MANILA -- With the goal of promoting a more responsible cyber use among students, the Department of Education (DepEd), Facebook, and Globe have teamed up in developing modules for a workshop called "Digital Discernment" that would be rolled out in schools across the country soon.
"Part of our K to 12 curriculum is to educate children how to use social media," said DepEd Undersecretary Tonisito Umali in a media briefing held Tuesday in BGC, Taguig. "Education Secretary Leonor Briones engages with the private sector in this endeavor, to help teach kids the (responsible) use of social media."
About 100 public high school students from Metro Manila attended the workshop's launch at the Mind Museum on Tuesday. The workshop aims to teach online users to be critical thinkers and recognize if the information is intended as a joke or is intentionally crafted to mislead people.
"Digital Discernment" also targets to help students Grades 7-12 to identify credible information, since the workshop includes tips in verifying facts from opinions and examining online sources.
The workshop was part of Globe's Digital Thumbprint Program (DTP) that was launched in 2016.
The first three workshop modules under this program were "Digital Insight", which provided help to discern online behavior; "Digital Impact", which tackled technology issues and their impact on students' social activities; and "Digital Ambition", which taught students technology skills to help them achieve their goals.
DepEd has been Globe's partner since Day 1 of the DTP, and this is the first time that the two have tapped Facebook to help them create modules for the "Digital Discernment" workshop.
According to Globe, since DTP's launch, the program has already reached more than 17,000 public and private high school students in the country. The DepEd also helps Globe to reach schools.
Battling cyber risks
Meanwhile, the workshop's launch was held in time for the Safer Internet Day observance on February 6.
Globe's senior vice president for Corporate Communications Yoly Crisanto said the company had collaborated with DepEd and Facebook to ensure that "Digital Discernment" would provide the right intervention in addressing the right use of the internet.
Globe shared that based on the 2018 DQ Global Impact Report made by DQ Institute, an educational institution based in Singapore, 56 percent of kids 8-12 years old were exposed to a variety of cyber risks, such as cyberbullying, online sexual behavior and digital misinformation.
Umali mentioned that DepEd had previously created a module to guide parents on their kids' online behavior.
"Some kids like the 7-year olds, they are naive. Parents, for instance, should know if their kids would meet up with a 'real person'," he said. (PNA)
