The only way really to change a school culture to one that's respectful and safe is to get everybody involved, and everybody has to include students, of course, because it's their school, their workplace and they represent the vast majority of the people there. "So how do we involve them?" I asked Stan Davis of the Youth Voice Project on a panel I was moderating at the International Bullying … [Read more...] about Notes from a conference on bullying
Microsoft
US’s huge new ‘Stop. Think. Connect’ campaign
Smokey Bear has been replaced. Well, at least his slogan. A broad coalition of federal government agencies, businesses, and cybersecurity advocates wants this slogan – "Stop. Think. Connect" – ringing in everybody's ears as reflexively as "Only YOU can prevent forest fires" once did (I don't want to admit that I remember that). Of course, not everyone finds the slogan compelling – see why it gets … [Read more...] about US’s huge new ‘Stop. Think. Connect’ campaign
How to teach Net safety, ethics, security? Blend them in!
US K-12 students aren't getting adequate instruction in "cyberethics, cybersafety, and cybersecurity," according to a just-released study sponsored by the National Cybersecurity Alliance and Microsoft released today. The survey, of more than 1,000 teachers, 400 administrators, and 200 tech coordinators, found that – although over 90% of administrators, teachers, and tech coordinators support … [Read more...] about How to teach Net safety, ethics, security? Blend them in!
*Collaborative* reputation protection
"The 'Protecting Reputations Online' video should be mandatory viewing for students," wrote/tweeted Bernajean Porter, an educator I admire, in Twitter this week. So I watched it (it's just under 3 minutes) – and was reminded of how collaborative reputation protection is these days. Because "digital" means social, young people are not acting all by themselves in a vacuum – they're sharing text, … [Read more...] about *Collaborative* reputation protection
Turning young players into game designers
Microsoft Research is literally creating code kids can play with. It's called Kodu – a play on the word "code" – and it's a programming language for creating games on Xbox that's "designed to be accessible for children and enjoyable for anyone," Microsoft says on its Web page about it. You design with a game controller (and my 12-year-old thought he was going to have to learn game design in … [Read more...] about Turning young players into game designers