Information and support on the current trends in technology in education, 21st century skills and best practices for children up to middle school level. This blog is designed for parents as well as educators.
In the interest of meeting your needs regarding technology in education at our school, please take 5 minutes to fill out the online survey CLICK HERE by the end of February.
It contains 5 simple questions asking if you have attended past Parent Tech Talks with Mary Kay Polly and what sort of topics do you wish to see offered in future parent tech talks.
What is cyber bullying? How is it different from bullying?
Cyberbullying is defined as: repeatedly sending or posting harmful or mean messages, images or videos about someone else using the Internet, cell phones or other digital technologies.
According to Common Sense Media, there are differences between bullying and cyberbullying.
Kids may use more hurtful and extreme language online than offline.
Cyberbullying can happen anytime, whereas regular bullying generally stops when kids go home.
Cyberbullying can be very public. Posts can spread rapidly and to a large, invisible audience because of the nature of how information travels online.
Cyberbullies sometimes act anonymously, whereas with traditional bullying it is often clear who the bully is.
In-person bullying can cause physical and emotional harm, while cyberbullying causes only emotional harm (though it can lead to physical bullying later).
Similarities: In Cyber bullying and physical bullying...
Both can make kids feel uncomfortable, embarrassed, helpless, sad, and angry
How can you, as parents, help keep our kids safe from cyber bullying?
1. Teach kids to speak and write respectfully.
2. Teach kids empathy.
3. Teach them to report cyberbullying.
FIVE THINGS PARENTS CAN DO:
1. Set limits: on time and place and choose age-appropriate TV, movies, music and games.
2. Make rules: Cell phones belong outside the classroom and away from the dinner table. If your kids wouldn't say something to someone's face, they shouldn't text it either. And...IM? Not during homework.
3. Discuss Safety: Tell them what kind of photos, videos and information are ok to post online.
4. Be a media critic: Teach your kids not to believe everything they see or hear/ Online, in the movies or on TV. Talk to them about media messages, what you agree with and what you don't.
5. Join the fun: Watch, listen and play with your kids. Ask their opinions and embrace the wprld!
bystander - those who are aware of the bullying and are standing by watching
upstander - those who step in to intervene as well as report the bullying
We want our kids to be the UPSTANDERS.
Cyberbullying Prevention Guide for Kids (video) click here
What do we do if our child is bullied? Take a screen shot of the page to save as evidence, speak to your child about it and assure them that this is bullying and to tell a trusted adult. Contact your child's teacher.
What is RIS doing to discuss cyberbullying?
Jan(PYP Counsellor) is going into classrooms to teach about how to make friends and what bullying and cyberbullying are as well as ways to prevent them (Stand up and tell someone)
RIS has adopted the NETS standards which address online digital responsibility including digital citizenship which includes how to communicate in a kind way online.
Teachers are being proactive about discussing responsible digital citizenship. Classes have signed pledges about Digital Citizenship. (see previous posts on this blog)
Parents as Partners
Parents and school must work together to help combat cyberbullying. Children need to feel safe and secure knowing that significant adults in their lives are going to support them and protect them.
We can do this by helping kids to:
THINK before they ACT
STAND UP rather than STAND BY
What should you say to your young child about cyberbullying?
If they think they're being bullied, your kids should follow the rules of STOP:
STOP using the computer.
TELL an adult you trust what happened.
Get the OK from an adult before going back online or returning to the website where the bullying happened.
PLAY with other kids who don't take part in cyberbullying.
Lastly, your kid may want to tell the bully how his or her actions made him or her feel, after getting advice from an adult. For more information, download the Common Sense Media Family Tip Sheet about Cyberbullying Click here Nickelodeon's, The Big Help, Digital Citizenship for Kids webpage click here
Kid Rex is a safe search engine designed for children and their parents. ( click here ) It is powered by Google Custom Search and Google Safe Search and offers similar features to a Google search but with filters for child friendly results.
To Set as a homepage on your computer, please follow the link on Kid Rex at the bottom of the homepage where it says PARENTS or (click here)
For iPads, open Kid Rex (www.kidrex.com) through Safari or Chrome web browsers on the iPad. Choose the send icon and ADD TO HOME SCREEN. Then the icon will appear on the home screen of the iPad as an icon which can be opened easily.
Of course, no search engine filtering is 100% accurate. There is no substitute for adult monitoring of the use of devices, especially when children are doing searches (in particular IMAGE searches). This, along with a shared understanding between children and adults about responsible online behavior and internet safety is crucial. Both Kid Rex and Common Sense Media address these topics and provide parent guidelines to help you support your child as they engage in using technology.
The key is to be a partner in your child's online and device use. Use this as an opportunity to engage with your child and share new information and ideas that have come up as they use their device. Guide them to be responsible users and consumers of online data by having open discussions about the opportunities as well as the possible threats that online behavior can have.
This 5 minute video from the 21st Century Initiative shows what recent research tells us about the capacity to learn through play and inquiry which we are born with. This capacity must be nurtured so that children can learn. It goes on to show the physiological need for adolescents to rebel and that, once again, this should be nurtured. Rebellion as an adolescent is a normal stage in the development of the brain, but rebelling within a safe and nurturing environment is crucial.
How can we nurture the curiosity and normal brain development of our children?
The term 21st Century Skills has become popular in educational discussions. It is clear that the world as we know it today is very different than the world we grew up in. Any generation can say that.
Sociologist have defined the years 1970 to the present as The Information or Digital Age. This can be defined as a time period in which large amounts of information was available mostly through technology.
Prior to that, western cultures were involved in the Post-Industrial Era which spanned close to 100 years (1890-1980). Schools were created as a response to the Industrial Revolution and mimicked the factory model of an assembly line where each child was placed in a grade level according to their age and expected to master specific skills and knowledge deemed necessary at that age.
Since the mid-1970's, education has been going through a shift, a change that has never before been seen; from teacher-centered to child-centered. From giving knowledge to finding information.
Our world is changing, education is changing. The future holds unforeseen changes. How will we prepare our children for the future that we cannot even see?
Below is a video called; Learning to Change - Changing to Learn. In it, educators and other leaders of future oriented businesses speak about our responsibility to prepare our children for the future. It is reposted from January 24, 2014 and is worth another look.
The 21st Century Skills are what is commonly referred to as, "soft skills" meaning, skills that are personal attributes which enhance a person's performance as opposed to "hard skills" which are specific to a task, such as kicking a ball, calculating using an algorithm, singing...
The above video is called, Rethinking Learning. Another thought provoking look at what educators say should be the focus for education today and in the future.
The ISTE (International Society of Technology Education) lists 21st century skills as: creativity, collaboration, communication, problem solving and digital and information literacy. These have been put into NETS Standards which need to be taught as well as focused on in order to prepare children for the future.
This week I had the pleasure of meeting Dolly, a representative from Growl Media, a Dubai-based website company which creates FREE apps for iPad and Android tablets. These apps are for language learning, specifically Arabic, Hindi and English. They are fantastic apps, with interactive components and beautiful graphics.
This is their award winning app called, Alfie, Haathi and the Magic Bioscope in both Arabic and English.
Check out their website and parent blog.
Growl Media website: click here
Appy Kids Parent Blog and website: click here
The latest issue of the local magazine, 999; Security and Safety For All, (October, 2014) has an article about how to support your child as they manoeuvre through the online world through social media apps.
The article mentions studies done by such organizations as Ofcom which have studied the usage of social media by age group. It also reviews certain social media apps which need to be monitored by parents due to their content and features. The article has interviewed local and global experts about advice for parents as their children engage in the online world and supports the view that parents need to be vigilant about what apps their child is using and to not be afraid of creating limits. After all, as a parent and guardian, it is your right to control your child's use of technology. But it is also your duty to be informed about the latest Apps and Social Media platforms so you can also advise and guide your child. Just saying no is not always the nest way to approach these situations. Looking into the Social Media app, doing some research about it, then discussing it with your child so they understand the dangers as well as the opportunities is key.
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