Reimagining Online Safety Education through the Eyes of Young People: Co-Design Workshops with Young People to Inform Digital Learning Experiences

Online safety education is typically designed by adults for young people. As a consequence, it often reflects adult perspectives and concerns. While existing education has been somewhat successful in raising young people’s awareness about online harms, young Australians report gaps in their online safety skills and knowledge. This is particularly true when it comes to managing difficult experiences online and supporting others through negative experiences.1 Young people also describe feeling misunderstood and disempowered by current online safety messaging.2 With funding from the eSafety Commissioner’s Online Safety Grants, and in partnership with the PROJECT ROCKIT Foundation, this project aimed to create online safety learning experiences with and for young people to better meet their needs and address their concerns. To inform the design of these learning experiences, the Young and Resilient Research Centre (Y&R) at Western Sydney University (WSU) led a survey and a creative and participatory process to co-design youth-centred online safety education with young people