Fewer than 25 percent of educators feel comfortable teaching students how to protect themselves from online predators, cyberbullies and identity thieves, says a new study from the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and Educational Technology, Policy Research and Outreach (ET PRO).
They're coming and it will be difficult to get away without having one. Google Profiles will be integrated in most Google services so you have a coherent identity and a simple way to manage your contacts.
Social media's ascent has led to an Internet experience based less on pages and more on people. As a corollary to this (and counter to Marshall McLuhan's thesis), the medium is no longer just the message. The permanence of words and images and their meaning in context has long been promoted as a foundation of media theory. In an increasingly real-time environment, however, content gives way to identity, and traditional contextual analysis gives way to dynamic social interactions.
"These questions are more about the student than you, your classroom, or education.
What every student should know starts with themselves and moves outwards to your content area: self knowledge-> content knowledge.
As an educator, your job is lead students to understanding, but student self-awareness and self-knowledge should precede that. These questions hit at a range of topics, but all revolve around that idea of a learner's identity.
If it hasn't already come, the first day of school is probably imminent for you, and these kinds of questions could come in handy there as well. Get to know you type stuff. But they can also help set the tone in your classroom that introspection is a must, awareness and thinking are always-on, and self-knowledge is the ultimate goal of any system of learning."
"By definition, an avatar is a figure or character that you can create and customize the way you want. You can use this character to interact with other friends online . Users have the full control of what they want to feature for example the kind of background, accessories, clothes...etc. There are several reasons why you need to consider using avatars with students some of which include:
Students can use avatar images in their profiles instead of their real pictures
Avatar-creation provides students with hands-on activities in identity building
Using avatars can increase students engagement and keep them focused and on-task
Students can use avatars in their multimedia projects
Below are some very good iPad apps that you can use with students to create avatars. Here is the link to access and download the chart in Google Doc version.
"
"Their online identity is not completely separate from their real identity… students need to be aware that those actions online do reflect them as a person."
"Disposable Email Addresses (DEAs) are email addresses that are anonymous and have a very short life span. They are especially helpful to use on websites that require registration. Students can use them to create temporary accounts that they can dispose of very easily and without endangering their digital identity. As the Guardian noted "most DEAs are not particularly secure, so it is not advised to use these services to send sensitive information - rather, use them as a way to avoid giving away your own information in situations where you are obliged to do so.""
"So, how do we stretch ourselves, as educators, without losing our educational identity, or our minds for that matter? How can we improve without driving ourselves crazy, going numb, or unplugging completely?
"
"The Lock screen exists in between states, when your iPhone or iPad is no longer asleep, but is also not yet open and fully functional. It can protect your device from unauthorized access and actions by a simple slide-to-unlock gesture, by a 4 number pin-code, by a strong alpha-numeric password, or Apple's Touch ID fingerprint identity scanner. Yet the Lock screen can be functional as well. If you want to, you can access Notification Center and Control Center, the Camera, and Siri. On the iPhone, you can even make emergency calls. Yes, the Lock screen can be secure or it can be convenient, it's entirely up to you!"
E-commerce, gaming, and social networking sites are grabbing the maximum attention, where you knowingly, or sometimes even unknowingly submit your personal information. And, Internet perpetrators are taking advantage of the pervasive Internet, people's growing dependencies on the Web, and addiction thereof. Thus, what you share on the Web, and with whom you share is an area of concern.
"In this series I'm going to focus on ways that you can go above and beyond for your students, their families, and your professional identity. Once you've got your day to day responsibilities out of the way (lesson planning, assessment, classroom management, etc) there are things you can do and materials you can create that will really upgrade your overall instruction. This might be a reading list that pushes your students from GE into GT, or it might create ongoing activities that expand your pedagogical offerings past the standards and into genuine 21st century skills. In this post I'm going to discuss makerspaces, what they are, and why you should try and incorporate them into your instruction. "