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advertising, American Academy of Pediatrics, digital kids, digital world conversations, media diet, media literacy, screen time

Advertising With Kids as Targets

Posted on April 2, 2013March 18, 2019 by Marti Weston

For several months I’ve been carrying around a New York Times article, How Advertising Targets Our Children, from the February 11, 2013 edition. Written by pediatrician Perri Klass the Well Blog post points out that recently published research links, even more strongly, the exposure of alcohol advertising to a child’s movement toward unhealthy behaviors.

Health Children Media Ed — Check out the Media Resources at HealthyChildren.org.

Dr. Klass writes about Exposure to Alcohol Advertisements and Teenage Alcohol-Related Problems (abstract), a Pediatrics article describing new research that finds a stronger association between unhealthy behaviors and the amount of advertising in the lives of children and adolescents. The researchers followed nearly 4,000 children in grades seven through ten.

Read the full text of the Pediatrics article.

In her article Klass quotes the researchers, experts from the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy, and pediatrics professors from the Children’s Hospital at Stanford University who have studied the links between childhood obesity and screen time.

Continue reading “Advertising With Kids as Targets” →

21st Century Learning, 21st Century parenting, apps, QR codes, quick links, quick resource codes

Short QR Code FAQ

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Marti Weston

(A follow-up to the post on QR codes.)

After posting my most recent piece on quick resource (QR) codes, a number of questions reached me via e-mail and the blog’s comment section. So here’s a short FAQ that answers these questions

Q: Are QR codes an app of some kind?

A: No, a QR code is not an app, but it is a new way to connect — without an actual address — to Internet content. A quick resource symbol can appear anywhere, but you are most likely to see one on paper or signs — non-digital locations — making it easy for an individual to open the app on a smartphone, aim, scan, and connect. Quick resource codes are a bit like bar codes, found everywhere in daily life, except that right now QR codes are less common than bar codes.

Q: Can I control my child’s access to QR codes? Continue reading “Short QR Code FAQ” →

21st Century Learning, 21st Century parenting, apps, parents and technology, QR coder, quick resource codes

QR CodeTutorial: Updated Post With Illustrations

Posted on April 1, 2013March 18, 2019 by Marti Weston

QR Codes. You’ve probably seen them around — on everything from cereal boxes to magazines to advertising banners on the bus or in the subway.

QR is short for quick resource code (QR code), the scannable geometric-looking design that connects a person via smartphone to digital information such as an e-mail site, a video, a website, or even a telephone number. QR codes are similar to bar codes, but the QR image contains far more encoded information — thousands of times more, in fact. Learn more about QR codes at the Common Craft video tutorial site.

A QR code is essentially a shortcut that leads to digitized information. It might be, for instance, at the end of a book chapter, linking the reader to more content on a topic, or on a billboard. It could link conference attendees to a workshop handout or schedule. Continue reading “QR CodeTutorial: Updated Post With Illustrations” →

21st Century Learning, 21st Century parenting, apps, QR codes, quick links, quick resource codes

All About QR Codes

Posted on March 26, 2013March 18, 2019 by Marti Weston

QR Code Parents — This QR code leads to a digital parenting wiki site that my colleagues and I created.

QR Codes. You’ve probably seen them around — on everything from cereal boxes to magazines to advertising banners on the bus or in the subway.

21st Century Learning, digital citizenship, digital citizenship minute, digital learning, educating digital natives, parents and technology

5 Digital Citizenship Moments: Adult Conversational Digressions for Kids

Posted on March 19, 2013March 20, 2013 by Marti Weston

You have just shared several websites and take a moment to comment to children about digital footprints. Or perhaps you sent an e-mail that you wish you had not sent and you mention that it’s not possible to get something back once it’s sent out electronically. Maybe you open a website of poor quality and point out one or two things that could be improved.

These are moments, each probably less than a minute of conversational digression, that reinforce the digital citizenship habits of children. These comments can be incorporated into any discussion or lesson.

Each time adults comment on digital citizenship issues in the context of daily lessons and classroom life, we model a kind of digital intelligence that students can emulate and embrace, whether they are working or playing.

When educators and parents make time for digital digressions, moments of digital citizenship addressing crucial issues, they informally incorporate behavioral values that are a part of 21st Century connected learning. More importantly, these moments allow children to observe that just about every digital activity incorporates time-tested values such as careful evaluation, respect, collaboration, and inclusiveness.

Five Digital Citizenship Moments to Incorporate into Any Conversation

1. Pause for a moment whenever you use a web site, and explain one or two things that you like about it (or don’t like). Or explain just how you found the website.

Continue reading “5 Digital Citizenship Moments: Adult Conversational Digressions for Kids” →

NAIS Conference Reports, parents and technology, professional development

Claudio Sanchez Presentation at NAIS 2013 Conference

Posted on March 15, 2013March 18, 2019 by Marti Weston

Check out a larger version of this graphic recording. — Check out a larger version of this graphic.

Journalist Claudio Sanchez, a National Public Radio education reporter as well as a former middle school teacher, offered a presentation, The Three P’s of Education Reform: Politics, Policy, Pedagogy, at the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) 2013 conference. If you are like me, you turn up the radio every time Sanchez begins a report or a commentary, and I was eager to hear what he had to say about the world of educational reform.

In his presentation he asked whether education in itself — even a really good opportunity – can compensate for the heavy burdens of poverty such as poverty, access to poor health care (or no access), and violence. He wondered how much a school can really do for a child, and by extension, a family, mired in the cycle of poverty, though he looked at the audience and recognized that many schools are working hard to hasten change.

Best Quote

It’s a myth to believe that these problems can be solved by education without working on the broader context. Continue reading “Claudio Sanchez Presentation at NAIS 2013 Conference” →

21st Century Learning, digital devices, digital devices and gadgets, digital kids, teaching, teens and technology, wireless gadgets

New Pew Report on Teens and Technology 2013

Posted on March 13, 2013March 13, 2013 by Marti Weston

Growing internet use by teens and other age groups, too.

If you are an educator who teaches teenagers or a parent of adolescents, check out this newest research release — Teens and Technology, 2013 — from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The survey results come from interviews with 802 adolescents between the age of 12 – 17 and separate interviews with their parents, conducted over the phone in English and Spanish.

If you have any doubts about how fast digital life is changing for young people, this should dispel many of them.

78% of teens now have a cell phone, and almost half (47%) of them own smartphones. That translates into 37% of all teens who have smartphones, up from just 23% in 2011.
23% of teens have a tablet computer, a level comparable to the general adult population.
95% of teens use the internet.
93% of teens have a computer or have access to one at home. Seven in ten (71%) teens with home computer access say the laptop or desktop they use most often is one they share with other family members.
25% say they mostly use their phone online.

Most Interesting Quote

One in four teens are “cell-mostly” internet users, who say they mostly go online using their phone and not using some other device such as a desktop or laptop computer.

Schools must find ways to incorporate phones into the 21 Century learning paradigm.