If you haven’t read the article, GWU Launches Online Prep School, appearing in the January 22, 2011 Washington Post, check it out. The piece, by reporter Daniel de Vise describes the digital school, but he also explains how a dramatic shift — toward digital learning — is occurring world of education as more and more people take computer-based online learning courses. The article also examines whether online learning is a good learning tool in the world of adolescents. The jury is still out on this question, because of the strong organizational skills that are required to complete an online course. You can visit the GWU Online High School website and also the Stanford University Online High School website.
Tag: parents and technology
CES – Consumer Electronics Show
What’s a parent to do when an unrelenting parade of electronics gadgets and devices appears on the scene and especially on kids’ radars? How can we keep up, let alone be prepared and figure out a few things? To learn a bit, pay attention to the articles and blog posts coming out of the 2011 Consumer’s Electronic Show, occurring now and ending on January 9, 2010 — but the content will be timely for months. A good number of products, some on the cutting edges, debut at the show, though some are not available for purchase right this minute, and more than a few others may not even be in production yet. Most of the items, however, will be at your local or online vendor quite soon.
For instance… Need a gadget to help you take better pictures because yours are always blurry or bothered by too much light? Check out the Kodak easy-share camera at left, due out soon, a product that is supposed to figure out how to take a good picture even when you have no idea how to do it.
Useful Info for iPhone and iPad Owners
If anyone in your family received a iPad or iPhone for a holiday gift (I discovered an iPad under my tree.), or if you already have these devices in your home, consider getting acquainted with the Today in iOS podcast series, a program series that devotes itself to the world of iPads and iPhones.
Originally called Today in iPhone — I’ve been listening since May 2009 — its name morphed in the spring of 2010 when Apple released the iPad. Subscribe to the podcast from iTunes or download the programs from the program website. Today in iOS also has its own nifty app, enabling users to download and listen to programs without going through the machinations of syncing and downloading from iTunes. Very handy.
Whether you own a personal iOS devices or merely supervise your child’s ownership, this is the place to find interesting information about apps, answers to questions, and lots and lots of background information. Listeners can e-mail, call, or even use the recording app on their devices to make and send an audio message. An archive of past shows on the Today in iOS website, and sometimes I download a group of older programs and listen to them in while I am driving.
Keeping Track? Adolescents in the Digital Age
I’ve been keeping Dr. Gwen Schurgin-Okeeffe’s (AKA Dr. Gwenn) book close by for several months now. Cybersafe: Protecting and
Empowering Kids in the Digital World of Texting, Gaming, and Social Media is chock-full of helpful information and advice, juxtaposing the need to empower as well as protect today’s children in the always-expanding virtual world where they live. I’ve read the entire book, and I highly recommend CyberSafe to a people who are planning school book fairs and searching for a book that addresses technology and parenting. For parents who are seeking a broad overview of digital age parenting, CyberSafe, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, is the current best bet.
This week Dr. Schurgin’s book is juxtaposed in my mind with the December 5, 2010 New York Times article, As Bullies Go Digital, Parents Play Catch-Up. The piece, by reporter Jan Hoffman, focuses on what parents are doing – and not doing – to make the digital world, and especially potential cyber-bullying, less treacherous for their children. My technology colleague, Bruce, sent me what he felt were the most important thoughts in the New York Times article. I’ve posted these quotes below. Continue reading “Keeping Track? Adolescents in the Digital Age”
Intention vs. Consequence: What Kids Don’t Understand
In the world of digital parenting, three words help adults understand how a child’s digital activities get out of hand. Using these words — magnification, intention, and consequence — in parent-child conversations can, over time, help everyone understand more about why digital problems occur. 
- Magnification – If digital media is involved, mistakes, even those made by well-behaved and thoughtful kids, loom large and quickly become public. The magnification of a seemingly small problem often leads to embarrassment or even humiliation for everyone involved. In the digital world, private mistakes can evolve into magnified public ones.
- Intention – While the world of pre-adolescents and adolescents can be rough and tumble on any day, unintended reactions to their digital activities often surprise kids. Most often a problem involves one student communicating with another, and if the initiator had only taken even moment to think over an impulsive action, the incident might not have occurred.
- Consequence – If a digital problem becomes too public, too magnified, and too hurtful, consequences matter much more than anything a child intended to happen. From a young age, we teach children to say they are sorry when something goes wrong, but in the digital world, the degree of hurt and humiliation may mean that an apology is only the beginning of the recovery process.
Most adults remember a time when behavioral mistakes were more private. Rarely were our errors, even the big ones, known by more than a few people. The mechanisms for passing information from place to place, for broadcasting a problem to the world, were minimal. Times have changed.
This video below — Stop Think Connect — is a helpful resource for families with children in grades 4 – 7.
Driving? Texting? Phoning?
Read a post from the Thrive blog at Children’s Hospital Boston. In R U Ready 2 Stop Txting, Lois Lee MD, MPH, links to statistics, discusses the new Massachusetts texting law that took effect September 30, 2010, and offers suggestions about digital era parenting.
Dr. Lee directly addresses parents about virtual connections while driving.
Most of us would never drink and drive in front of our kids, race other cars, or even start the engine without buckling up first. Why then would we set a bad example for our children by texting behind the wheel? Though they may deny it, we have a much greater influence over our teens’ behavior than they let on. If you practice safe driving, there’s a far better chance your teenager will as well. ‘Do as I say, not as I text’ isn’t just hypocritical, it’s dangerous.
Staying Ahead With Solid Digital Research
September brings the start of a new school year, and once classes begin, it’s not long before the first research reports and projects are assigned. To get started, your child will head right to his or her computer; however, adult assistance can ensure that a student uses quality sources, thereby developing stronger research skills over the long run.
Just about any time digital children search for information at home, they fire up Google. While their teachers use substantial classroom time and energy introducing students to the best online research resources, children often need assistance applying the research lessons on their home computers. As often as possible adults should remind children that results from Google — as wonderful as Google searching is — provide a huge number of links, many of them of questionable quality.
A better way to search for information is to access library online resources and databases — the crown jewels of student research (Links at the bottom of this post will take readers to a few libraries that describe their virtual databases.) Searching in these databases decreases quantity and dramatically increases quality — which, in turn improves the caliber of a student’s assignment.
Continue reading “Staying Ahead With Solid Digital Research”
Media! Tech! Parenting! 
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