CodeX – Mission Secure: Enhancing children's privacy online

Children and young people's lives are increasingly taking place online, both in schools and at home. This digital life brings many advantages, but also some security risks. Young people may surf at the speed of light, but sometimes they end up in situations which they do not know how to handle. The learning resource 'CodeX – Mission Secure' seeks to empower them online. 

Date 2016-05-27 Author Danish Safer Internet Centre
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When going online there's lots of stuff that you can and perhaps should do. The possibilities are numerous and tempting: finding information, interacting with friends, playing, shopping and working. You can do almost everything online but there are also numerous things you need to pay attention to, with privacy and online security being key. 
 
Through an early effort in schools, ‘CodeX – Mission Secure' will establish a foundation for children to enable them to ‘go digital' in a safe way. The resource contains content targeted to children, teachers and parents as they all play a key role in education. And, as the line between real life and online life blurs, the role for parents is increasing. The learning material is developed in cooperation with teachers, professionals and educational experts, and indeed pupils themselves. The only thing required is six training lessons and some time for testing before and after the course is done. 
 
'CodeX – Mission Secure' is accessible through the web and is entirely free to use. Connected to the online resource is a guide for parents, a guide for teachers and a code of conduct for pupils that describes the six lessons combined with a dictionary. The dictionary explains many of the terms used in relation to online security and privacy such as DDOS, encryption, personal data, phishing, spyware and keyloggers… all words that we may have heard of, but probably have difficulty in fully understanding.
 
The resource is split up in six lessons dealing with six different topics, all of which empower the pupils and help them to reflect on their online presence and behaviour:
  1. 'My mission' – on the basis of online experiences, pupils gain a deeper understanding of what the internet is.
  2. 'On track' – information on cookies and an understanding of the footprints left behind when surfing the web. Pupils learn about the information they share online, and why it is a good idea to protect it.
  3. 'My true identity' – targeting the difference between your online identity and your real identity, and why they can and may differ.
  4. 'Eternal life' – what goes online, stays online. This subject seeks to empower reflection among pupils so that they understand what to share and with whom.
  5. 'Under attack' – a lesson all about malware and how to protect yourself from it.
  6. ‘Mission complete' – how to protect your devices with passwords.
'CodeX – Mission Secure' will be updated and redesigned in 2016 to also target even younger pupils than the 5-6th graders that have been using the resource already. For now, all resources are in Danish.
 
The resource was developed by The Council for Digital Safety, The Danish Agency for Digitisation and The Danish IT Industry Association with support from the Danish Media Council for Children & Young People. For more information on the resource, please visit https://www.codex.agency/#welcomeagent.
 
To find out more about the work of the Danish Safer Internet Centre, visit their profile page.

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