Digital Bytes 11 April 2016

	Everybody Panic! 5 Ways Social Media is Changing your Brain Responding to a popular TED talk, Lisa Nielson attempts to debunk some of the myths raised. Some really interesting points! Check it out!
	The Real Me Prompted by a conversation she had with a group of people who argued it’s impossible to have decent conversations because people are “addicted to their phones”, Kim Cofino has written a thoughtful blog post in which she shares how she is the same person, both online and offline.
	14 Google Search Tricks Most of us use Google search every single day. The same can be said for our students. Have you ever wanted to compare two foods? Just write “vs” between the foods in the search box. What about scheduling an alarm for a nap? Google can do that. Have a look at these and other Google Search Tricks.

Formula for the Best Parent Workshop

(Cross-posted at Tip of the Iceberg)

This little gem of an idea, came to the Digital Literacy Team at UWCSEA via Robyn Treyvaud, who had been visiting our school to work on the initiation of our generation safe project. Robyn's idea - so obvious I don't know why we hadn't thought of it before - was to include students in the presentation to parents about social networking. 

We created a sign up sheet for our workshop, and asked parents to outline the sort of things they were concerned about and/or what they wanted to focus on. Below is a Wordle of parent concerns.

Jeff asked which students in the class he was teaching would be interested in sharing how they use social networking with parents. He got at least 10 students who were keen to help out. I must stress that students were not pre-selected - we only asked for interested individuals, and we didn't prep them as to what to say. Rather, we provided them with talking points to which they responded.

We scheduled a meeting at lunchtime where we shared a wordle of parent concerns, and they talked about their responses to the concerns, and explained to us the different ways they use social networking. It was fascinating just listening to them. At one point during the discussion, I thought, "We should be videoing this!" so turned on PhotoBooth (all that I had available at the time!) and listened.

Here are some short segments from that video which show the sort of things they were saying.



The following day, we had a huge turnout from parents. We sat one or two students at each table with parents, and did a brief presentation from the school's perspective.

We encouraged parents to ask the students about their concerns and turned it over to the kids. It was amazing to see the positive body language of the parents, and see how engaged both groups were in listening and talking with the other.

We asked for some verbal parent feedback at the conclusion of the session, and received some very lovely comments from the parents. One parent said from his discussions with the student at his table, he learned he needs to trust his children more, and involve himself in what they're doing.

Others spoke very highly of the students involved, and said it was much easier to talk to someone else's child about these sort of issues than have conversations with their own children. That said, they now felt more comfortable about initiating the discussions with their own children.

One of the most touching things I saw was one of our Grade 10 students giving the parents at her table her email address, with the words, "If you have any more questions, just send me an email." How great are our students?!

The ups and downs of social networks - new research.

Trimpers Cobra Roll by Scott Ableman/

The Pew Research Center, as part of their ongoing Internet and American Life project, have just released a report called Teens, kindness and cruelty on social network sites. As the title implies, the latest research provides us insight into the widely varying experiences that teens have when participating in social networks ranging from very positive to horribly cruel and everywhere in between.


The main aim of the survey was, as stated by the report:

As they navigate challenging social interactions online, who is influencing their sense of what it means to be a good or bad “digital citizen”? How often do they intervene to stand up for others? How often do they join in the mean behavior?

The results where compiled from 799 12-17 year-olds living in the United States. Though I believe there would be some differences in our population of students at UWCSEA, I do expect the major trends to be similar.  95% of the respondents reported being online and 80% of that group participate in social networks, the most dominant of those, of course, is Facebook (93%).

69% of social media-using teens report that their interactions are mostly kind.  They reported that social networks make them feel closer to people they interact with and make them feel better about themselves.

Not surprisingly, there are plenty of bad experiences reported by the teens in the survey. 88% report witnessing cruel or mean behavior, though mostly they say it only happens "only once in a while." One in five teens say they themselves were bullied within the last 12 months, though this language has questionable meaning with teens who often refer to this kind of behavior as "drama."  Most commonly, the bullying happened in person and to a lesser extent in other ways including (in order greatest to least) via text message, online, or by phone.

If teens experience meanness, cruelty, or bullying online, we suggest they:

1. Don't respond.
2. Save evidence by taking a screen shot.
3. Block the person and report them for abuse to the service provider.
4. Tell a trusted adult (parent, teacher, counselor, tutor, etc.)

A bigger problem is that only about 1/3 of students who say the witness cruel or mean behavior online ever seek advice on how to respond to it.  This problem of standing by and watching rather than doing something about it is an obvious target of our attention and education efforts.  We like to use the phrase "stand up, don't stand by" when speaking to students about how they can actually get involved.

Returning to the original question about who is influencing the behavior of teens online, the respondents point first to parents followed by teachers as being influential sources of information on digital citizenship.  We are the people they look to above other sources to learn how to behave appropriately and for advice when they have negative experiences.

Here are some resources that can help guide those conversation: 

• from CommonSense Media
• from ACMA cybersmart
• from Cybersafekids

What has worked for you and your family?

Parent Coffee Morning 1: Social Networks

The Digital Literacy Team at East is pleased to welcome parents to our first Coffee Morning - this time focusing on: Social Networks: Why they matter, and how you can help your child develop a positive online presence.

We looked first at what was worrying you about Social Networks. Here is a wordle which shows your concerns:

The Digital Literacy Team has looked carefully at these. We have examined recent research, talked with students and other parents and teachers to put together some information regarding these issues. We hope you can see your concerns as opportunities to open the doors of communication with your child. 

1. Time

How much time with technology is too much? What's appropriate for a child at a particular age? The answers to these questions will be different for every family, and depend on a variety of factors - making it a difficult one to answer!

The DLT team recommends having a discussion with your child about what is reasonable. Homework, outdoor play, relaxation etc are some of the considerations to think about. Obviously the age of the child makes a difference too. 

We advocate a balanced approach, where screen time is only part of a set of varied after school activities.

Common Sense Media has some great articles on managing screen time:

So Many Screens

Setting Screen Limits

2. Contact with Strangers

One concern we hear often from parents is the worry that students will be contacted by strangers, who may try to track them down and possibly attempt to meet them. The statistical probability of this actually happening is very low.

Dr. David Finkelhor (director of the Crimes against Children Research Center), in a panel discussion entitled 'Just the Facts About Online Youth Victimization' states,

"Our research, actually looking at what puts kids at risk for receiving the most serious kinds of sexual solicitation online, suggests that it’s not giving out personal information that puts kid at risk. It’s not having a blog or a personal website that does that either. What puts kids in danger is being willing to talk about sex online with strangers or having a pattern of multiple risky activities on the web like going to sex sites and chat rooms, meeting lots of people there, kind of behaving in what we call like an internet daredevil."

 For more information, you might like to read the following articles:

The Myth of Online Predators

'Juvenoia' Part 1 - Why Internet Fear is Overrated

Internet via Crimes Against Children Research Center

Six Myths About Keeping Kids Safe Online

3. Digital Footprint

A digital footprint is not necessarily something to fear! Will Richardson, writing for the journal Educational Leadership states:

As the geeky father of a 9-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter, one of my worst fears as they grow older is that they won't be Googled well. Not that they won't be able to use Google well, mind you, but that when a certain someone (read: admissions officer, employer, potential mate) enters "Tess Richardson" into the search line of the browser, what comes up will be less than impressive. That a quick surf through the top five hits will fail to astound with examples of her creativity, collaborative skills, and change-the-world work. Or, even worse, that no links about her will come up at all. I mean, what might "Your search did not match any documents" imply?

We want to help students develop a positive online presence, ensuring they understand the 'stickiness' of online information, and how to make good decisions about what is shared publicly. 

4. Distractions

Part of learning to work effectively in the 21st Century involves managing distractions. Recognizing that homework may take longer if you are distracted, and taking steps to reduce that distraction is an important part of growing up for today's students.

Some of the suggestions we gathered from students, parents and teachers may help:

- Put your Skype on invisible so others think you are offline.
- Turn off Chat in Facebook/Google Chat
- Turn off Twitter notifications (or turn it off entirely)
- Work in a public place (e.g. Kitchen table), so other people can keep you on task
- Take regular breaks
- Set targets and reward with social networking check-ins
- Make homework a family time, where everyone works at the same time
- Work in Fullscreen view, to eliminate 'visual noise'
- Download Self Control, an OSX app that allows users to block certain websites for predetermined time periods.

Common Sense Media's article on Managing Multitasking provides suggestions at different age levels, which you may find a helpful starting place. 

5. Access to Inappropriate Content

At UWCSEA we are of the opinion that educating students about what to do when coming across inappropriate content is the most effective long-term strategy.  We can't control what people put on the Internet, but we can control our reaction to it.

As part of our school-wide focus on Digital Citizenship, teachers discuss strategies students can use if/when they come across inappropriate content. Some suggestions include:

- Closing the window
- Covering it with your hand
- Changing your search terms
- Letting a teacher know
- Scrolling down the page
- Hitting the 'back button'

We encourage students to be responsible, and not make a big fuss - the worst thing they can do is to draw attention to it.

6. Kids Knowing More Than You

The short answer is, they probably do! That doesn't mean they don't require teacher/parental support in using technology. 

You can help by staying interested in what your kids are doing. If they are interested in a particular game, ask them to teach you how to play. Talk to them about what they like to do. Share your favourite YouTube videos. Just keep the conversations going!

Image Credits
cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by zoutedrop: http://flickr.com/photos/zoutedrop/2317065892/
cc licensed ( BY NC ND ) flickr photo by nuclear dwarf: http://flickr.com/photos/kafkapie/4182398090/
cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo by escapedtowisconsin: http://flickr.com/photos/69805768@N00/3292899689/
cc licensed ( BY NC ND ) flickr photo by gadgetgirl: http://flickr.com/photos/gadgetgirl70/136334749/