One of the best distractions from a daily influx of technology is books. Looking for some good books to tempt your middle schooler away from their digital devices? Here is a fun list middle school teacher Megan Kelly recommends with some feel good titles from such from authors as Jon Sciezka, Betsy Bird and Gordon Korman.
About 75% of educators report that students who learn via live online instruction are required to keep cameras on if they have them, according to a survey by the Education Week Research Center. This comes despite concerns from some teachers that the requirement could put some students at a disadvantage, including lower-income students who may not want their classmates and teacher to see their homes, or those with lower bandwidth connectivity. This is also a good reminder for checking the space your child uses for online classes and removing items that might be used later by cyberbullies (or hackers) as visual clues – posters, pictures, sports memorabilia - into their life. Best practice is to keep the space they use as background for their appearance on Zoom and other online class as neutral as possible.
Large, wealthy school districts in the suburbs are most likely to be hit by hackers, an analysis by the Government Accountability Office finds, and at least 289 US districts are reporting cyberincidents this year, says Doug Levin of consulting firm EdTech Strategies. Student academic records were most commonly compromised, including assessment scores and special education records. Coming in second were records with personally identifiable information, such as student Social Security numbers, according to the analysis of data from July 2016 to May 2020. The trend is also seen in some smaller districts, such as the 6,000-student Newhall School District in California, where a ransomware attack in September halted virtual instruction for five days and forced a network reboot.
The advertising boycott of Facebook that took place in the summer of 2020, joined by at least 1,000 brands, forced the social media platform to reflect on its operations and take steps to thwart hate speech and misinformation, said global advertising chief Carolyn Everson during the Association of National Advertisers' Masters of Marketing conference. She called the summer the most challenging time of her career, and noted, "It forced us to take all the work we were doing for the past several years, get it in an organized fashion and add some accountability."
Despite the challenges, many parents and educators are seeing the benefits of virtual instruction and hoping that some level of online learning continues after the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report from the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology. However, almost half of teachers say they have not been trained to safeguard students' data during this period of remote instruction. Just 4 in 10 parents have said their school has explained how it protects student data. In focus groups, students also expressed little concern about data privacy and security, despite highlighting incidents where video calls were hacked or teachers exposed students’ grades while sharing their screens with the class.
Every stop to wonder what it might be like as a parent to give up your cellphone? Here is an article with a great account of what happens when a parent chooses to "unbundle" all the things for which they normally rely on a smartphone. Anyone with a smartphone would be wise to do a weekly or monthly check of the device's activity tracker. Seeing how you spend your time can be an eye-opener and, if needed, motivate you to embrace healthier habits.
Does your school or district use a digital safety platform to monitor student communications? Jim Gray, executive director of teaching and learning at Vancouver Public Schools in Washington State, writes that he thinks there are ways for schools to use student safety platforms to help develop students into better digital citizens. In a blog post, Gray offers five strategies, including sharing with students (and their parents) that students’ online communication and actions are monitored. He also advocates that schools and parents turn questionable decisions in online communications into learning opportunities rather than "gotcha" moments.
Both parents and teachers should be aware that new ransomware campaigns are targeting teachers with email subject lines indicating the messages contain students' assignments. According to an article on the TechRadar site, teachers have received e-mails in which the attacker poses as a parent or guardian submitting an online assignment on behalf of a student, claiming the student encountered technical issues when trying to submit the assignment themselves. However, instead of attaching an assignment to their emails, the attacker has attached a malicious document that downloads a custom ransomware payload. Some of the email subject lines have included, "Son's Assignment Upload" and "Assignment Upload Failure for [Name]."
Adults aren’t the only ones trying to keep up with the latest on Covid, but most adults younger than 40 get news from social media platforms, not midday press conferences, says palliative care physician Naheed Dosani. Early in 2020 he took to TikTok, Instagram and similar platforms to share information about palliative care with a young audience, but has since begun sharing information about COVID-19. He's joined by On COVID-19 Project (Canada) founder Samanta Krishnapillai and science communicator Samantha Yammine in harnessing the reach of social media to educate the public on COVID-19. If you are trying to reach your teen on the continuing seriousness of Covid, you may want to view and share some of their videos on TikTok.
An investigative report by New York regulators revealed that several high-profile Twitter accounts were hijacked this summer using only basic social engineering techniques because Twitter has poor internal security controls. The regulators recommended creating an oversight council with a qualified regulator to monitor and supervise popular social media platforms' security practices. This report may foreshadow more government scrutiny of social media, but also is a reminder to everyone that social media accounts are easy to hijack for nefarious purposes.
The challenges of remote learning are taking a variety of twists and turns for school districts. One Florida district even went as far as to create an "Online Netiquette" video for parents and students to address unexpected online behavior by parents, such as advising them to be fully dressed if they will be seen on camera. The district has listed a number of struggles they have been dealing with as well, including technical difficulties that eat into teacher’s class time and prep, challenges teaching students with disabilities in a remote platform, and concerns about cheating.
A spike in screen time among children during the coronavirus pandemic is tied to a lack of childcare and family stress, according to a study by researchers at Boston College and the University of Maryland. Researchers also found that levels of screen time among children can serve "as an index of family distress”.
This is a good reminder for parents and kids. Although job descriptions may demand stellar technical skills, it is the superior soft skills that are landing more and more jobs. According to a recent study by LinkedIn, the number one skill requirement in recent job postings is communication skills.
Imagine a day when Siri or Alexa might be able to let you know you have a cold -- or something worse -- coming on. Researchers are working on a tool that leverages machine learning to detect irregularities in a person's voice that can be linked to certain ailments. The "diagnosis" isn't designed to be definitive, just more of a nudge to seek additional medical care. Privacy concerns abound, but a tool like this makes sense. Who/What has a better gauge on your current health? A doctor you haven't seen in months, or a virtual assistant that can track your movements, monitor your sleep and listen to your every cough and sneeze?
If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is an emoji worth? Dating back to 1995, emojis have become such a large part of our communication that approximately 5 billion are used every day -- and that's just on Facebook and Facebook Messenger! The most used emoji on Twitter and Facebook is the crying with laughter emoji, whilst the heart is the most popular on Instagram. In a fascinating piece on the World Economic Forum site, you can take a quick look at the history and growth of emojis that may or may not leave you with a "laughing face with tears of joy."
According to a Bridgewater State University survey of more than 700 teachers in 40 states, the lack of digital literacy skills of both students and their parents caused problems with remote learning last spring. Heather Pacheco-Guffrey, an associate professor of science education, said data showed students and parents often have the skills to consume technology but not to create with it, such as using Google Docs to collaborate and joining Zoom calls.
How can you help your kids? Ask them to create things on the computer – books, flipbooks, cartons, cards, craft projects, brochures, maps, menus and so much more. And remember, just because it comes out of the printer, doesn’t mean it has to be done “done.” Think about ways for what they create on the computer be displayed and distributed, beyond using technology or social media. You want your kids to be producers and distributors with the help of technology, not just passive recipients.
Private information of students in the Clark County, Nev., school district was released after the district did not pay a ransomware demand. Ransomware is a form of malware where hackers demand ransom for access to data that, in this case, a school district holds. It can have a devastating impact on businesses and individuals alike. The information included students' Social Security numbers and grades. Brett Callow, a threat analyst for cybersecurity company Emsisoft, says multiple school districts have fallen victim to similar schemes. Does your district have a plan for handling a ransomware attack?
About 54% of Americans don't think any political ads should be allowed by social platforms, and 77% say it's unacceptable for their personal information to be used by social platforms to serve them political ads, says the Pew Research Center. Their recent study breaks down the findings by age, race/ethnicity and political leaning, with those ages 65 and older most likely to favor not allowing political ads on social media. Some 64% of those 65 and older say these sites should not allow any political ads on their platforms, compared with slightly over half of those ages 30 to 64 and 45% of those 18 to 29. By contrast, those in the youngest age group are more likely to favor allowing only some ads on the site, with 30% holding this view, compared with about one-in-five or fewer of those in older age groups.
artists, teachers and students to help add Wikipedia pages for Black artists and adjusting others as needed. Started by Jina Valentine and Heather Hart, the edit-a-thons have been hosted at schools, libraries and other spaces around the world and resulted in the addition of 1,200 artists and institutions to the site and changes made to countless other pages. With the continued support and success of the initiative, we may begin to see similar movements to get more people included in the online encyclopedia. It’s also a great way to discuss the various ways Wikipedia pages come into being with your kids, but to keep in mind that no matter how great the cause, all sources should be vetted.
73% of male students in 7th to 12th grades say they are confident they could learn computer science -- compared to 60% of female students, according to a survey by Gallup supported by Google. Data also shows that Black families are more likely to describe computer science education as important or very important.