ENISA & European Schoolnet - New Prize for Teaching of Online Safety in Schools

BRUSSELS, HERAKLION, Greece, September 21, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- For the 10th eLearning Awards, European Schoolnet and ENISA, the European Network and Information Security Agency, announce a new prize category called "Teaching online safety and citizenship."

The rapid spread of internet use among young people is making it essential to address eSafety and ePrivacy, in order to protect young people from online risks and threats and to prepare them to use digital technologies in a secure and responsible way.

As a major European actor for eSafety and ePrivacy, ENISA higly encourages all teachers to address these issues with their young students. "Young people and children are today amongst the biggest user groups of online technologies in Europe. It is important to equip them with the skills and knowledge to stay safe online," said Dr Udo Helmbrecht, Executive Director of ENISA.

The eLearning Awards, Europe's leading competition to reward excellence for the best use of technology in education, is organised for the 10th consecutive year by European Schoolnet. It aims to recognise and spread the practices of innovative teachers. The prize willshow how ICT helps improve methodology and work in the classroom and positively impacts on children's learning. "It is essential to encourage teachers to adopt 21st century teaching and learning: ICT has as crucial role to play in all sectors of society and education should not be left apart," said Marc Durando, Executive Director of European Schoolnet.

The winner, selected by an international jury of experts, will win thousands of Euros in cash prizes and/or ICT equipment, as well as a trip to the prize-giving ceremony. The winning entry will be made available for the whole of Europe via the eLearning Resource Exchange.

The prize-giving ceremony, and gala dinner, will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 8 November 2010, at the annual EMINENT conference. The EMINENT conference is a major European event in education. It brings together ICT policy makers from Agencies and Ministries of Education, experts, researchers and leading eLearning suppliers from the commercial sector.

This year, EMINENT is associated to the Uddanelsesforum, a national forum on education organised by UNI-C, the Danish agency for ICT in education, to held the first EMINENT for teachers. This special event aims to encourage the sharing of best practices among teachers and highlights the opportunities offered by ICT to improve pedagogy and learning.

To register for the eLearning Awards and submit your entry, visit:

http://elearningawards.eun.org. Please note the deadline for submission is 28 September 2010.

    About ENISA
    ENISA - Securing Europe's Information Society.
    http://www.enisa.europa.eu
    About the eLearning awards

Since 2001, the eLearning Awards competition ( http://elearningawards.eun.org) has been run by European Schoolnet and supported by key industry partners. Ten years after its launch, the eLearning Awards remain Europe's leading competition to reward excellence for the best use of technology in education.

About European Schoolnet

European Schoolnet (http://www.europeanschoolnet.org) is a network of 31 Ministries of Education in Europe and beyond. EUN was created more than 10 years ago with the aim to bring about innovation in teaching and learning through the use of ICT for its key stakeholders: Ministries of Education, schools, teachers and researchers.

SOURCE ENISA - European Network and Information Security Agency