As a father of eight and a School Superintendent, the safety of children is constantly on my mind. Hopefully (for all of us) keeping our kids safe means more than looking both ways before crossing the street. Living in a digital world our children have access to what seems like an infinite amount of media. How do we help them to make smart choices and develop good digital citizenship habits? Whether you are a parent or an educator, you will not be able to preview every single thing your children read, listen to, watch, search for, etc. These tools below will assist you in making sure your child is "safe" while more importantly helping them to develop those positive digital habits...
1. Common Sense Media- This site has been a great find for me both as a parent and educator. I have been able to get an unbiased review of books, movies, TV shows, games, apps, etc. and determine if it is appropriate for my child or my students. The site is completely free. I suggest using it with your older children/students in order to engage in meaningful discussion on why something would be appropriate or not.
2. Safe Search Engines- You and I know from experience that even the most innocent of keywords can lead to sites and images you would not want a child to see. Although search engines have filtering, if you do not set them up that way then you risk a child being exposed to ANYTHING. Search engines such as Safe Search Kids, Kid Rex, Ask Kids, Mymunka offer child friendly search alternatives. Remember though, nothing is 100%. That is why it is as important to teach our children and students digital citizenship skills.
3. YouTube Kids - If your children/students are like mine, they spend plenty of time watching videos on YouTube. This app will allow children to watch videos that are age appropriate. Click here for Android. Click here for iTunes.
Keeping our kids safe should be the highest priority of parents and educators. For more on digital citizenship check out Vicki Davis' article on Edutopia. Feel free to share other tools/resources to keep our kids safe in the comment section below or tweet at me @NicholasADiaz.
Fantastic article! I couldn't agree with it more. As educators we need to guide our students on making the right choices when using the internet both in school and at home.
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