Martyn Wild

Martyn Wild, Ph.D., M.Phil., M.A., B.A. (Hons) PGCE Cantab

Martyn is an internationally regarded eLearning expert and cybersafety advocate. He has taught and researched at universities in Australia and the UK, and presently holds an Honorary position at La Trobe University, Melbourne.

Martyn has over 200 journal papers, conference presentations and keynote addresses to his name.

Martyn is also the Managing Director of SuperClubsPLUS Australia, a cybersafety social learning network for young children 6-12 years – the only truly safe informal learning environment of its scale, anywhere in the world.

Already embedded in schools and homes in the UK, Europe, Canada and Africa, SuperClubsPLUS is currently being implemented across Australia and New Zealand, and has since Sept 2008 registered over 100,000 Australian children and teachers, with projections of attracting 150,000+ children in 2010.

As part of the SuperClubsPLUS team, Martyn leads a group of online specialists and researchers to develop and implement contemporary strategies and resources to better support young children to keep themselves safe online, extend their learning opportunities and have fun.

Martyn Wild

Polly and Me, a powerful new film about child neglect
Powerful, unsettling, all too realistic.. An 8 year-old girl lives alone with her mother and dreams of a better life beyond the walls of their small and rundown apartment. Isolated and lonely, the girl's only friend is her doll, Polly. From her window she sees other children playing happily in a park and desperately wants to go there with her own mum. Despite best intentions, he...

Martyn Wild

Raising teenagers - when do they become 'old enough'?
A child's journey into the teenage years will involve developing an ability to make independent, grown-up decisions - and struggling with their parents over the more difficult or sensitive of these. It’s common for parents and teenagers to disagree about how much independence a young person should have. So, when should young people be able to make their own decisions on issu...

Martyn Wild

Children need time in the sun
As we move slowly but steadily into the brighter skies of spring and summer, I wonder just what the effects are of removing the sun from our kids' lives - with all that slip, slap, slopping of sunscreen, now up to SPF 80+ in NZ (although due to the lobbying of the Cancer Foundation, I believe we are for the present at least, still limited to 30+ here in Australia). Seems like I...

Martyn Wild

A glimpse into tweens online favs
From a report by NetFamily News (NetFamilyNews.org) on 26 August. A whopping 90% of US 9-12 year-olds play online games, according to a survey by M2 Research <http://www.m2research.com/kids-and-games-report-release.htm>. Broken down by gender, 91% of boys and 93% of girls play games online, M2 says. The survey of 5,000 children and teens nationwide also found th...

Martyn Wild

Rubbish that passes for research about kids and computers
Who'd have thought you could even get this rubbish (that passes for research) in print.. "GRANTING teenagers access to computers can actually diminish their reading and maths results, according to a new study. The Sunday Telegraph reports a survey of more than half a million children reveals technology is counter-productive in improving student achievement. It found that intr...

Polly and Me, a powerful new film about child neglect

Powerful, unsettling, all too realistic.. An 8 year-old girl lives alone with her mother and dreams of a better life beyond the walls of their small and rundown apartment. Isolated and lonely, the girl's only friend is her doll, Polly. From her window she sees other children playing happily in a park and desperately wants to go there with her own mum. Despite best intentions, her mother is in no position to respond to her daughter's needs. When an invitation arrives to a community family picnic in the park, it seems like the perfect chance to get out of the apartment and do something with h...

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Raising teenagers - when do they become 'old enough'?

A child's journey into the teenage years will involve developing an ability to make independent, grown-up decisions - and struggling with their parents over the more difficult or sensitive of these. It’s common for parents and teenagers to disagree about how much independence a young person should have. So, when should young people be able to make their own decisions on issues such as smoking, drinking, going on a date, getting a piercing or tattoo? If you have some strong views or a recent experience that you think could help other parents in this, why not contribute to the conv...

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Children need time in the sun

As we move slowly but steadily into the brighter skies of spring and summer, I wonder just what the effects are of removing the sun from our kids' lives - with all that slip, slap, slopping of sunscreen, now up to SPF 80+ in NZ (although due to the lobbying of the Cancer Foundation, I believe we are for the present at least, still limited to 30+ here in Australia). Seems like I'm not alone.. http://www.journallive.co.uk/lifestyle-news/fashion-news-tips/2010/08/25/children-need-time-in-the-sun-61634-27129756/?zbrandid=2039&zidType=CH&zid=1124277&zsubscriberId=501300580&zbdom...

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A glimpse into tweens online favs

From a report by NetFamily News (NetFamilyNews.org) on 26 August. A whopping 90% of US 9-12 year-olds play online games, according to a survey by M2 Research <http://www.m2research.com/kids-and-games-report-release.htm>. Broken down by gender, 91% of boys and 93% of girls play games online, M2 says. The survey of 5,000 children and teens nationwide also found that Facebook is now the favorite Web site among boys 8-11 and girls 12-15 (Note: Facebook's minimum age is 13 – see this earlier post for some experts' views on U13 use <http://www.netfamilynews.org/?p=29026>...

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Rubbish that passes for research about kids and computers

Who'd have thought you could even get this rubbish (that passes for research) in print.. "GRANTING teenagers access to computers can actually diminish their reading and maths results, according to a new study. The Sunday Telegraph reports a survey of more than half a million children reveals technology is counter-productive in improving student achievement. It found that introducing children to computers from 10 years of age could have a detrimental effect and was associated with "modest but statistically significant and persistent negative impacts on student maths and reading test score...

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