Presentation by Dónal O' Mahony to First-year parents in Portmarnock Community School.

1. Portmarnock Community School 2012

2. Positive approach to things online
 Your child may be asked to bring a camera, an iTouch,
iPhone to school for particular educational purposes
 Your child may also be given a loan of a device
 Integrate these devices and the applications within
them into teaching and learning
 Look at the school website for examples of such work

3. Positive approach to things online
 Some subjects will encourage collaboration and
discussion online
 Discussion groups in Moodle
 Using Google Groups
 Skype / Twitter / photo-sharing websites

4. Ground rules
 Respect yourself and each other online
 Mind your devices
 Respect the network
 Don’t copy
 Be creative

5. The way students are going to
college is changing
 DCU: Degree in Problem Solving & Software Development
(2013)
 General DCU entry requirements plus Maths – not an
accumulation of points
 We still encourage students to do well in their Leaving
Certificate exams, but we will select students based on their
passion, experience and ability
 Subjects + Portfolio + Interview

6. Portfolio ideas
 Had appropriate computer-based experience during
transition year.
 Developed a web site.
 Programmed, e.g., participated in initiatives such as :
ComputeTY -
http://www.computing.dcu.ie/event/computety
 CoderDojo - http://coderdojo.com/

7. Portfolio ideas
 Participated in the All-Ireland Schools' Programming
Contest - http://aispc.computing.dcu.ie/
 Participated the BT Young Scientist of the Year -
http://www.btyoungscientist.ie/.
 Built their own computer.
 Been involved in appropriate extracurricular activity
using computers.

8. Portmarnock
 Not claiming we will do all of these things
 But will give students the environment to do some of
these things
 In a positive way

9. Problems with Social media
 Start mainly “outside” school, but issues make their way
into school
 Online bullying via Facebook and the site of the moment
ask.fm
 We will deal with online bullying where we can
 We find it challenging and time-consuming
 Our most recent advice:

10. Association of Community and
Comprehensive Schools
 Circulating, publishing or distributing (including on the
internet) material associated with school
activities including but not limited to material in relation
to staff and students where such circulation undermines,
humiliates or causes damage to another person is
considered a serious breach of school discipline and may
result in disciplinary action.
 As part of such disciplinary action the Board of
Management reserves the right to suspend or expel a
student or students where it considers the actions to
warrant such sanctions.

11. As parents we have responsibilities
 Talk to our children about online bullying
 Edit ask.fm out of their newsfeed in Facebook
 Advising not to get involved in other peoples disputes no Thumbs Up or
Thumbs Down – don't feed the dispute
 Dealing with issues face to face with adult support
 Not being mean – use social-media in a way that is affirming
 If there are problems , Keeping an evidence trail, Printing off pages, noting
web addresses, keeping written notes...
 Using www.hotline.ie, Report to the Gardaí...

12.  Three links on the school website
1. How to report an issue to Facebook (whether you use
Facebook or not)
2. An explanation of ask.fm for parents and advice on
how you might talk to your child about it
3. A longer guide to cyber bullying

13. Remember the positive
 We want to use social-media to do some teaching and
learning a little differently
 Encourage your child to develop a positive presence
online
 Avail of digital opportunities that are made available to
young people