School Competition Call

 School Competition Call

 ‘Ethics of online safety and security’

The application deadline has been extended to Friday 9th September 2022 by 6pm.


Competition details

We are seeking creative student teams (third level - S1 and S2) from schools across Scotland to share a short story of around 500 words on the theme ‘Ethics of online safety and security’. The competition is organised by Robert Gordon University as part of the ‘Maddie is Online’ project and is funded by the Scottish Government and supported by Digital Xtra Fund.

Entries to the competition should address one of the following themes:

  • Theme 1 Online Data Security (i.e., setting up strong passwords, protecting personal data/information online; keeping devices up-to-date and backing up data).
  • Theme 2 The Internet of Things (i.e., how different devices can collect and share data about people with or without their knowledge).
  • Theme 3 Understanding online terms and conditions (i.e., making safe and age appropriate choices of online tools, apps and services, browsing the Internet safely, e.g., online consent understanding digital cookies).
  • Theme 4 Identifying online scams/phishing and fraudulent websites and digital messages (i.e., how a device - computer, laptop, webcams, phones etc. can get hacked).
  • Theme 5 Private and Personal Information (i.e., data handling and privacy, online behaviours that may result in risk of harm to others, private versus public ideas of personal data on social media).

The story should involve at least three different characters and be written by a team of 4-6 students. Schools can submit stories from more than one team.

Digital Literacy Scottish Curriculum for Excellence

The competition addresses ‘Experiences and Outcomes’ within the following ‘Digital Literacy’ Third Level Technologies curriculum organisers:

  • Using digital products and services in a variety of contexts to achieve a purposeful outcome.
  • Cyber resilience and internet safety.
  • Awareness of technological developments (Past, Present and Future), including how they work.
  • Impact, contribution, and relationship of technologies on business, the economy, politics, and the environment.

All schools that enter the competition

  • Will gain access to free school and parent workshops on the ‘ethics of online safety and security’.

Selected teams 

  • Will receive support to develop their story, using cartoon characters, voice-overs and animation.
  • Will develop creativity, technical and teamwork skills as well as confidence as they design and create their own projects. 
  • Will gain access to two free animation careers workshops for young people.
  • Will receive a free subscription to Plotagon Story animation tool for a year. 
  • Will receive ‘Maddie is online’ personalised gifts.

Winning team

Gift Voucher (£100) for each member of the winning team. 

To apply please follow this link

The application deadline has now been extended to Friday 9th September 2022 by 6pm. 

For more information please read the competition guidance notes below or contact Dr Konstantina Martzoukou k.martzoukou@rgu.ac.uk 







Competition Guidance notes

'Maddie is Online': Ethics of online safety and security’

Dr Konstantina Martzoukou (Teaching Excellence at Robert Gordon University) has launched a school competition to create ‘Maddie is Online’ Series 4 on ‘The ethics of online safety and security’.  ‘Maddie is Online’, an ongoing project at the School of Creative and Cultural Business at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen. Series 4 is funded by the Scottish Government and supported by Digital Xtra Fund ‘Maddie is Online’ has been previously supported by the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) Improvement Fund (series 1 and 2) and the RGU Innovation Accelerator (Series 3).

What is ‘Maddie is Online’?

‘Maddie is Online’ develops accessible cartoon animation education resources for schools and parents, focusing on the digital citizenship skills of young people (9 to 12 years old) to navigate safely, effectively and ethically their online environments. At the centre of the project is building resilient and healthy digital communities. The project uses digital animation technology (the award-winning story-telling tool Plotagon) and character voice-overs and engages young people directly in dialogue about challenging phenomena that deal with online connectivity.

Competition details

We are seeking creative student teams (Third Level, S1 and S2 classes) from across Scotland to share a short story of around 500 words on the topic ‘ethics of online safety and security’. The story should involve at least three different characters and be written by a team of 4-6 students. 

Digital Literacy Scottish Curriculum for Excellence

The competition addresses ‘Experiences and Outcomes’ within ‘Digital Literacy’ Third Level Technologies curriculum organisers:

  • I can keep myself safe and secure in online environments and I am aware of the importance and consequences of doing this for myself and others (TCH 3-03a).
  • I understand how scientific and technological developments have contributed to changes in everyday products (TCH 3-05a).
  • I can evaluate the implications for individuals and societies of the ethical issues arising from technological developments (TCH 3-06a).
  • I can identify the costs and benefits of using technologies to reduce the impact of our activities on the environment and business (TCH 3-07a).
  • I can explore the impact, contribution and use of various software applications and emerging hardware in business (TCH 3-08a). I can explore the impact, contribution and use of various software applications and emerging hardware in business (TCH 3-08a).

What the stories should address

Applicants should create a single story per team, according to the following guidelines:

  • Select one theme from the list of themes (1-5 below). Please note that there are different skills listed within each theme so your story could address one or more skills.  
  • Describe briefly the key characters of the story. How old they are, their names, what do they do, what is their role in the story, what are their favourite hobbies online, what problems do they face online?). Some shorter indicative example stories have been provided using previous characters in the series. You do not have to use the same characters or create a similar story. Feel free to be creative!
  • Describe what happens to the key characters in the story. What is the problem/issue they face connected to the theme you have selected and what skills do they require?
  • Describe how the key characters dealt with the problem. What solutions did they find? Whom did they talk to? Where did they seek advice from? You can get more information about the themes from the resources listed in this document. 
  • Make your story interesting, informative and fun. The story should appeal to young people aged 10-12. Your role is to educate them with a fun and engaging story that contains advice on how to keep safe online but also on how to use online tools and technologies to their full potential. 

Advice on writing your story

  • Use knowledge/ information to create the story / find solutions / best practice methods from the available resources provided or additional sources you find. The idea is to describe the challenge that your main characters face in the story and explore possible solutions/tactics that could work in addressing them. Show how deciding about what to do can be tricky. 
  • You can draw from your own experiences and challenges to get inspiration for your story. There are also some indicative scenarios provided, focusing on the complexity of situations that can be experienced and showing that solutions may not always be straight forward. You may also view previous episodes of ‘Maddie is Online’ to get some inspiration.
  • Please avoid using any real names of people or products. For example, instead of saying ‘Tik Tok; ‘YouTube’, ‘Snapchat’, ‘Instagram’, you can invent your own imaginary name for a digital tool. The same applies to the characters in your story. 
  • Offer a balanced story, showing both the benefits/advantages/opportunities of online tools as well as the problems/challenges. You may wish to follow the style of the examples, putting different characters in a debate on the pros and the cons of their actions (although this is not necessary and feel free to use your own creativity). Discuss your story thinking about the rules of being a good citizen and what that means for the online environment (e.g. caring for the world, the importance of giving back, taking responsibility, thinking about the impact of the characters’ actions on others, not only on themselves). 

Frequently asked Questions

Eligibility

Eligible students are: 
  • New students in S1 
  • S1 students who are moving to S2 in August  
  • S2 students who are moving to S3 in August 

Who enters the stories to the competition 

It is a school staff member who should enter one or more teams of 4-6  students into the competition and not the competitors themselves. 

Can one school enter multiple teams? 

Each school can enter multiple teams. However, the story should be written by the team of students. 

What happens next? 

We would like to have a key school contact to work with so that we could visit the school (or meet online) to help the young people create their stories into aminations, if they are selected. Therefore, it would be helpful for the teams of young people to have some time to work on their stories from October to December 2022, if they are selected, and learn more about online safety and security in a fun and creative way. 

Themes

Each team selects one theme.

Theme 1. Online Data Security 

Skills in this story:

  • I can explain why someone should use strong and separate passwords (e.g., for email and other online accounts). 
  • I understand the benefits of two factor/step authentication (i.e., using two ways to access my accounts, like my email and phone number) and biometric authentication (i.e. that identifies who I am scanning my physical characteristics, such as my fingerprint or facial features) and I use them where available.  
  • I understand how to protect my passwords. I have a method to create, remember and save good passwords. I create unique usernames and passwords for each account and I never reuse passwords. I use numbers, characters, a mix of lowercase and uppercase letters and symbols rather than simple or common choices that are easy to guess (e.g., dictionary words, names, dates, numbers only, or obvious choices such as 12345678). I update passwords two to three times a year. I never share my passwords with anyone but my guardian. I use a password manager (e.g. browser-based or cloud-based services for managing passwords) and I make my master password difficult to crack (e.g. following the above rules). I do not copy my password in a physically unsecure place (e.g. in a notebook, in an unlocked drawer).
  • I understand what to do if my passwords get hacked.
  • I can identify choices and demonstrate strategies to keep my apps and devices up-to-date and I back up my data.

Resources: 

• Trend Micro Cyber Academy – ‘Episode 1 Passwords’  

• World back up Day – ‘What is a backup?’ 

• Internet Safety for Kids  –‘Making and Protecting Backups’ 

• Childline – ‘Keeping your information secure’ 

• Digital Skills Education – Activity using Python code to see how cyber criminals can 'crack' passwords

• iDEA

Example story:

Maddie has been set up with a new account on ‘Instant Class’ (the online teaching environment of her school) by her teacher. The teacher offered everyone test passwords but also explained that all passwords have to be immediately changed to make each one safe and memorable. Maddie knows how to create a unique password for her account with numbers, characters, a mix of lowercase and uppercase letters and symbols rather than simple or common choices that are easy to guess. However, her friend, Michael, struggles to set it up properly and needs advice on how to create a strong password that it difficult to crack, keep it safe and find a way to manage all his passwords. For example, he recently changed his email password for the tenth time, as every single time he sets it up he forgets what it is! He even wrote it on a piece of paper the other day and left it in his pocket but the note was lost!  Maddie offers advice to Michael on setting up safe passwords and managing them to save time and effort, explaining how passwords have to be kept safe and not shared with others. Michael however gets that advice wrong every single time and makes typical mistakes (e.g., following an obvious choice such as a single number 34567, giving his passwords to his best friends, using the same passwords on every app etc.). 

Theme 2. The Internet of Things

Skills in this story:

  • I can explain the terms ‘connectivity’ and ‘Internet of Things’ (i.e., Internet connected devices or toys).
  • I can explain how the security of devices connected to the internet may be compromised (e.g., webcams, monitors, phones or toys. 
  • I can demonstrate actions people can take to minimise such compromise (e.g., covering cameras on computers when not in use).

Resources: 

• GCFLearnFree.org – ‘What is The Internet of Things?’  

• NSPCC – ‘Internet Connected Devices’  

• Digital Skills Education –  ‘Defend the Rhino’. It uses data science and the Internet of Things to help save endangered wildlife.

• iDEA

Example Stories: 

I want your shoes

Maddie and Michael came across a pair of cool smart shoes that can collect data about their movement when they run, play and walk to school. The shoes get connected to an app on their phone and send data about how many steps they did every day, how far they walked, if they walked fast or they ran and also offers personalised fitness advice. However, when using the shoes, they give data about their heart rate, their physical condition, as well as their age, weight and their location which captures where they are throughout the day. These can end up in the hands of hackers or send to other businesses for advertisement purposes. What are the benefits and challenges? Maddie and Michael argue for and against this app using evidence to debate on the issues. 

How warm is your house? 

Maddie’s and Michael’s parents found out about an amazing system to regulate their house temperature using a thermostat that changes the temperature to warmer when it detects that they are at home. They are considering buying the system but they have been told that it will be collecting data from the family, when they are using it, and it will know, for example, that at 4pm the house gets warmer (as it is the time when they are back from work and school), what time they wake up and how much energy they spend. The system can detect family preferences and can organise automatically a personalised programme for them which will be very helpful for saving them a lot of money and using less energy, which is good for the environment. However, it also collects personal information and there are some security concerns (e.g., the times when the family is away can be found). Maddie and Michael argue for and against the system and get their parents to decide about installing the system or not, but the decision is not that straightforward. They have to explore the pros and the cons in detail and decide how to best move forward.

Theme 3. Understanding online terms and conditions

Skills in this story:

  • I can explain app permissions and analyse them to make informed choices about which apps to use. 
  • I can explain why online services have terms and conditions that govern their use and give examples that illustrate how they impact on a user (e.g., digital cookies, age restrictions).
  • I can analyse different ways that advertisers collect information about users to send them targeted ads.

Resources: 

Example story:

Do I want your cookies?

Maddie and Michael have found a great new lip-syncing app that has many creative options that will help them to develop new skills in editing online videos and scenes transitions. Most of their friends are already using it so it would be great to socialise online too. However, the app requires them to give some personal data upon signing, using small information files that are called ‘digital cookies’ (e.g., they capture their location, which device they use, the software version they use and their screen dimensions, how they use the platform, which pages they view most often and how they interact with the content). The information is used to report and evaluate their activities and patterns on the app, correct errors and design new creative options. These data are also used for personalising their content so they can view more relevant postings to them, they help to remember their preferences/settings, they make the platform work more efficient, they improve their experience and create new video features. However, it also pushes to them lots of advertisements. They are just children, they don’t have money to buy all of these things, but they increasingly feel that they need to!  What should they do? Should they subscribe or not? One of them really wants to, whereas the other one is sceptical. What steps should they take to make that decision? To download or not to download?  How will they find out more about what to do? 

Theme 4 Identifying scams/phishing and fraudulent websites and messages

Skills in this story:

  • I recognise messages, websites or e-mails where the sender/owner appears to be different from who they are.
  • I can explain why it’s important to know how to recover a device or account if it gets compromised / hacked.
  • I know whom to contact if I find that my account has been hacked, if embarrassing images of me are being shared, or if I experience something else that is really unpleasant.

Resources:

Example story:

To donate or to not donate? That is the question

Maddie receives an email from her school, reminding her class that it is the last day for donating money to the school nominated charity, ‘Strong Family Corners’, before it gets collected and sent to the charity. In the email, there is a bank account to make the payment with the logo of the charity and the email has been sent by Mr Powers, the Teacher of Modern Studies, who is organising the task (the name is in the sender’s information). The email looks a bit strange: it has too emotional information about the charity cause, and the wording of the message looks strange and with some errors. However, Maddie goes to her parents and asks to donate an amount as she really wants to support that cause and a payment is made to the charity. The next day when Maddie goes to school she realises that the charity name is not the same and that the email of Mr Powers was hacked. Someone had used his email details to send this message to all the school and several children had followed the link to make the payment, exactly like Maddie. Maddie is very angry and decides that she will never trust any email again. She should have not helped her teacher or the charity in the first place. Perhaps it was the charity or Mr Powers that was not keeping personal details safe? Maddie meets her friend, Michael, and they debate about the importance of trusting people versus mistrust for everyone online and how to draw a line. How would someone make that decision? What details do they need to check and how can they verify the identity of others online? What do they need to do to make sure that a personal account is not compromised? 

Theme 5. Private and Personal Information 

Skills in this story:

  • I can describe simple ways to increase privacy on apps and services that provide privacy settings.
  • I can identify choices and demonstrate strategies to control the personal data that online services hold.
  • I can recognise that devices can collect and share data about users with or without their knowledge or awareness (e.g., usage data, microphone, camera and geolocation data).
  • I can understand the difference between online private and public information.
  • I know how to keep personal information private and that personal or private data of others should not be shared on social media.
  • I can understand how online behaviours may result in risk of harm to myself or others.

Resources: 

Example story:

Dinner for three

Michael was issued with a school dinner card that needs to be topped up with money online. His parents have added a large amount on the card to cover for the next six months. However, after two months, Michael, prefers to bring his own lunch at school and stops using the card. One day a friend of Michael asks for the card because they have forgotten their own lunch and have no money with them to buy lunch at school. Michael is happy to share his card and give his pin access number. A few days later, however, the friend returns to Michael to say that the card was lost and when his parents check the account there is no money left. His friend had decided to use the card not only for themselves but also gave it to someone else who asked to buy a snack. Because they could not remember the pin, they wrote it on a small piece of paper and stuck it on the card. As they were walking back to school, the card fell and since then it was nowhere to be found. Michael and his friend discuss the importance of keeping personal information private. Was it right for Michael to give his card and pin? Or should he had just ignored that his friend was hungry and offered no help? Was there anything that Michael or his friend could have done to protect their personal information or keep their personal information private? 

We look forward to your story! 




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