In this blog I will be discussing the effectiveness of the kidSMART website. From first opening the website I can see they have tried to use images to compliment the text and a range of colours to support children in finding the section they want.
The website in general has a very positive approach to e-safety even though it is a mature topic for teaching children. Its use of language allows the children to understand the dangers whilst not forgetting how valuable of a resource being online is.
The SMART acronym on the website is a great tool for children to remember the vital information. S – Safe, M – Meeting, A – Accepting, R – Reliable, T – Tell
Overall I would say teachers could use this website in schools, however after navigating through the website I can see it may be confusing moving from one topic to another. Additionally, the webpages are very text heavy for children to read. The use of videos I found very useful, but some of the information in the text is important and something that if it could be spaced out more would be more beneficial to children using this resource. I discovered the two sections where you can click to say if ‘I have kids’ or ‘work with kids’ very informative because resources and links are listed where extra information can be found.
Did you take a look at the different resources for each KS? What did you think of them?
Yes I had a look through the resources and the story of Digiduck and I could see myself using this story for PHSE as well as ICT lessons because of the “how to be a good friend” moral. The free resources were very useful for inside the classroom.