ARWith remote learning and video conferencing becoming such a staple practice in the UK amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, SWGfL is looking to host more webinar events in order to share our latest information, guidance and products.
The idea of attending a conference, lecture or seminar has somewhat been skewed over the past three months. Although many of us enjoyed travelling, meeting other guests and indulging in moderately priced biscuits, right now, it’s unclear when events such as these will regularly return. Luckily for us, we live in an age of technology.
Although webinars have been around for many years, right now they are becoming more of a necessity for our education in the workplace. Sure, we may not be gathered in a room asking each other how the traffic was, but at least we have an easy and accessible way of getting our information without worrying too much about our diaries.
SWGfL got to see the extent of how successful a webinar event could be with a small exclusive event we held earlier this month titled ‘’Back to school – online safeguarding considerations’’.
With new developments coming forward about when schools will reopen their doors, we took it upon ourselves to share some important guidance with education professionals from all parts of the world. Not only that, but we updated everyone on what the impact has been from COVID-19 in regards to children online, as shown in our latest report. Over 70 people attended, with some fantastic questions being raised and some great engagement throughout. If you were unable to attend the webinar, we have broken down some of the key points raised.
What was Discussed?
Led by David Wright (Director of UK Safer Internet Centre), he touched on various points and highlighted the following:
- Whilst many children have access to technology and connectivity, this is not universal and the ‘digital divide’ will have an impact
- There has been an increase of individuals searching for child sexual abuse content, alongside an increase in access to adult content online.
- Children have reported heighted anxiety associated with the pandemic and restrictions
- Parents are anxious that their children’s education will be impacted
You can read the full report here
He went on to share our latest resources that have been in response to various developments surrounding school closures. You can access them all here:
- Safe Remote Learning
- Education Professionals Guide to Remote Learning
- Reopening of Schools - Online Safety Considerations
This was then followed up with a section by Rachel Payne (Customer Engagement Manager) highlighting the responsibility of actively managing safeguarding duties in these times. She touched upon various issues schools are currently facing, with reference to video conferencing and the current lack of face to face interaction between pupils, parents and teachers.
The session went on with a brief introduction to our anonymous reporting tool Whisper which offered a solution to those facing difficulties maintaining communication within the school community. We also introduced a new limited time offer to the subscription which is currently running until 6th July 2020.
Finally, the webinar ended with some questions from the audience, covering a wide range of online safety topics including online policy and practice, video conferencing and virus protection.
What will the future bring?
Most importantly though, the webinar allowed us to see how we can continue to offer our guidance and information in a more personal way whilst allowing our audience to engage and respond. The feedback was also very insightful, with many showing interest in attending future sessions.
If you would like to stay informed about our future webinar events, please email enquiries@swgfl.org.uk with your name, email address and any topic you feel needs to be discussed. Read our privacy notice to get all the information about how your data is stored. You can opt out of any communication on this topic by emailing us at the same address with your desired request.
We are pleased to carry on hosting events similar to these in the near future. With so much going on in the world right now, it’s important to keep up-to-date with all the latest information around online safety. If you would like to be informed about our latest news, make sure you subscribe to our newsletter.
