Digital Citizenship
Google Launches SEL Lessons, Educator Resources
As part of an expansion of its Be
Internet Awesome digital citizenship program, Google today
announced several new resources for educators, students and parents,
including new curriculum and social-emotional learning lessons
focused on online harassment and bullying.
Be Internet Awesome is a program aimed at helping kids navigate the
internet and make informed decisions online. It launched in 2017 and
has since expanded to 30 countries and 16 languages. The updates
announced today include:
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An updated curriculum;
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11 new lessons;
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Additional educator and family
resources;
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Resources for specific grades and age groups;
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Additional guidance for gaming and video consumption, as well as the
use of search engines; and
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SEL lessons “to help students address cyberbullying and online
harassment.”
According to Google: “To ensure Be Internet Awesome helps students
comprehend online safety and digital citizenship concepts, we
commissioned the University
of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center to
do a rigorous independent evaluation of our program. The researchers
learned that students who went through the Be Internet Awesome
program improved their comprehension in areas such as being civil
online, understanding which websites are safe and responding more
confidently to cyberbullying. The research also recommended
opportunities where kids could benefit from more guidance, which
we’ve used to update our curriculum.”
The Committee
for Children and The
Net Safety Collaborative partnered with Google for some of the
updates to the program.
Further
information can be found on the Be Internet Awesome site.