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For most teenagers, texting has become an integrated part of their social networking. It is, however, still a mystery and possibly a cause of concern for many parents and teachers not familiar with the phenomenon. We see letters like "ttyl" and wonder what in the world these kids are saying (talk to you later). Teachers see kids who have become so adept at texting that they can send messages from the pocket of their pants to avoid detection, and we wonder what they are up to. I recently had a conversation with about 90 of my students (all high school juniors and seniors) and asked them to give me the heads up on current texting practices.

Children are among the most frequent users of the Internet, yet searching and browsing the web can present many challenges. Studies over the past two decades on how children search were conducted with finite and pre-determined content found in CD-ROM applications, online digital libraries, and web directories. However, with the current popularity of the open Internet and keyword-based interfaces for searching it, more critical analysis of the challenges children face today is needed. This paper presents the findings of an initial study to understand how children ages 7, 9, and 11 search the Internet using keyword interfaces in the home.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning examines the effect of digital media tools on how people learn, network, communicate, and play, and how growing up with these tools may affect a person's sense of self, how they express themselves, and their ability to learn, exercise judgment, and think systematically.

Six topics are available as free downloads online:
Youth, Identity, and Digital Media Current Volume
Learning Race and Ethnicity: Youth and Digital Media
Digital Young, Innovation, and the Unexpected
The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning
Digital Media, Youth, and Credibility
Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth

This highly respected newsletter by Anne Collier is pubished once a week and is must reading for parents trying to stay current with new about kids' use of the Internet.

Article on digital citizenship by Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis in March/April 2010 edition of Learning & Leading with Technology Magazine. Reviews current Flat Classroom Projects as well.

Currently four missions are available for students with the following themes: email/spam, chatroom safety/privacy, cyberbullying awareness, web dangers. Download and print the hint sheets for each series.

In answering the famous Twitter question "What's happening?" we can tune in to the world around us; from grocery shopping to attending a business function, we can now share both our personal thoughts and literal happenings. Now, with the rise of "location-based social networks" the "What's happening?" suddenly becomes the question "Where are you?" giving transparency a whole new meaning. Currently leading the pack is Foursquare.com.

I am sure that Vermonters don't like the idea of teens sending sexy pictures from one phone to another. Nor do Ohio and Utah parents want their kids using cell phone minutes to bare their bodies with their buddies. Nevertheless, their state legislatures are among the first trying to sensibly ratchet down the penalties for sexting. They are backing away from laws that currently treat a teenager with a cell phone the same way they treat a child pornographer. They know there's a difference between truly dreadful judgment and a felony.

On April 22, the Stop Bullying Now! Campaign will host a webcast on cyberbullying. The webcast will help participants learn about best practices in cyberbullying prevention and intervention and how to lend support when bullying occurs. The webcast, held from 3:00 to 4:30 pm EST, will feature experts such as Susan Limber, PhD, MLS, from Clemson University, who will provide current information on the use of cyber technologies and the emerging phenomenon of cyberbuylling among youth.

Cyberbullying, online predators, and other Internet-related dangers make headlines almost daily. Fear of what lies beyond that glowing screen at which our kids so love to stare dominates the current perception of what the Internet has become. In this climate of perceived threat, schools do what we all do with that of which we are afraid. We avoid the threat and try to forget it's out there.\n\n

The paper asks how schools should use technology if they wish to remain relevant in today's world, and how technology can be used to improve the quality of teaching and learning. "If literacy is the ability of the individual to articulate ideas in the main medium of society, how relevant are our current approaches?

Supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, New Image for Computing (NIC) is currently in the first stage of what is planned as a multi-phase project that aims to improve the image of computer science among high school students (with a special focus on gender and ethnic disparities) and encourage greater participation in computer science at the postsecondary level. Download the full report.

Five ideas to enable educators to develop and model a purposeful and professional digital footprint.\n\n1-Model responsible footprinting with your own practices in blogging, commenting, social networking, and picture posting.\n2-If you have established a professional blog, share it widely and proudly such as placing it in your email signature (if your employer will let you) and as Jeff Utecht suggests include your blog url when you comment on others blogs and in other forums. This enables others to see best practices and is a great way to get the conversation started.\n3-Google yourself (aka ego surfing). If you have something posted online that you'd be uncomfortable having a current or future student, parent, colleague, or employer find, delete it (if you can) or request that it be deleted. There are ways an aggressive internet detective can still find this information, but most won't go through the trouble and the mere fact that you deleted it shows some level of responsibility.\n4-If you do have online personal information and/or interests you wouldn't want discovered, use an unidentifiable screen name/avatar. This means you may need to update your screen name/avatar in your existing online presence.\n5-Engage in the conversation and professionally comment, reply, and present online, onsite, and at conferences.

Larry Magid and Anne Collier of ConnectSafely.org have put together HELPFUL TIPS TO PREVENT SEXTING for Educators, Parents and Students. They did a lot of research to pull these tips together, including talking with current prosecutors, a formal federal prosecutor and legal scholars and they include what-to-do advice for parents with kids involved. Getting teens the facts will help with the trend.

The laws governing "sexting" should be overhauled so naive teenagers sending raunchy images are not lumped with serious sex offenders, experts say. Under current legislation children who send sexually explicit images or video of themselves to others can face child pornography charges and even be placed on the Sex Offenders Register.

One way to measure digital access is to measure access to "broadband" Internet availability. Broadband access is the benchmark for Internet access. Broadband access means access to a robust and speedy connection sufficient to utilize the cutting edge technology of the day. But we should not mistake lack of broadband access with lack of Internet use.\n\nThere is currently a significant gap in broadband access between young and old, rich and poor, rural and urban. Over two-thirds of US households have broadband access as of May 2009 according to the Leichtman Research Group. But only 37 percent of households with income under $30,000 have broadband access compared to 89 percent of households with over $75,000 annual income according to the same study.

Looking at how and why copyright law has changed over time can help students better understand recent and current copyright disputes and the many perspectives involved in these ownership issues. In this lesson, students read about the history of copyright law and generalize about how and why it has changed.

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