Digital Resources

Telehealth with a live health care provider is proving to be a lifesaver during this pandemic, but it seems computers aren’t going to be taking over the medical field anytime soon. An analysis of 36 international mobile and web-based medical apps found that online symptom checkers that provide diagnosis or triage advice come up with the correct diagnosis as the first result only 36% of the time, and as one of the top three results only 52% of the time. Advice to seek medical attention for emergency and urgent conditions was correct 60% of the time, but accuracy was only 30% to 40% for nonurgent care, researchers reported in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Check out some of the latest digital educational resources for kids:

• Summer Camp Hub shares four free virtual summer camps for students. The camps focus on different themes and offer activities in STEM, art, space, nature and music, among others. 
• Reading Eggs is offering several free educational printouts for reading and math, including Alphabet iSpy placemats and a phonics book for kindergarteners. Teachers and parents can also sign up to get a free 30-day trial.
• Money Experience’s Essentials program is a self-paced financial literacy course designed for students and young adults ages 15-24. The program walks users through different milestones -- including education, jobs, retirement and family -- and demonstrates how the decisions made at each point can affect their long-term financial health and lifestyle goals. The program is free to high schools and colleges through the end of June.

Tech companies have been creating apps and devices for tracking employee wellness and promoting customer safety as restaurants and other businesses start to reopen, but experts caution that they could give employees and customers a false sense of security and possibly do more harm than good. "Some companies are embarking upon things that are not going to help and may actually set us back," said Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. Tools that the technology relies on, such as antibody test results and infrared thermometers, can be inaccurate, leading to a false sense of security.

Remote Possibilities, a blog by veteran education technology editor Kevin Hogan, delivers down-to-earth insights and practical resources to parents who have suddenly found themselves teaching their children. Get ideas for creating fun (seriously!) teachable moments in Digital Diaries; see What’s Streaming; or find activities for young learners, elementary, and middle- and high-school students. Hogan’s brand of wit makes it a particularly enjoyable experience.

Do you have a kid interested in sports? There are a number of online resources that have been made available helping kids connect sports to math, science, and reading, for free.

The National Hockey League’s Future Goals program is offering two digital resources designed to help nurture STEM skills and encourage healthy lifestyles. Hockey Scholar, for elementary- and middle-school students, teaches about math and science through the lens of hockey. A Healthier Me, a game-based curriculum for elementary-school students, includes free lessons on nutrition, fitness and making healthy choices.

Summer Slugger, from Major League Baseball, helps fourth- and fifth-grade students practice their math and literacy skills through a baseball-themed game-based program. Originally designed to help combat summer learning loss, the 18-week curriculum has been made available early to help support remote learning. 

Houston Texans linebacker and literacy advocate Brennan Scarlett reads to students from Tiki and Ronde Barber’s book “By My Brother’s Side.” The read-aloud session is one of several in the series Texans Storytime featuring different players -- including Justin Reid and Darren Fells -- and members of the Texans organization. The series is part of the Texans’ Huddle at Home program, a collection of free digital resources for teachers and families of K-12 students. Students can participate in a reading program, math drills, a statistics challenge, short workouts with players and log their progress on an activity tracker.

Are you starting to feel like the walls are closing in? Perhaps it is time to travel virtually. CNN Underscored curated this list of virtual tours of historical sites and museums to help transport you and your kids to other places and maybe even, other times. The collection includes the Smithsonian museums, the Great Wall of China, performing arts centers around the world and more. There is even a section with highlighted items from the gift shops.

Common Sense and Survey Monkey recently polled over 800 U.S. teens to find out how they're coping with having their lives upended by the coronavirus, and what they do for connection. Not surprisingly, they're stressed out, they are worried about school and many are feeling lonely and disconnected. Texting and social media are lifesavers, but if your kids aren't texting or using social media yet, you can let them use your phone or computer to FaceTime or Zoom with a friend or relative. You can even set up regular times to video-chat with important people in their lives. Keeping these connections is vital. One interesting item from the survey is that, compared to pre-pandemic times, more kids are going directly to news organizations for information instead of learning about it from friends and family. Make sure to talk to them about vetting their sources for news.

There are a lot of great educational resources on the Internet but it is not always easy to find them, let alone vet them. Common Sense Media has set up a site called Wide Open School that features the best resources from publishers, nonprofits, and education companies, including the American Federation of Teachers, Amplify, Boys &Girls Clubs of America, Head Start, Khan Academy, National Geographic, Noggin, PBS, Scholastic, Sesame Workshop, Time for Kids, XQ Institute, and YouTube. Common Sense is curating the content on the platform and coordinating with key distribution and technology partners including Apple, Comcast, Google, Salesforce, and Zoom to ensure families and educators are aware of the resources and can access them.

Got a teen who loves poetry? The Vancouver Public Library's popular Dead Poets Reading series is expanding to YouTube and people are encouraged to make a 3-to-10 minute video of themselves reading a poem in any language. Hundreds of people have sent in poems and new videos are posted daily.

Online classes at several schools, on all grade levels, have been invaded by “Zoom-bombing,” an ugly new activity in which hackers disrupt virtual sessions in the Zoom app to display pornography, racism and other disturbing images. Some districts have even suspended use of the app because of these threats. However, there are ways to prevent this kind of activity, and you can pass those along to a teacher. It is important for parents to remember that many teachers were thrust into this world of online teaching without a lot of notice or preparation, and Zoom is a brand new resource to them. You can help teachers figure out all the precautions to take, such as requiring passwords for each session, guarding meeting URLs and restricting screen sharing. Parents should also remember that with any online activity there is potential for something to go wrong, and you should be prepared to talk to your children if they see something that upsets them.