A recent study conducted by OpenX and The Harris Poll points to shifting consumer sentiment regarding social media platforms. The study found 61% of respondents first use the web browsers like Google to discover "high-quality content," while 31% first turn to major platforms like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Compared to last year, 31% say they use Facebook less, while 26% say they'll decrease their Facebook time going forward.
For all the talk these days about "fake news" and "deep fake" videos, there hasn't been much chatter about fake maps. Information on a map is easy to manipulate, and most people just glance at maps and don't dive into the data sets that serve as their source material. Using maps related to the coronavirus as an example, theconversation.com highlights some key questions you and your kids should ask whenever you look to a map for information.
Fewer than half of K-12 students in the US are learning about cybersecurity, according to a survey by the nonprofit Education Week Research Center. The survey was commissioned by the nonprofit Cyber.org, and consisted of 912 teachers in 50 states and Washington, D.C. Kevin Nolten, academic outreach director for the nonprofit, said the findings highlight potential challenges for the future of the country's cybersecurity workforce.
Technology can help support students' digital-leadership skills -- not just digital citizenship -- according to Andy Plemmons, media specialist at an elementary school in Georgia. He defines a digital leader as someone who:
Plemmons contends that many children have been taught what to not do, rather than proactively using the Internet in a way that’s effective and meaningful.
While some research is showing that children and younger people are less likely to have their health impacted by the coronavirus, experts expect they will experience indirect health care-related effects such as missed detection of delayed health development milestones, widespread omissions of routine childhood vaccinations and delays in seeking care for illnesses not related to the virus, researchers reported in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. In addition to these indirect health risks, the findings also showed that social and mental health could see an impact from pandemic-related factors as well, including reductions in support for children with supplemental health care needs; lost social interaction leading to increased screen time; school cancellations that may worsen food insecurity; and forced isolation and increased screen addiction.
This is a strange time in your kids' lives. Their schools closed months ago, their summer plans have been drastically changed, and they can't even visit their friends in person. But they are not alone in this experience. In 1665, Sir Isaac Newton was sent home from Cambridge due to the bubonic plague. While in quarantine, Newton made a number of important discoveries that shaped his life and career.
To help inspire your kids at home, Vernier Software & Technology, an educational company best known for their science software and hardware products that allow students to collect and analyze data in the classroom, has put together an activity that encourages kids to tell the story of Newton’s “year of wonders” through code. Kids can use the Scratch coding app to bring Newton’s story alive. Once they’ve finished telling Newton’s story, they can also use Scratch to code their own story. Storytelling empowers us; challenge kids to use code to share their stories and try out the other activities available for free on the site, including a reading about Newton’s cure for the plague that involves “toad vomit.”
Civil Rights Groups including The Anti-Defamation League, Color of Change, Common Sense Media, Free Press, the NAACP and Sleeping Giants, are launching a social media campaign, #StopHateForProfit, to urge large Facebook advertisers to boycott the platform unless it makes formal moves to curtail the proliferation of hate speech on its platform. The group is also requesting Facebook to take steps such as removing ads labeled as misinformation or hateful, and informing advertisers when their media buys appear near harmful content and grant refunds. The list of those companies taking part is growing by the day, although critics have questioned the effectiveness, pointing out these companies are not taking down their pages and will most likely buy more ads on Facebook after July.
These actions are one example of recent backlash against Facebook, which seemed to intensify when a flurry of misinformation appeared on the social platform amid worldwide protests against racism and police brutality. The company declined to take action against posts from President Trump — despite Twitter flagging that same content as misleading or glorifying violence. Facebook did remove ads from Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign that featured a symbol used by the Nazis during World War II. The company also announced that it would gradually allow users to opt out of seeing political ads, and has acknowledged in a blog post that its enforcement of content rules “isn’t perfect.”
Apparently "Guest123!" isn't the most secure password on the Internet. Who knew? If you are guilty of using common passwords, or the same password for various websites, you should consider enhancing your online security. Google's Security Checkup function now alerts users to when websites for which it stores a password have been compromised. The alert not only urges users to change the password for that particular site, but also might nudge people to not use the same password across multiple websites.
As the pandemic stretches on you may find yourself needing to throw a virtual birthday party. But where to start? Common Sense Media has actually collected a set of ideas for everything from a video chat with family to virtual dance party with everyone using Bluetooth headphones. How about a movie night? Netflix Party is a Chrome extension you can use to watch shows or movies together. Everyone needs to download the extension, and the host shares a link with partygoers.
With the amount of fake images flooding social media and even mainstream media platforms, Google is introducing fact check labels for images in its search results to help crack down on manipulated photos. When you conduct a search on Google Images, you may see a ‘Fact Check’ label under the thumbnail image results. Tapping the label will give you a summary on the 'dubiousness' of the image. The tech giant says these labels may also appear for search results that show both articles about specific images as well as articles that include an image in the story. "Starting today, we are surfacing fact check information in Google Images globally to help people navigate these issues and make more informed judgments about what they see on the web. This builds on the fact check features in Search and News, which people come across billions of times per year," Google said in a post.
Eighty-four percent of the most popular websites visited by students on school-managed devices during the recent period of remote instruction were educational, according to a review by GoGuardian, a company that monitors activity on school-owned tech devices. While the majority of the top 10 websites were educational in nature, the number one site visited by students was YouTube (though possible it could be used for education as well). Others on the list included Clever, Zoom, Khan Academy, Instructure and Flipgrid. If you are not familiar with some of those sites, you may want to check them out.
An article on the National Public Radio site offers some lessons that could be useful as educators consider possible instructional models for the fall, and parents get ready for the impact on their family’s lives. Among them are additional support for parent-assisted learning, programs targeted to keep teens on track, and online systems to assess, remediate and individualize learning. The article is a must read if you think your district will be supporting full or partial remote learning this fall.
Here is a new take on gaming - Pokémon Smile is an augmented reality (AR) toothbrushing game designed to encourage kids to brush their teeth better. In Pokémon Smile, players help “rescue other Pokémon from cavity-causing bacteria” by brushing their teeth. The app features some adorable art styles and AR effects that let players wear Pokémon hats while they brush their own teeth alongside the game. If you manage to brush away all the bacteria, players are rewarded by getting to catch the Pokémon at the end. Pokémon Smile isn’t The Pokémon Company’s only attempt at leveraging the brand into healthier living: the company also announced a sleep-tracking game called Pokémon Sleep last year.
Wondering about the overall success of online learning during the pandemic? An article in The New York Times outlines two reviews of nearly 300 studies comparing remote and in-person learning, stating findings that students generally learn more when a teacher is physically present. This matches anecdotal narratives surrounding forced remote learning during the coronavirus pandemic. However, the articles also states that students who had access to an instructor during remote learning are performing at the same level or higher, noting that “virtual education will depend for its success on old-school principles: creative, attentive teaching and support from parents.”
While smart phone videos taken by ordinary citizens have changed the conversation about policing in the US, it is important to know that there are privacy issues you should be aware of when taking your smart phone to a protest. Digital surveillance tools, including facial recognition technology, can be used to identify protestors and monitor their movements and communications. Furthermore, investigators and prosecutors have come to view protestors phones as potential treasure troves of information about them and their associates, setting up legal battles over personal technology and Americans’ Constitutional rights. And while protesters are within their rights to take pictures and video at protests, the images they capture could lead to unintended consequences for participants.
For parents, this is probably common knowledge by now, but the coronavirus pandemic and ensuing lockdown has had a significant effect on Gen Z's digital behaviors. According to a report issued by Boston Consulting Group and Snapchat, there has been a boost in Generation Z’s use of social media, video streaming and gaming, as well as an increase in online spending. Their report also highlights Gen Z's increased reliance on mobile-focused video and social platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat.
Facebook says it will start labeling content produced by at least 18 government-controlled news outlets, including Russia's RT and China's Xinhua News. The social platform will also begin labeling ads from the news outlets and plans to block their ads in the US in the near future. This is a bit of reversal for Facebook who has not been willing to label misinformation or election related materials.
TikTok is responding to accusations that it censors black creators by launching a creator diversity council, assessing moderation strategies, developing a new appeals process and starting a creator portal that includes information for the broader TikTok community. The social platform also apologized for a system error that made posts with #BlackLivesMatter and #GeorgeFloyd appear as though they had zero views and pledged to donate $3 million to nonprofits serving black communities.
Momentum for one-to-one device programs has been more common in middle and high schools, but the rapid transition to remote instruction has more school districts providing devices for young students. GG Weisenfeld of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University says that previously, experts would have argued against investments in devices for young students, but "right now, it's not a perfect world." How has your district handled this question?
A reminder for parents and kids that participating in a video meeting for school work, extracurriculars, or just socializing, provides a window into your homes. Parents should help kids think about their surroundings and what may be visible during an online class meeting. Both Zoom and Meet allow users to change the background image, a feature that addresses privacy and helps students who might feel insecure about their homes. Cyberbullies love to feed on any kind of personal information that might be revealed in what is hanging on your walls, interactions with family members while online, and other clues to your family’s life, so it is worth taking the time to creating the right background for an online class and reminding family members to give the online participant space.