Online game platform Roblox has launched a free digital civility curriculum to teach children how to behave and stay safe online.
Alongside teaching skills such as 3D modelling and coding, the curriculum will teach children how to stay safe online, how to forge positive relationships online and counteract cyberbullying.
The curriculum includes six sessions, which each being designed for 45-60 minute classroom sessions. The initiative is developed jointly by the Roblox Education team in collaboration with Laura Higgins, an expert with over 20 years in online safety and civility who leads Roblox’s Digital Civility Initiative.
“We’ve been hearing from our educator community that it’s simply not enough to have occasional conversations about safety and digital civility and that they’d greatly benefit from a structured curriculum and project-based learning as the new school year begins and kids are spending more and more time learning and interacting with one another online,” said Laura Higgins, Director of Community Safety and Digital Civility at Roblox.
“The curriculum launching today is designed to provide both educators and students with a self-paced, topic-specific narrative that will help build a generation of resilient digital citizens and ensure kids and teens have positive and safe online experiences.”
“I’ve used the Roblox curriculum with my students well before distance learning was required and have seen first-hand how they benefit from combining learning and play on their favourite platform. While they learn game design and coding, they also acquire valuable social skills and create long-lasting friendships,” added Bianca Rivera, Librarian at Ruth C. Kinney Elementary in New York. “Now more than ever, it’s important for these kids to feel connected to their peers, and Roblox’s offerings facilitate that.”
