TextED.ca is an initiative of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, a national charitable organization dedicated to the personal safety of all children. Our goal is to reduce child victimization by providing programs and services to the Canadian public. The Canadian Centre for Child Protection operates three national programs: Cybertip.ca, Canada's national tipline for reporting the online sexual exploitation of children; Kids in the Know, a safety education program designed to empower children and reduce their risk of victimization; and Commit to Kids, a program to help child-serving organizations create safe environments for children.
TextED.ca is an innovative and interactive website designed to teach teens to be safe, responsible and respectful users of texting technologies. Concerns surrounding teens sending sexual messages, nude photos and videos via text messaging is on the rise, yet the vast majority of kids doing so are unaware of the short-term costs and the long-term ramifications associated with their actions. From learning how to deal with textual harassers to helping teens deal with stress or a break-up, the textED.ca website incorporates games, quizzes, discussion pages, downloadables and other fun tools to help them navigate through the issues.
The initial launch of textED.ca includes the piloting of the site in over 250 Grade 7 classrooms across the country. Teachers will use a series of safety lessons and the website to help guide their students through respectful conduct when texting, and to teach them life skills that will allow them to fully benefit from what is now a very public, technological world. The lesson plans are matched to curricular outcomes for each province. Following an evaluation, the full site will launch in September 2010.