If you're a parent, you know how little kids often want to be like their older sibs and other "big kids" they look up to. And that goes for technology too, of course. Enter Talking Angela, an iPhone and Android app designed for teens (and the teenager in all of us) but not for little kids. Though I can see why little ones would find Angela the talking cat fascinating. Yesterday morning I found … [Read more...] about The flap over Talking Angela the chatbot app
Search Results for: Safety by design
SID 2014: Teens’ own (wise) perspectives on life with social media
As panelists at Safer Internet Day US 2014 in Washington, D.C., high school students Arielle Ampeh (from Va.), Will Ashe (Va.), Zoe Parks (Ill.), David Rojas Rosario (D.C.), Hannah Thompson (D.C.), and Dursey Wade (Mich.) had a broad-ranging conversation about their experiences in all kinds of social media. But if you watch the video or keep reading, you'll probably notice, as I did sitting in the … [Read more...] about SID 2014: Teens’ own (wise) perspectives on life with social media
Timely for Safer Internet Day: Game-changing insight into Internet risk
One of the milestones of Internet safety was the distinction between risk and harm made by the pan-European researchers of EU Kids Online back in 2011. "Risk must be distinguished from harm,” they wrote in a report based on surveys of more than 25,000 9-to-16-year-olds in 25 countries. “As with riding a bike or crossing the road, everyday activities online carry a risk of harm, but this harm is … [Read more...] about Timely for Safer Internet Day: Game-changing insight into Internet risk
‘Internet addiction’: New ‘disorder’ about age-old needs?
Judging by the just-released documentary Web Junkie, about a Chinese "Internet addiction" treatment center, it's loneliness that's at the heart of what the Chinese officially call a clinical disorder (more often called "problematic Internet use" in the West). If you can get past the boot-camp-like conditions and young patients' (inmates'?) tears, you'll get to a scene – at 4:50 into the … [Read more...] about ‘Internet addiction’: New ‘disorder’ about age-old needs?
The benefits of agency, choice, and student-centered learning
"More and more of society at large, and consequently many students, are demanding an educational system that works for and with them," wrote high school math teacher Paul Bogdan in Edutopia (emphasis mine). "A student-centered learning environment encourages students to become independent learners and ultimately to be in charge of their own education." Student-centered learning just makes sense … [Read more...] about The benefits of agency, choice, and student-centered learning