This is a summary of what is available on our sites, however, you should contact us to discuss your specific requirements.
Young people are encouraged to learn more about online safety, the environment, personal responsibility and leadership. They create an account allowing them to participate in conversations or discussion groups on the site. All content is reviewed by a moderator before being published to the site.
Our optional social networking features include chat rooms, email, instant messaging, a virtual theatre for watching videos and instant communication forums. Young people will be able to share resources, discuss topics of interest and build a network of peers.
Inside Pebble Park, members can:
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Check out news and updates on the home page.
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Take part in conversations on the site (all contributions are reviewed by a moderator, so are not posted in ‘real time’).
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Read articles and comments on a variety of subjects relevant to young people written by young people.
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Watch videos on hot topics such as online safety, teen stereotyping, smoking etc.
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Listen to music on our online MP3 players.
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Search the site on their subjects of interest.
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Vote in polls on hot topics and opinions posted by their peers.
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Create content and be part of the site’s panel to help decide what kind of content is in or out, suggest new ideas, and create a project they are passionate about.
Education Network Australia (EdNA) is a prominent Australian educational online resource that works with the Education Departments in all states. At Pebble Park we believe that their nationally agreed guidelines constitute quality expectations that are applicable to our industry. All of the content on the Pebble Park website adheres to the guidelines established by EdNA. The relevant guidelines can be found here (www.EdNA.edu.au).
Pebble Park four core themes are:
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Online Safety
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The Environment
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Personal Responsibility
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Leadership
Our content is tailored specifically for Australian young people. Most of the dynamic content is written by the young people themselves and is steered towards the vision of the initiative. One of the most effective ways of learning is for students to take responsibility for their own study and discovery and to share their new found knowledge with their peers. This strategy is the cornerstone of Pebble Park. For example, in May this year over 150,000 words of content (approximately 200 pages) was produced by 86 Australian children aged 14-17 with the aim of contributing to other children.
Sometimes, expert content – material that is written by people with a lot of experience in their fields – is needed. This content is produced for us by experts on cyberbullying, futurists, and professionals from other relevant areas.
Our aim is to source content from as many sources as possible so that Pebble Park becomes a hub of focused information, relevant to our children.
At the moment, we don’t permit live (real time) publishing of any content on the site; it must first go through our editorial team.
We’ve called on a wide panel of experts – new media gurus; education practitioners; web professionals; futurists and of course, parents and young people themselves – to help shape the Pebble Park experience. We call them the Content Advisory Panel (CAP). The CAP team are the gatekeepers of our playground. They ensure the content is high quality, relevant and safe. Occasionally, they stop suspicious content at the door.
The Pebble Park Leaders Forum is a space for the leaders to gather on-line and interact with some of Australia's great thought leaders. The forum brings together the minds of those in Australia who people are talking about and are making a difference in the way they approach the challenges of today. Access to the forum and the interaction with the leaders is unique to Pebble Park, you simply won't find a community such as the Pebble Park Leaders Forum elsewhere.
Teachers and staff from the schools who are part of Pebble Park will be able to log on to the site and engage in conversations with the thought leader who for two weeks will share their insights with the community. Not only will they be able to partake in a conversation, they will have access to resource material from previous leaders who have appeared on the site. Teachers can also communicate with other teachers on the forum and share their experiences or seek their solutions to challenges they face. The Pebble Park Leaders Forum is so much more than another on-line networking site. The forum will have industry experts talking about the topics that matter to you, in schools today. The forum will host experts covering topics ranging from cyber-safety, leadership, health and fitness, marketing, eating disorders, finance and everything in between. Every two weeks the thought leader will change ensuring the teachers are receiving the most current information that exists.
