How eSmart Schools is making an impact this year!

The start of the 2024 school year saw exciting changes for our eSmart Schools program. A new eSmart Schools portal was launched in February, and already 210 schools in Victoria have signed up to participate in the program.

The new portal was developed to support the ever-changing needs of schools delivering online safety education to their students. It provides a more flexible approach, recognising the competing priorities in schools and can be adapted for different school settings.

The portal features a more individualised approach that enables schools to identify needs and work towards addressing these whilst still having external ongoing support from eSmart Advisors.

Schools are now able to build an ePlan which they create around goals they would like to achieve in their school community. Their bespoke plans help schools engage with activities and resources that best suit their needs and help them work through the challenges and issues they face in their school environment as they work towards becoming eSmart.

We are excited to share that the new portal that is easier to navigate, featuring a fresh new look and clearer focus areas and goals that resonate with schools and their needs. Schools now can do as much or as little as their capacity allows, whilst striving to support the development of children and young people who can navigate the online world safely, respectfully and responsibly.

eSmart Schools Team Leader, Craig Reid has shared that schools have been enjoying the new portal, saying that “eContacts have loved the easier and clearer layout of the portal and the control they have at a school level to work on what they need within their own timelines.”

Victorian teacher, Kayla, who is delivering the program in her school for the first time has shared that “the steps to maintaining an eSmart status feel much clearer in the new portal and relevant to our technology needs for 2024.” Kayla also pointed to the additional support from advisors as being “incredibly helpful” and explained that “the webinars being offered through eSmart have also really helped in understanding the transition to the new eSmart portal.”

Development of the new eSmart Schools portal was supported by UXtweak who provided our team with free access to their product which helped to conduct remote prototype testing and usability research with schools to co-create the new design of the portal.

Access to eSmart Schools is free for all Victorian schools thanks to the Victorian State Government. Australian schools outside of Victoria can access the eSmart Digital Licence+ and eSmart Media Literacy Lab free of charge, thanks to the Australian Government.