Some of you may know that it was Safer Internet Day on Tuesday. Safer Internet Day promotes safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones amongst children and young people. More than half of children aged eight to 17 have suffered harrowing experiences online, yet just 25 per cent of parents realise this, according to internet security firm Norton.

Team Rockhaq actively support the safe use of websites and digital technologies too and have been dedicated to building a site that allows school and college music and media pupils to express themselves and their opinions safely, while allowing normal site visitors view their published work.

We have also enabled student music reviews to be cross-posted to Facebook and Twitter accounts, while pupils are able to embed Youtube videos and Soundcloud hosted tracks into their Rockhaq blogs. The best thing here is, no comments from regular Youtube, Facebook or Twitter users will ever appear anywhere on the Rockhaq website. So, a college music or media student is able to make their Rockhaq blog into their own little world.

And what do we have to help school and college music and media students behave responsibly on their Rockhaq blogs? Here’s a quick list of some of the features:

  • No private messaging exists on the site
  • No instant status or ‘wall’ updates – student activity profiles only feature their latest posts and comments on other pupils’ work, which can be easily moderated
  • Comments on music reviews can be removed by several different users on the site
  • Student roles privileges can be easily controlled by teachers on the site
  • We have a regulated signup process that is led by teachers and controlled by us. Only teachers and students can be members of the Rockhaq community.

These features are being tested by students and teachers at our pilot colleges right now. We’ll get their feedback and make any improvements as needed. Ultimately, we want to create a website by students and for students – but we want to make sure that they feel safe at all times using the site. We also have community guidelines that all members automatically agree to upon joining, and it’s important that each pupil understands their role as a Rockhaq community member.

If you have any questions about our features or guidelines please get in touch, or if you’d like to join our limited pilot (places have almost filled up!) or our free newsletter to see how our school music reviews blog is helping students to embrace writing and keep up with all our latest news. We’ve got a lot more coming up that you may be interested in.

In the meantime, have a great – and safe – half term break. We’re featuring more student music reviews on our site next week.