So how do we ensure that their digital world is the safest it can be? At school we have a filtering service (cyberoam) which all students on our wireless must pass through before accessing the web. I'm a similar way, routers at home can precey students from accessing websites which might compromise student safety. iPhones etc allow parents to set safety features which limit what students can do without permission.
What are your tips and tricks as a parent for ensuring your child uses their digital devices in a responsible way and is as safe as you can make them? Let's share our ideas/questions/concerns as comments below.
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Agreed - safety is a big concern - and worrisome that some filters seem to block good content and miss bad content - so needs ongoing supervision. Also of major concern is the distraction factor of smart devices. They are powerful learning tools but offer gaming, social media, and multiple chat applications so regulary notice a lot of hours spent doing 'homework' but not a great level of output or productivity.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Ash! First on... awesome.
ReplyDeleteYes good point about the potential for distraction. I measure students on output - how much work are they producing in a suitable amount of time. If unsatisfactory, devices should be put away. Of course the difficulty emerges when the device is crucial for the activity. And then what if online chatting is part of the collaborative process (eg when collaborating over a Google Drive document, students can utilise the chat function to discuss their work). I guess that then goes back to measuring output.
Here is an interesting report to consider:
http://scitation.aip.org/content/aas/journal/aer/11/1/10.3847/AER2012011
Not sure what year level it's for, but still...
Another interesting article:
http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/distraction-engagement-wireless-devices-classroom
And:
http://www.ecampusnews.com/technologies/driven-to-distraction-how-to-help-wired-students-learn-to-focus/?
Food for thought that I will soon digest.
Regarding filters, you raise another interesting point of discussion. I'd be interested to know what other parents' experiences are with filters. I'm sure some are better than others!
Again, thanks for your comment Ash.
Hi guys, Technology is great, but to find a balance is extremely hard. Not so long ago you can ground your kid but these days it will be rough for them if you say "that's it, you have to spend the rest of the afternoon outside, playing!" :)
ReplyDeleteIt is important to filter access at home. There are some good security software available for accessing bad websites, still, there is no way of knowing who your kid gets in contact with through the social media. Same concern as Ash!
As a parent it is good to become savvy with technology and educate as much as you can. Great that there is support and understanding our concerns, thanks Saunil for creating this blog :)
A concern I have is balance, back in the day you could ground your kid, these days it will be tough on them if you say "that's it, for the rest of the day you have to play outside"!
ReplyDeleteLike Ash I am also very concerned about security. We have a filter at home but still there is no guarantee what your kid see or who he/she talks 2. It is important for us to be savvy and clued up on the latest trends and happenings.
We have a rule @home, no games during school nights, Fri and Sat afternoons are all systems go and Sun is family time. Thanks Saunil for creating this blog, great for sharing and support!
Hi Tilly
DeleteI really like your comment at the end of your second post about rules at home. Common sense suggests that there should be clear rules and guidelines around technology use at home, but I wonder just how easy it is to enforce for a lot of parents. Certainly an essential component of any home programme aimed at teaching the kids how to use technology appropriately and when to use it at all.
Perhaps an interesting question to ask oneself is just how much downtime from digital devices should we have in our lives. Note I haven't asked it the other way around - I seem to always be on some device or the other, even if just the TV. When I give myself "time out" I realise just how refreshing it is. Do you think the children of today even appreciate that as a concept? How do we get them to realise that time out is actually a good thing? Bake some scones, play on the tramp... read a book (on the device? Yikes! Confusing).
An observation that I have made is that students at school seem to spend a vast amount of time on their device when not in class, playing games, chatting and the like. This happens at break time and in my opinion the school can't and shouldn't go around enforcing students to be off their devices. Is it then the role of the parents to ensure that the child has some "time out" when at home? Is this even realistic for a lot of us? If you enforce time out, how do you achieve it?
It would be great to get some more ideas on this.
Saunil
I agree with Ash and Tilley totally but my main concern is with the "social media aspect that is so readily available to our kids i.e. instagram, kik, facebook, (these are the only ones I am familiar with I am sure there are more), Digital devices now allow our children another form of communication which if used correctly could be beneficial to their learning as Saunil has already mentioned. But how do we control or monitor what other children send your child through these social networking mediums. Do our children have too much freedom, choices these days? Has the "discipline" aspect of parenting been taken away from us? As a parent I am pretty tough and promote consequences to my children quite a lot. Digital devices are highly addictive to young minds who still retain their innocence but do not fully realise the impact of their actions when they are used in an inappropriate manner. I as a parent have already experienced inappropriate photos being sent to my child by another student. How can we prevent this from happening?
ReplyDeleteGreat questions Carol and you raise some very important issues that we should all be concerned about. I'm sure many more parents have ideas here, but if I can stress the importance that parents take ownership of the devices that their children have and ensure they have control over the devices. For example, students maybe should not just be able to install apps without parental permission (important school apps like Google Drive etc should be installed already) but instead should require a password that the parent provides. This might be suitable up to a point where the student proves that they are trustworthy and an ensuing discussion takes place. After that point, perhaps the student has more control but the parent should always monitor the device over iCloud to see what changes have been made. Both Apple and Android devices (Samsung etc) have powerful parental control mechanisms which allow high degrees of restriction.
DeleteSome web-based apps are quite dangerous too and because they're not installed (but accessed through the browser) they can potentially be easily accessed by children. Routers can be set to control and block sites if need be and other software allows users to monitor sites being accessed.
I'm sure there are plenty of good ideas from other parents regarding how to protect your child in the digital world. As a teacher, I can educate around the issue as much as I want, but unfortunately there seem to always be statistics out there. We just have to work damn hard to ensure they're not our children!
So anyone else got any ideas around this?