New course on internet safety in Poland On Safer Internet Day 2008 the Nobody’s Children Foundation initiated its new project - e-learning courses on internet safety directed at children, youngsters, parents and teachers. The first e-learning course launched on SID 2008 was targeted at children aged 7-11. In November 2008 a new course under the name “Safe surfing the net” for 8-12 year old children was released.

The e-learning modules complement the node’s previous projects - the storyline is based on the Sieciaki.pl project (www.sieciaki.pl). Course users are accompanied in their adventure by four Sieciaki characters, a team of wise-web children who know the rules for safe surfing and are the users’ guides throughout the course. Graphics and layout are dynamic, colourful and child-friendly.

The organisers expect this course to be not only a source of useful information about dealing with difficulties that children may encounter on the internet, but also a source of fun as it contains many interesting games, clips, movies, songs, quizzes and animations.
The course provides material for two forty-five-minutes sessions and consists of 7 modules (rooms). Each one deals with a different issue:

Module 1 – “What is the internet?” in a funny and accessible way tells children about what the internet is and when it was created.
Module 2 – “Giving personal information” covers privacy issues.
Module 3 – “Making friends online” shows that friends children make online may actually be totally different people, who might want to hurt them.
Module 4 – “Dangerous content” makes children realise that on the internet as well as good and useful information, they may find content that is harmful. This section also deals with what to do if they encounter such websites.
Module 5 – “Cyber bullying” discusses the problem of peer violence online.
Module 6 – “Addiction” deals with the problem of addiction to the internet and how a child can avoid it or realise that they are affected by it.
Module 7 – “Shopping” talks about on-line shopping and what precautions one should take before buying something on the internet.

Each module takes place in a different “room” and ends with a short knowledge test. After passing each test, the child will be granted a Disc of Knowledge. The purpose is to get through all 7 rooms and obtain 7 Disks of Knowledge. By doing this, the successsful child becomes a Sieciak – a young expert on internet safety.

Registration is required before taking part in this course. Through the e-learning platform the teacher can follow the pupils' progress, print out certificates and generate statistics reflecting student participation in the course.

The e-learning programme is being promoted among schools and local educational authorities. E-learning courses for secondary school students, parents and teachers will be produced soon.

Keywords: e-learning, course, internet, module, surfing, disk, programme