The Moscow Institute of Educational Practices (MIEP) served as a platform for a webinar titled Present-Day Online Educational Environment and its Risks. Held as part of the 19th Safer Runet Week, this event brought together teachers, school curriculum developers and administrative staff members from educational institutions, as well as educators and students. Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ Andrey Vorobyev made a keynote presentation.
The purpose of this session consisted of equipping its participants with effective tools for improving their digital literacy and ensuring cybersecurity in the educational environment. In his keynote, Mr. Vorobyev presented tried and tested methods, as well as templates and opportunities to contact experts for enabling teachers to better guide their students in the digital space.
Andrey Vorobyev said that teachers play a primary role in preventing online risks.
“For a teacher or mentor, digital literacy operates as a key factor for preventing cyberbullying in an educational institution. Children tend to trust their teachers, offering educators an opportunity to guide their students in improving their digital awareness and acquiring the skills they need for identifying fakes. Moreover, making smart use of digital technology in education can also help school students acquire critical thinking skills,” he said, and backed his claims with a series of Russian studies on how teachers and digital tools affect the way students acquire competences and their online safety.
The webinar also offered its participants an opportunity to learn how to integrate online safety into the school curriculum and ensure that students contribute to the corresponding initiatives. School teachers received access to the Coordination Center’s educational hub Study the Internet – Govern It!, as well as guidelines for preventing online risks for teenagers. University and college faculty members discovered career guidance projects for students, including the Summer School on Internet Governance.
School curriculum developers and administrators learned about what the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ does and the opportunities offered by its Academy when planning educational initiatives. There was also dedicated content for educators who explored cybersecurity training scenarios and learned about the project ecosystem for various age groups. As for students studying teachers’ training and IT disciplines, they received information on the possible career journeys in the digital economy and explored opportunities to take part in the Coordination Center’s youth initiatives.
This webinar demonstrated that ensuring digital security requires a system-wide educational strategy. Participants praised the speakers for sharing their materials and for focusing on online risks, which has been a hot topic lately.
The Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ will continue to support initiatives of this kind, while the Moscow Institute of Educational Practices is planning to hold more events, including with Coordination Center’s specialists, for sharing best practices in improving digital literacy.
You can find the detailed program of the 19th Safer Runet Week on its official website at неделя-безопасного-рунета.рф. Join us in this national educational campaign.
