B62 - Computing and IT (BSc)

• Cyber bullying is on the increase in England and has affected 38 per cent of young people 
• Abusive emails (26 per cent) and text messages (24 per cent) are the most prominent method of cyber bullying.
• The majority (56 per cent) of respondents felt that the home was the location of cyber bullying.
• 28 per cent of young people had not informed anyone of their experience. Of those who did confide in anyone, they chose to inform friends and family
• 78 per cent feared that cyber bullying was increasing due to the evolving nature of technology.
• 46 per cent feel current initiatives are insufficient in targeting their needs, prevention, protection and empowerment.

The key recommendations from the study were:

• The Government should ring fence funds for sustained anti-bullying work within the communities to counter the high level of bullying that is still prevalent.
• Charities and education establishments supported to provide skills training and support for young people to lead age specific tailored intervention programmes for example the Diana Award Anti-Bullying Ambassadors Programme
• Government led commitment to create one central anti-bullying resource and best available practice for all young people
• Government led commitment to create one central anti-bullying resource and best available practice for all parents and adults working with young people
• Internet and mobile phone providers to provide visible and accessible cyber safeguards including improved safety features, more regulation and codes of conduct and to work with parents to achieve this
• Central government to hold schools and youth organisations to account for implementing and regularly reviewing cyber bullying policies

The report was commissioned by the Diana Award.

Find out more

• Read the report in full
• Diana Award

Vital Professional Development (Vital) helps schools and colleges to enhance their teaching using ICT and supports the teaching of IT and Computing to students. It provides materials that can be used in the classroom to inspire learners and opportunities for teachers to share expertise.

It is supported by a network of regional teams who organise events and activities such as “TeachMeets” across the UK.

Vital was launched in January 2010 with funding from the Department for Education, and is delivered in collaboration with other key providers including e-skills UK.

The additional funding will allow the programme to extend its reach and will support a new In-house Professional Development Partnership, a school-based initiative continuing professional development initiative which include subject-specific web-portals identifying high quality teaching resources.

Dr Peter Twining, Vital Director and Senior Lecturer at The Open University, said: “This is great news for the programme and allows us to partner with more schools and colleges to help them maximise the impact of their existing resources. The In-house Professional Development Partnership model provides an economical yet high quality and effective approach to staff development that is flexible and sustainable, and targeted on meeting each partner institution’s specific development needs.”

Enquiries: email info@vital.ac.uk or telephone 0845 366 0481

The 30-point postgraduate module addresses global computing concerns over information security, including threats, physical and environmental security, security architecture and design, intrusion prevention, virtual private networks and information security risk management.

The OU says it will provide computer networking professionals with highly valued commercial qualifications. The university is working with industry and education to address the current shortage of skilled IT professionals, which poses a threat to IT security.

The OU is a Cisco Academy – part of the global networking education programme operated by networking equipment market leader Cisco Systems. Cisco certifications are highly regarded in the networking industry. Network security will prepare students to take the CCNA (Cisco Certified Networking Associate) Security certification and provide a foundation for preparing for the ISC2 Certified Information Systems Professional (CISSP) certification.

It is a compulsory module in the OU's Postgraduate Diploma and MSc in Advanced Networking and an optional module in a number of other postgraduate computing qualifications.

Andrew Smith, Lecturer on the OU's Cisco Certified Networking Associate and Professional (CCNA/CCNP) programmes, said: “Successful completion of Network security will open up career opportunities in infrastructure and network security, systems security management and advanced networking – with recent news stories about hacking, these areas should be a priority for all businesses and private network users.”

The first presentation starts on 5 November.

Useful links

• Network security (T828)
• OU news release
• Postgraduate computing courses
• Undergraduate computing courses
• Contest addresses shortage of cyber security professionals

Photo: Thinkstock

His research interests include human-centred design of technologies for mobile, contextual and inquiry-based learning, and the application of studies of human cognition and social interaction to the development of novel interactive systems. He inaugurated the mLearn International conference series and was founding President of the International Association for Mobile Learning. In collaboration with theOpen University's Professor Eileen Scanlon, he was Principal Investigator of the recent PI: Personal Inquiry project to support inquiry learning of 21st century science topics between formal and informal settings. As a member of the MOBIlearn European 5th Framework project he led the design and evaluation of its context awareness subsystem.

Other projects include Design of Games for auditory learning, L-Mo with Sharp Labs Europe to develop mobile technology for language learning, a study of Web 2.0 technologies for learning at school and home, educational futures research , the design of a Writer's Assistant, an exploration of writing as creative design, computer implementation of story generation, and the development of a knowledge-based tutoring system for neuroradiology.