.

What if I can't afford to keep paying for my mobile data or broadband?

The agreement that has been reached also includes a commitment to "fairly and appropriately" support customers who have trouble paying their bills.

If this is an issue you think will impact you, speak to your provider to see what support they are able to offer you.

Where can I find out more information?

Many companies have released information about what changes are being made through their websites. These companies all have information specific to your service and how it may be affected by the coronavirus outbreak:

If you cannot see your provider, or they have not given an update to you through their website or by contacting you directly, you should get in touch with them to see what changes may be affecting your service.

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How Coronavirus Will Affect Your Mobile Data and Broadband

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Many of us are relying more than ever on the internet to stay connected to the outside world. It's important to be able to stay informed, be able to socialise virtually and to take our mind off things by streaming films, music or playing video games online.

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Information and session plans about cyber resilience / cyber awareness

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We live in an increasingly digital world. The pace of change is rapid and has an impact on everyone's day to day lives, with 2/3 of the world's 7.6 billion inhabitants now having a mobile phone.

Adapting to the digital world has been exciting for some, while others feel left behind by the pace of change and many can feel that they lack the skills and knowledge to get on board or keep up with everyone else.

The barriers aren't just about skills and knowledge in relation to the technology. When we engage with online services, if we feel our skill levels aren't good enough to enable us to achieve what we are trying to do, our confidence can be affected and we can become less likely to try again or put in the time to improve these skills.

Digital skills are now important for life and work and many organisations and public services are moving to digital systems for payment, benefit claims and online communication.

Adapting to the digital world is just not about emails, social media and online services, it's about maximising the opportunities and learning but also minimising the threats and misinformation that affect confidence, motivation and access for everyone.

Within Community Learning and Development (CLD) and the non-formal learning sector, practitioners need the skills and knowledge to provide opportunities to help learners and service users to:

Develop their digital skills

Build confidence

Improve resilience to deal with online situations

As practitioners, we need to feel confident in our skills and knowledge in order to engage with our learners and service users. We also need to feel confident in the resources we have access to.

There is so much information online and finding the best, up to date, resources are important. The tools attached to this project are a great starting point.

This resource is a reflection of the information and insights we gain from the consultations carried out this year. It highlights issues and areas that practitioners, learners and services users have fed into this process.

By placing CLD and non-formal learning at the centre of transformational changes to digital learning, it can have a positive and empowering impact on individuals and communities.

Resources developed by YouthLink Scotland in partnership with: Midlothian Council, Police Scotland, The Prince's Trust Scotland, Learning Link Scotland, Young Scot, Carnegie UK Trust, North Ayrshire Council, Lead Scotland, Scottish Community Development Centre. CLD Standards Council.

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YouthLink Scotland | Safe, Secure & Empowered

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We live in an increasingly digital world. The pace of change is rapid and has an impact on everyone's day to day lives, with 2/3 of the world's 7.6 billion inhabitants now having a mobile phone.

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From openview

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With over 2 million downloads in just one week during the coronavirus outbreak, Houseparty is fast becoming the world's favourite social media app, helping people to stay virtually connected during lockdown. But with privacy and cyberbullying concerns recently coming into light, the app has also come under scrutiny.

But exactly what is Houseparty and is it safe? Here's what you need to know:

Houseparty is a live video chat app that replicates an in person house party, allowing users to move from 'room to room' while chatting with other users. Users can video chat with 2-8 people at any time, they can also send texts and play games on the app. A user receives a notification if one of their friends is on a video chat, they can then join the video chat.

According to Houseparty's terms and conditions, users need to be over the age of 13 to download the Houseparty app. However, at the moment there is not an age verification process in place.

Houseparty asks for permission to access your camera, microphone and also location.

The app also requests access to your social media/phone contacts by asking for your phone number, this is optional. Once apps gain access to this information, they can send an 'invitation' to a user's contacts, asking them to join the app.

Houseparty is owned by the developer of Fortnite: Epic Games.

A user can video call another user by tapping the phone icon. Each of the user's contacts will see that they are online, and can join the video chat.
What are the risks of Houseparty?
Stranger contact:It's easy for a friend of another user to join your chat. Houseparty refers to this as 'stranger danger' or 'party time'. If someone joins the chat and a user does not know them, they will receive a notification, asking them whether they would like to continue with the chat, or leave.

Inappropriate chats and content: The video stream is live, and as the content is entirely user generated, you can't control what other users do on the video chat, which may mean young people can be exposed to inappropriate or upsetting content.

Cyberbullying:Through our Internet Safety Workshops for schools, we know that on most social media platforms, there is a risk of a user experiencing cyberbullying or unkind behaviour. On Houseparty, users may be left out of a chat that their friends have locked, or join a video conversation where other users are unkind to them.

Screenshots: It is possible for a user to screenshot content and share this via other social media platforms.

Revealing Personal Information: There is a section on a user's profile that is always public, a young person may inadvertently share personal information in this section.

Lock The Party: By locking in a party, it means that other users cannot join the video chat, this may go some way to reducing stranger contact.

Set Expectations:Discuss appropriate behaviour on Houseparty. This could be:

Agreeing to leave a chat if another user you don't know is added.

Being kind on the app.

Not sharing personal information on your profile.

Behaving appropriately and not sharing inappropriate content.

Talk regularly: One of the key strategies of keeping young people safe online is talking regularly with them about their online experiences in a non-judgemental way. Become familiar with your young person's online experiences, talk to them consistently and regularly about what they are doing online, tell them they can always come to you and talk to you about anything that worries them.

Check that they know how to block and report: Ensure that they know how to protect themselves from unwanted contact, and report inappropriate behaviour on the platform.

If you do ever want to delete your account, click on your user icon, and access your privacy settings. Click 'delete your account', enter your password and then hit delete.

Building up a young person's digital resilience through effective Internet Safety Training is essential to keeping them safe online. At OpenView Education, we visit over 35,000 students every year to provide effective Anti-Bullyingand Internet Safety Training. Find out how we can help your school and students here.
Don't forget to:

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Is Houseparty Safe? What Parents Need To Know

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With over 2 million downloads in just one week during the coronavirus outbreak, Houseparty is fast becoming the world's favourite social media app, helping people to stay virtually connected during lockdown. But with privacy and cyberbullying concerns recently coming into light, the app has also come under scrutiny. Bu

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Harden your Zoom settings to protect your privacy and avoid trolls

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Harden your Zoom settings to protect your privacy and avoid trolls

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Whether you are on Zoom because your employer or school requires it or you just downloaded it to stay in touch with friends and family, people have rushed to the video chat platform in the wake of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders-and journalists, have noticed its . Zoom has researchers , and regulators many responded with a surprisingly good plan for next steps, but talk is cheap. Zoom will have to follow through on its security and privacy promises if it wants to regain users' trust.

In the meantime, take these steps to harden your Zoom privacy settings and protect your meetings from "Zoombombing" trolls. The settings below are all separate, which means you don't need to change them all, and you don't need to change them in any particular order. Consider which settings make sense for you and the groups you communicate with, and do your best to make sure meeting organizers and participants are on the same page about settings and shared expectations.

Privacy Settings

Make Sure Chat Auto-Saving Is Off

In your under In Meeting (Basic), make sure Zoom account settings Auto saving chats is toggled off to the left.

Make Sure "Attention Tracking" Is Off

In your is toggled off to the left. Zoom account settings under In Meeting (Advanced), make sure Attention tracking

Use a Virtual Background

The space you're in during a call can expose a lot of information about where you live, your habits, and your hobbies. If you're uncomfortable having your living space in the background of your calls, set a virtual background. From the zoom.us menu in the top right corner of your screen while using Zoom, navigate to Preferences and then Virtual backgrounds.

Best Practices for Avoiding Trolls

With Zoom now more widely used than ever, the mechanics of its public meeting IDs have allowed to invade people's meetings with harassment, slurs, and disturbing images. When you host a meeting, consider taking the steps below to protect yourself and your participants from this " Zoombombing ."

Bad actors can find your meeting in one of two ways: they can cycle through random meeting IDs until they find an active one, or they can take advantage of meeting links and invites that have been posted in public places, like Facebook groups, Twitter, or personal websites. So, protecting yourself boils down to controlling who can enter your meeting, and keeping your meeting IDs private.

Keep the Meeting ID Private

Whenever possible, do not post the link to your meeting or the meeting ID publicly. Send it directly to trusted people and groups instead.

Set a Meeting Password, and Carefully Inspect the Meeting Link

In your on to the right. You'll find additional password options in this area of the settings as well. Zoom account settings under Schedule Meeting, toggle Require a password when scheduling new meetings

You can also set a password when scheduling a meeting from the Zoom desktop app by checking the "Require meeting pass" checkbox.

BEWARE, however, that Zoom passwords can behave in unexpected ways. If you use the "Copy Invitation" functionality to copy the meeting link and send it to your participants, that link might include your meeting password. Look out for an unusually long URL with a question mark in it, which indicates it includes your meeting password.

If you plan to send the meeting link link directly to trusted participants, having the password included in the link will be no problem -but if you want to post the meeting link in a Facebook group, on Twitter, or in another public space, then it means the password itself will also be public. If you need to publicize your event online, consider posting only the meeting ID, and then separately sending the password to vetted participants shortly before the meeting begins.

Lock Down Screen Sharing

In your Zoom account settings under In Meeting (Basic), set Screen sharing to Host Only. That means that, when you are hosting a meeting, only you and no other meeting participants will be able to share their screen.

Depending on the calls you plan to host, you can also turn screen sharing off entirely by toggling it off to the left.

Use Waiting Rooms to Approve Participants

In your Zoom account settings under In Meeting (Advanced), enable Waiting room by toggling it on to the right. A waiting room allows hosts to screen new participants before letting them join, which can help prevent disruptions or unexpected participants.

When you are actively in a meeting and all your expected participants have arrived, you can "lock" the meeting to prevent anyone else from joining. Click Participants at the bottom of the Zoom window, and select Lock Meeting.

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Harden Your Zoom Settings to Protect Your Privacy and Avoid Trolls

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Whether you are on Zoom because your employer or school requires it or you just downloaded it to stay in touch with friends and family, people have rushed to the video chat platform in the wake of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders-and journalists, researchers, and regulators have noticed its many...

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Prince's Trust delivering Team programme online 

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Prince's Trust delivering Team programme online 

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We recently published a blog about the importance of digital during an extended period of self-isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We invited people from the voluntary sector, public sector and housing associations to join us in an online community to start thinking about how we mobilise to help those most at risk and digitally excluded. We've had a great response so far, and we will continue to explore different ways of helping people get online in these challenging times.

At the initiative of the Scottish Government, SCVO will represent the voluntary sector in a coordinated emergency response.

We must mobilise now to find, equip, train and support everyone in the country who lacks access to digital services.

The Problem

Digital connectivity will quickly become a lifeline for our most vulnerable people in the COVID-19 emergency. However, in the most vulnerable populations we have many people who do not have:

access to an internet enabled device and / or broadband or 4/5G

the ability to use them even if they do have them (significant numbers will be unable to use them or they will be sitting in a cupboard)

the ability to pay for access to the internet, maintain devices when they break etc.

some of those households also lack other vital services - a landline, a television.

So - we need an emergency national aid effort to mobilise immediately to:

Find them- coordinate across NHS, Local Authorities, Third Sector etc. to identify those people

Get devices to them- important here will be to learn from the lessons of international emergency. Lots of well-meaning attempts to get donations of old kit etc. and circulate creates more problems than it solves. We needa single device type, new not secondhand.

Get broadband or mobile internet access to them (ideally both for fail safe reasons) - free for 6 months

Provide a national team of trainers and digital buddies to get people startedwith using the device and getting online.

Create an ongoing support serviceto cope with issues with devices and ongoing training needs.

Each day that goes by will make doing this ever harder. We must start now. If we do not seize the opportunity to coordinate and do this in a large scale coordinated fashion once for Scotland we will waste time and money and energy. We will fail to reach people. We will fail them.

If we do this right it could galvanise, coordinate and focus the energy in the country to help.

We believe this will be one of the single biggest steps we could take to mitigate the harms that could be visited on our most vulnerable people in coming months. Digital will become a lifeline and our most vulnerable will need it most. We must be confident that everyone has the devices and the access and the support they need.

Now, more than ever, no one should be left behind in our Digital Scotland.

The Ask

Join this effort to mobilise a national digital emergency response team (within a matter of weeks) to find, equip, train and support households who currently lack access to the internet at home (no broadband or mobile access and / or device) due to poverty and who are amongst the most vulnerable population groups.

15000 - 20000 people are in the most vulnerable group (living in poverty and in the vulnerable group for COVID-19)

The Scottish Government, Scotland IS, SCVO, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Glasgow Disability Alliance and many others are already working to get this moving.

We are working rapidly to understand:

Who is not currently online,

Where are they, and

What are their needs.

In the first instance we're asking you to join us on our online Slack community by emailing digital@scvo.org.uk or email us directly to let us know how you think you can help.

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No One Left Behind Digital Scotland: COVID-19 - SCVO

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We recently published a blog about the importance of digital during an extended period of self-isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We invited people from the voluntary sector, public sector and housing associations to join us in an online community to start thinking about how we mobilise to help those most at risk and digitally excluded.

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Health Opportunities Team

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Youth Scotland

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Rural Youth Project Mental Health Seminar

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Rural Youth Project Mental Health Seminar

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and other online activities

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Mental Health Webinar 29 April 5:30pm

3 April 2020

We're isolated together. And it can be tough to know how to talk to family and friends during this time. That's why we're hosting a mental health webinar for young people on 29 April at 5:30pm.

We've also partnered with RSABI and Support in Mind Scotland for the webinar who will give you the tools you need to help spot the signs, support your friends and family and signpost you about who to contact.

RSABI support people in Scottish agriculture by providing emotional, practical and financial support to individuals and their families across the agricultural sector including farming and crofting.

Support in Mind Scotland (SiMS) has been supporting people with poor mental health for nearly 50 years, employs around 120 people and supports up to 1,500 people per week across Scotland (80% of whom live in rural Scotland (using Govt definition of rural). SiMS is the main mental health provider in Highland Region and Dumfries and Galloway plus has services in many other areas of Scotland.

SiMS is the Scottish partner in Mental Health UK (MHUK). There being one partner per nation of UK MHUK, is the partner charity of Lloyds Banking Group and provides services across the UK, such as the mental health money advice service and also Bloom, a UK-wide programme which supports young people's mental health resilience delivered in schools and colleges.

SiMS also set up the National Rural Mental Health Forum in 2017, following first time research in to living with poor mental health in rural Scotland. This active network has grown to around 160 membership organisations from third, private and public sectors, and is tackling mental health and well-being in rural areas of Scotland.
Mental Health Webinar 29 April 5:30pm
5:30 pm - Welcome by the Rural Youth Project and introductions

5:35 pm - Presentation by RSABI

5:45 pm - Presentation by Support in Mind Scotland

5:55 pm - Open forum for questions

You can register to attend here.

Can't attend the session? We will be recording the webinar and hosting on our website and social channels to ensure that the information is accessible to all rural young people.

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Mental Health Webinar 29 April 5:30pm - Rural Youth Project

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3 April 2020 We're isolated together. And it can be tough to know how to talk to family and friends during this time. That's why we're hosting a mental health webinar for young people on 29 April at 5:30pm.