No-one is too old to learn – especially not if it concerns the topic “internet”. Like you’ve learned navigate through traffic or to use a smartphone you also should look take a look at the internet and learn about the pros and cons. So now it’s back to school time – to learn about the basics of the internet.
The post You’re young, you’re old – internet is a topic for all ages! appeared first on Avira Blog.
When your child starts school in the next few weeks, they may be taking a laptop, tablet or phone to school so that they can access work and content to assist with their education. As parents, we assume that our kids will behave responsibly and obey school rules for online activity.
Most parents have had to sign a school digital policy, detailing exactly what “acceptable behavior” looks like, but how many of us really read the ‘acceptable usage policy’ before we signed it?
I recently had a conversation like this with a colleague here at AVG. They stated that they had signed no such policy and had no clue what I was talking about. Sure enough, a few days later they confirmed that they had signed it and did not read or know it even existed. We assume that all the signatures are for things we fully understand; after all, we went to school, how different can it be?
Take a look at the policy from Virginia Minnesota Public Schools, in section XI – C, it states ’must be read and signed by the user, the parent or guardian, and the supervising teacher’. I bet the majority of parents signing this never read it and probably don’t even remember signing it.
It’s important that when we send our kids to school with gadgets, that we respect the school rules on devices and usage. My own son went to a school in the Bay Area that even stipulated a minimum specification for the machine, processor, memory etc.
As a basic principal, I think its accepted that laptops are productivity devices and tablets are content consumption devices. This is of course changing, as more tablets appear with keyboards and are becoming a hybrid of the two.
When we purchased my son’s laptop, I made sure it was robust ( in fact it has a metal case rather than plastic!) and on advice of the AVG IT department I purchased accidental breakage insurance for the laptop. Sure enough, they were right and we are already on the second one!
The school my son attends has strict rules on laptop use. A teacher needs to give permission for devices to be used in a classroom and there are penalties for use without permission. I like this structure. I watch my son doing homework and gone are the days when the homework needs to be carried back to school. Electronic delivery straight back to the teacher and a log system that shows submission dates and overdue work makes school life very different from my school days.
What I am keen to learn about is how school policies stand up to wearable devices. For example, take a smartwatch that allows texting, reading emails and some basic app functionality. Can a child wear this in class and look at their watch during a lesson? I think this makes policing device use challenging for educators as technology moves to devices that are less obvious and wearable by the user.
Be sure that when running to the shop to get your kids new devices this summer that you connect with the school and ensure what you are buying fits with both their recommendation and also that you understand the usage policy and can re-enforce this with your kids.
When I was young, I remember watching episodes of Dr. Who and Star Trek and marveling at the flat screen monitors, tablets and wireless connectivity they portrayed.
I recently watched one of the original Star Trek movies and noticed how dated the technology looked. It seems that not only has technology delivered what was the vision of film makers but surpassed it. Our kids are growing up in a world that I never dreamed would be a reality.
The interesting part of this is that this hyper-connected is entirely normal for them. We as adults view it as connected, digital, devices and make it sound like a special part of life but to our kids it’s just life.
I often see questions such as ‘what age do I give my child a smartphone?’ Realistically, there can be no wrong answer as every child matures differently and every parent has differing views and boundaries. There are indicators though that should allow us to make a reasonable decision on the right age for children to have smartphones. Generally, they look at responsibility, respect and maturity. Giving a phone to a child is a big responsibility for both the parent and child, after all the actions of the child are the responsibility of the parent.
There are obviously lots of reasons for a child to have a smartphone, but also lots of reasons for them not to. It’s important that we encourage our kids to spend more time outside, play with their friends, learn social skills and interact directly with other people will stand them in good stead for adult life. A consideration on how the device fits in to school life and will it hinder and or enable learning needs to be a part of the decision, again something that differs for every child.
My son had access to a flip phone from the age of 10. This was a family device and then at 13 he was then allowed a full smartphone on the grounds that it was a privilege and not a right. At 15, he is now a young man and the dynamic and guidance become very different. Just yesterday, we had a chat about disabling ‘auto retrieve’ to mitigate the risk of the StageFright vulnerability.
Another frequent question at this time of year is what laptop or tablet should I be buying to enable learning at school, here are some key questions that might help aid the decision process on this.
What is the purpose of the device?
Is it for productivity or for consumption? If you think about how we use the devices in our lives tablets are typically used to browse, watch and consume content where a laptop is used to create and produce, while there is some crossover this is a reasonable question to start the process of which is better.
School equipment
Does the school provide any equipment as learning aids? Knowing which devices kids have access to at school might help you decide to buy a device that the school does not already use.
Device specifics
Different devices have different uses. Tablets can be great for apps while laptops are of course great for browsing the web and certain types of gaming.
There is then the question of device choice, size of laptop or tablet, this one is personal and engaging your child on this is a good idea. After all, they will be the user of the device.
Insurance
One top tip our own AVG IT department gave me when I purchased a laptop for my device was that I should buy the accidental damage insurance offered as kids drop or damage stuff in ways we don’t. This advice proved extremely useful and has saved me money!
Responsible Use
Okay, so you’ve decided on the right device and appropriate age, but the job isn’t done yet. Just like crossing the road, it’s up to us as parents to show our kids how to use the web responsibly and respect others when they communicate Remember that kids are not fully developed from a maturity perspective and they need our guidance (despite the fact that as teenagers think they know everything.)
School policy
Read the schools policy on Internet use and communication and enforce the same principles out of school, with the right education and guidance your kids might amaze you on their ability to behave in a mature way.
If in doubt, discuss
If necessary, then monitoring what they do may help you understand and guide them better, I personally find just talking to them about what they are up to works well and is much less intrusive. I know my parents never knew everything I got up to when I was a child so having a little freedom, unless its abused, is a positive growing up experience.
Make sure your kids understand one core principal – ‘if you wouldn’t say it offline then don’t say it online’
“You’ll never know everything about anything, especially something you love.â€
–Julia Child
All across the nation, parents are breathing sighs of relief as their children head back to school.
But how about ourselves? As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a strong believer in lifelong learning. It keeps us focused, interested, and engaged. It helps our communities. And whether you want to teach or learn, there’s a place for you, either in person or online.
While I have the greatest respect for traditional universities and our wonderful community colleges, there are so many resources available online today that make it easy to stay active and engaged in learning. Back in the early 2000s when I started an early online learning company that did classes for consumers on all sorts of topics sponsored by major brands – we were a bit ahead of our time. Now technologies –specifically video applications- have evolved so much to support and make online classes truly visual, interactive and engaging.
Though we juggle our work, projects, kids and other commitments and it can be crazy, many of the online courses are self-paced, making them more manageable. And BTW, a report by the U.S. Department of Education has found that classes with online learning (either solely or as a component) on average produce stronger student learning outcomes than do classes with solely face-to-face instruction – especially among older learners.
Here are some of the best distance learning apps and sites that I’ve come across. These can be used whether you want to share your knowledge or want to learn…or, ideally, both! Here are five I recommend, with a bonus thrown in for good measure!
Canvas is an open source platform for online collaboration that’s designed to be easy to use. It’s free and used by more than 800 colleges and universities. A sampling of courses shows a wide range of diverse material from “The Great Depression to the War on Terror,†a history course presented by a Seattle Central Community College Professor, to “Parenting in the Digital Age,†a course by the director of technology from an Indiana school district. These self-paced courses include video lectures, discussion forums, group work and more. Canvas’ motto is Keep Learning, something I think we can all agree with!
The Coursera online portal also hosts classes from major universities around the country and the world, basically providing a way for you to learn at your own pace or audit classes from the comfort of your desktop. It currently boasts 9 million students, 737 courses and 110 partners, with both free and paid courses. In its specialization area you can take a group of courses, for example, to earn a Cybersecurity Certificate from the University of Maryland (for a fee). They also offer financial aid, by the way!
ePals says it’s “where learners connectâ€. It maintains a community of collaborative classrooms engaged in cross-cultural exchanges, project sharing and language education. It’s a sharing site that offers a way for groups of students around the world to be matched up and paired with other classrooms, and allows teachers to create their own projects or collaborate on others. It’s all about learning through experience.  I think this site is what the future is going to look like…at its best: People all over the world sharing knowledge together.
edX is one of the leading sites for accessing free, open online courses. Harvard and MIT founded this platform, and offers classes from those amazing institutions, as well as classes from a growing list of partners. One course coming this week that caught my eye is UT Austin’s course on “Ideas of the Twentieth Century.â€
Apple’s site and app for online and connected learning, iTunes U provides thousands of audio and video courses on-demand and the world’s largest catalog of free education content. You can access learning and presentations from many top schools and universities worldwide, including Stanford, Harvard, MIT and more.
And now for the bonus…
Don’t have time to commit to a class this fall? There’s an awesome YouTube presentation featuring Carl Sagan, Arthur C. Clark and Stephen Hawking here about “God, The Universe, and Everything Else.†Now that’s education in less than an hour.
Happy back to school, everyone!
