High school students from across the Latrobe Valley participated in digital safety workshops with the Optus Digital Thumbprint online workshop delivering the program to its 200,000th student at Kurnai College on Friday.
The government-accredited program teaches students to become responsible online citizens with age group-specific sessions.
Kurnai College Morwell campus year 9 coordinator Clancy Bennett said the school was focused on creating awareness about how students engaged online.
“I think the kids are exposed to an online environment earlier and earlier and they are spending a lot of time in that space, so [the program is about] giving them some skills to negotiate that in a positive way,” he said.
“Making sure … they have the skills to do that is something that is fundamentally important and we spend a lot of time at school on.”
Mr Bennett said the school operated specific cybersafety programs, however, as students were almost continually immersed in the digital world, cybersafety programs were embedded in all subjects.
“I think mainly it is around understanding they create a digital thumbprint when they spend time online, and that is something that is around permanently, so creating some awareness around that and also creating some awareness of how they can make sure what they are doing online is positive and respectful,” he said.
Optus spokesman Jayson Grool said the workshop covered many topics around privacy and anti-cyber bullying.
“One of the other programs is about the sexualisation of content. What you put on the internet is available to anybody and everybody out there and about keeping yourself safe and secure online,” he said.
“Another program is about when you are moving into the phase of a career or looking for opportunities for employment, how employers can gain access to your information and how to be digitally safe and savvy.”
Mr Grool said programs covering online safety were crucial for students today.
“It is no longer about students jumping online, they are always online, it is a constant,” he said.
“It is really about protecting the youth of Australia and understanding what they do today can have impacts tomorrow, not just personally, but professionally as well.
“It is about empowering our young people to be digitally safe, savvy and having a positive online experience.”
