BCS calls for UK school students to scratch safely online with Animation17 competition
29 Sep 2016 12:37 PM
BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, is calling all 7-19 year old students across UK schools and colleges to enter the BCS e-safety award, part of Animation17. The annual animation competition, now in its tenth year, is run by Manchester University.
Bill Mitchell, Director of Education says: “We are delighted to be supporting the e-safety category of Animation17. Being digitally adept isn’t the same as being digitally savvy and so BCS wants schoolchildren to create an animation film to help share their tops tips for staying safe online. Ensuring children are protected from cyber-crime, bullying and the threat from viruses means they can safely enjoy the benefits of the internet.
The BCS e-safety award will see entrants create a one minute animation film where children explain the top tips of how to keep safe online including such advice as:
- Check and use privacy settings on your social media sites
- Keep your personal details safe, don’t share them online
- Only accept ‘friend’ invites from people you know in the real world
- Think before you post; be careful about what you post online, it’s very easy to post something you will regret later and it can be difficult to remove it
- Talk to your parents or teachers if you see something that upsets you; they can help you block it or remove it
- Don’t reply to any bullying messages, keep the messages and show your parents or teachers
- Remember that not everyone online is who they say they are
- Be careful and treat others as you would like to be treated
- If you wouldn’t say it or do it in the real world, then don’t do it online
- Don’t reply to spam texts, emails or messages
- Be careful if you’re downloading music, films or images to avoid breaking copyright or downloading viruses
Bill adds: “The BCS e-safety award provides children a chance to use their creative digital skills to teach other children, their friends and families how to stay safe online. We look forward to seeing this year’s entries’ for Animation17.”
Animation17 aims to enthuse schoolchildren about computer science, and to use computers creatively. The competition is free to enter and entries can be submitted by an individual or by teams of up to four people. The deadline for entering is 31 March 2017 and the prize winners will be announced in May 2017.
Toby Howard, Chair, Animation17, Director of Undergraduate Studies, School of Computer Science at The University of Manchester says: “We are excited to partner with BCS on the e-safety award on this incredible tenth year of fantastic animations from schools and colleges all over the UK - we can’t wait to receive your entries and see your creativity!”
More information about Animation17, including details on how to enter can be found at: http://animation17.cs.manchester.ac.uk/
The entry submitted by the Animation16 BCS e-safety award winner can be viewed at: https://goo.gl/Y6P7Yv
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