Tablets and Aps Designed With Children in Mind on the Rise

Tablets built specifically with children in mind are on the rise. Cased in protective plastic and preloaded with apps, tablet manufacturers like Fuhu are targeting consumers ages 3 to 14 with their Nabi tablets. Selling for between $100 and $300, these machines can be customized with stickers featuring film and TV characters and more. Kids can use the tablets to watch TV shows and movies, play games and explore the Web, but parents can set strict controls so that only certain features and sites can be viewed or used.

Is Self Reflection Being Hurt by Social Media?

Young peoples’ abilities to engage in self-reflection, analysis, and quiet contemplation -- "intrapersonal intelligence" -- have been compromised, asserts educator and school administrator Naphtali Hoff in his post entitled Is Twitter undermining kids’ intrapersonal intelligence?. Hoff writes that the focus now is on interpersonal intelligence, also known as being "people smart," with social media tools such as Twitter encouraging users to be "out there" constantly, leaving little time for private thought. After reading the post you have to wonder if young people are being deprived of opportunities to think “out of the box,” becoming too dependent on what everyone else thinks since they can ask that question constantly. It’s definitely something to think about.

NY State Scraps Plans to Store Student Data with InBloom

The New York State Education Department is discontinuing plans to store student data in a Web-based cloud with inBloom, a nonprofit funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The decision comes amid concerns by some parents and educators about the privacy and security of the data. Officials said the state will now explore alternatives for improving its use of student data, as required under its participation in the federal Race to the Top grant program.

All Screens Not Equal When It Comes To Kid’s Health

Sixth-graders who spent more time watching TV had a greater likelihood of consuming junk food and soda than did those who devoted an equal amount of time to playing video games or using the computer, University of Michigan researchers found. Two to six hours of screen time was associated with excess weight and higher blood pressure levels compared with less than an hour of electronic media use, the study found. Of course, maybe that’s because it is harder to eat when you are playing video games.

Being Popular Doesn’t Protect Teens From Bullying

New research from The University of California, Davis and Pennsylvania State University indicates that becoming more popular can actually increase a teen's risk of getting bullied rather than making them immune to attack. Researchers found, using 4200 high school students in North Carolina as subjects, that as kids climb the social rungs, they are more likely to bully and be bullied – or at least until they reach the top. The top 4 percent of the social elite were above the fray, the study found. These students weren't likely to be bullied, nor were they likely to bully others. "They have less incentive to be aggressive because they have nowhere else to climb," Professor Bob Faris wrote. "They have the luxury of being nice to everyone."

Faris also indicated that the important takeaway for parents is that they can’t assume that teenagers who seem relatively well adjusted and have a lot of friends are in the clear.This study is a reminder that it's worth checking in on them even though everything appears to be going along just fine.  Another insight is that the best way to combat bullying, may be to teach kids that social rank doesn't matter, and fighting your way to the top while putting down others isn't worth it, Faris says.

Yik Yak App Digitally Excluded From Schools

When we last covered the Yik Yak social app in this blog , it was creating havoc on high school campuses as an anonymous weapon of chaos and bullying. The app, which uses GPS location data to bring comments to a user's feed from other users nearby, was envisioned as a "virtual bulletin board," or a messaging system that would serve as a blank slate for random thoughts or postings. Unfortunately though, high schoolers did not seem to be able to handle that kind of anonymous power so the creators took some bold steps to intervene.

First, they got an expedited review on the Apple site that allowed them to quickly change the app's age rating to 17+ (parents take note: you can place restrictions on under-17-year-old children's phones that block them from downloading apps based on this rating). Second, they found a company that helped them apply "geo-fences" -- or virtual geographic perimeters – that allowed them to block students from being able to use the app when on or near a school. As of now, 85% of the high schools in the US have been blocked. (If your school hasn’t, you can contact Yik Yak directly and one of its owners will manually input the school's location.) It is an interesting fix – and it will be fascinating to see what it does to Yik Yak, it’s popularity, and what requests schools may make to have other apps similarly disrupted.

Teachers and The Battle Over Social Media

Parents, students, and teachers seem to be in a constant battle about what to do about social media these days. Jim Dillion, Director the Center for Leadership and Bullying Preventation, though, offers an alternative view to consider for those who see the rise of social media as a negative force that replaces human-to-human connection with a virtual one.Instead of viewing social media and technology as a problem that needs fixing in order to re-establish the status quo, he proposes that teachers embrace it as a way to learn something about students, their needs, and how they might be better educated. Parents may also find they have a different view of social media and kids after reading the reflection points he includes in the article. It’s well worth the time.

Feds Put Mobile Marketers on Notice

The Federal Trade Commission is stepping up enforcement of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in the mobile advertising space. When children log on to gaming sites and download apps, the information they give is, by law, supposed to remain safe with the companies they’re interacting with. Of course, that has not always been the case so the FTC plans to ensure that online advertisers and games don't run afoul by charging up to $16,000 per violation. The 2013 revision to COPPA also broadened the act, extending the definition of children’s personal information to include “persistent identifiers such as cookies that track a child’s activity online, as well as geolocation information, photos, videos, and audio recording.”

Helping Kids Use Cellphones For Schoolwork

It always seems interesting that parents figure out that various technologies are useful for schoolwork quicker than teachers do, but finally many schools are harnessing the power of cellphones rather than banning them. Using cellphones to take pictures of textbook pages so kids shuttling between divorced parents can still read the assignment, using phones to photograph answers to math test questions done at home so teachers can use time in the classroom to teach rather than test, and other thoughtful ways to harness the power of cell phones are being used by teachers who would rather join kids in the technology revolution rather than fight them.

Online Webinars for Parents

Several districts in Ohio are experimenting with online webinars – basically online chats – for parents who can’t make it to the district’s regular in-person meetings. Done over the lunch hour, it is a way for the districts to get information out and answer parents’ questions. The districts are still trying out different formats, but with upwards of 50 people signing into the webinars, the districts feel they are having some success.