Education

Great story today on how the iPod Touch is being used in the classroom, and how it is loved by the students. Original article here, excerpts below.

At Somerset and other schools in the West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan district, for instance, the iPod Touch has taken classrooms by storm.

For kids there, math and spelling activities that used to seem, well, boooring have a sudden allure on an iPod. This was clear on a recent morning in a room filled with students raptly tapping, scrolling and swiping.

Rivera's teacher, Jean Stai, had to impose little discipline as her kids lost themselves in Word Salad, a vocabulary program, TanZen, a geometry app, and States and Capitols, among others.

Her biggest challenge appeared to be prying the kids from one app so they'd switch to another. The students were handed sheets with short, personalized lists of apps each had to try.

"They're so engaged," Stai said. "Suddenly, it's not so horrifying to study your facts tables. It is like a game. What would be tedious with paper and pencil is no longer so with bright colors and things moving

Rachel Martin and Christine Brouwer had a story on ABC World News about how schools are replacing traditional textbooks with iPods and laptops. Click here to see the original article. Some excerpts are shown below.

For generations, school meant books -- lots of books. But not anymore. Around the country, from high school to grad school, textbooks are getting harder to find. Technology has made the library something that can fit into the palm of your hand.

But Monticello High School in Virginia has launched an even lighter experiment in digital learning. A handful of classes are trying out the iPod Touch as a primary learning tool.

English teacher Mae Craddock said she structures many of her lessons around the new technology, instructing students to research, read and write on their handheld devices. It is something that she says came naturally to them.

"They took right away to it," she told ABC News. "There was no adaptation necessary."

But using Web-enabled devices in the classroom introduces a whole host of other issues. Sure, students are supposed to use the iPods for their class projects, but who will be the wiser if they shoot off an email or a tweet to their friends, or just surf the Web aimlessly instead of doing their work?

While this last comment is a legitimate concern, there are ways to protect against and monitor such misuse. Gaggle.net offers a filtered email service for students that is compatible with the iPod Touch, and Mobicip.com offers a filtered Internet service for students. Apple offers tight restrictions that can be used to disable the installation of inappropriate content and applications form the iTunes Store. Together, these services can help meet schools' need to comply with the federal CIPA guidelines while providing students a safe and secure platform for learning. For more information, contact these providers directly.

http://www.gaggle.net

http://www.mobicip.com

http://www.apple.com

There are hundreds of websites that provide information on online safety for teens and kids. However, not all young people are educated on online safety tips and how to keep them safe on the internet.

Almost a quarter of seven- to 16-year-olds say no one has talked to them about online safety according to research by communications watchdog Ofcom.

The watchdog interviewed 747 children and young people and found 54 per cent wanted more advice on online privacy, while a fifth wanted information on how to deal with cyberbullying and 28 per cent wanted information on how to keep passwords and other security information safe.

The research also found that children are increasingly accessing the internet via mobile phones. For iPhone and iPOD Touch users, Mobicip is the most popular content filtering and parental control solution available on the iPhone App Store. Parents can provide a safe browser on their kids iphone as an alternative to Safari and also setup a web monitoring system where the filter settings can be customized.

Online Safety is equally important at home and outside home, especially at school where a kid spends most of his/her day. A parent can always supervise a child’s online activity at home on a day-to-day basis. There are several tools available in the market today to enforce rules on a child’s online activities at home. But is the child safe online at school?

Statistically, kids are safer online at school than at home. The students are usually better supervised at school by teachers, librarians and media specialists. Also, most schools, if not all, use monitoring technologies to oversee the students’ online activities.  Many schools block instant messaging and chat as this is the predominant medium for cyber predators.  

However, as a parent, you are responsible to make sure your child’s school has policies in place to enforce online safety. There are several questions you can ask the school, some of which are,

1. Does the school communicate the rules to students and parents and the consequences of violating them?
2. Does the school protect all student’s personal information on their website?
3. What kind of web content filtering does the school provide?
4. What if students cyberbully others?

A team effort of parents, teachers, librarians, safety officers and school officials can make progress in ensuring that students’ online experience is as safe as possible.