Optus teaches regional high school students to be champions of online safety

High school students in parts of Leeton, Wagga Wagga, Wodonga and Albury have had their online awareness skills boosted this week after participating in the Optus Digital Thumbprint roadshow, a free in-school program that supports young people to be safe, responsible and positive online.

Thousands of students between Years 7 to 11 took part in the program across the week which aims to equip them with simple and effective tools to support positive online behaviours.

Visiting James Fallon High School in Albury today to see the Digital Thumbprint program in action, Optus CEO Allen Lew spoke of the critical role that technology companies like Optus can play in helping to educate children to be responsible online.

“With over 12 million customers choosing home or mobile internet services with Optus, it’s important we support young people in how to be cyber smart. The students at James Fallon High School bought amazing levels of enthusiasm today and it was great to see them feel empowered when it comes to navigating the often-complex digital world,” said Lew.

The Optus Digital Thumbprint program teaches students the advantages of a positive online presence whilst making them aware of everything they need to know to stay safe online, in a way they can easily understand and practice. Some examples of this includes creating strong passwords and activating privacy settings on social media to illustrate how easily things can spread when shared on the internet.

Led by trained facilitators, the interactive workshops are mapped to the Australian and New South Wales curriculum. As part of the roadshow, the workshops covered topics including cyberbullying, cybersecurity, skills to verify credible information and what to keep in mind to create a positive digital footprint.

“This program incorporates an interactive and original approach to digital education, teaching students how to shape their future for the better. The internet is one of the best resources we have available to us, meaning it’s more important than ever for us to continue bringing this program to students across Australia.”

Since 2013, the government accredited Optus Digital Thumbprint program has educated over 300,000 primary and secondary students nationally on being safer and smarter online.

Optus Digital Thumbprint is completely free for schools and does not promote commercial products and services.