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The communication culture of text messaging-part of the bigger blanket term "tech speak"-can have adverse long-term effects on students' grammar, according to statistics featured in the following infographic on Visal.ly.

"Wickr is a free app that provides: ·military-grade encryption of text, picture, audio and video messages ·sender-based control over who can read messages, where and for how long ·best available privacy, anonymity and secure file shredding features ·security that is simple to use"

mmm ... apparently this app has been around for some time - 2 years at least. Spoke to my son who works in the IT industry and he is very sceptical about it - since email is sent to a server, then deconstructed and sent as packets and then reconstructed on a server and then sent to a user - when does the message self-destruct? If it is only at the end point then the digital footprint is still there. Military grade encryption - what does this mean? There is no such thing as a free lunch on the Internet - I would be careful about what I send and certainly not trust something that is touted as "free" - there is always a cost! :) BC

"I took an informal poll of my 150 students at the beginning of the year, and 60-80% of my students don't even have a facebook. They connect with each other on Kik, an app that allows users to text each other without exchanging phone numbers. They use Snapchat, an app that allows users to send pictures that supposedly disappear forever after ten seconds. They use Whisper, an app that a user can "anonymously" tell their deepest secrets to a vast community of other secret sharers. They use Yik Yak, Vine, Tumblr, Twitter (do you know about subtweeting? you should.), Instagram, Oovoo, WhatsApp, Meerkat, and sometimes even dating apps, like Tinder."

"A new app allowing parents to look at their children's call history, text messages and internet use will soon launch in Australia. The app, called Teensafe, already claims 1 million users in the US. But Australian police are warning that while the threat to children from online predators is real, spy apps allowing parents to track their children's smartphone usage are not a 'silver bullet' and could breach trust."

"There are many ways that our kids can communicate now as the Internet continues to expand its collaborative/social applications. Many of us are encouraging the use of wikis, blogs, emails, discussion boards, and chats (text and video) for educational uses and are integrating them into our curriculum. But we know that the kids are also extensively using the Internet as a social meeting place. It's imperative that we are advocating acceptable manners for all communications. Commonly called "netiquette", there are a number of guidelines that we should be promoting in order to emphasize good online citizenship. "

Here's something to consider when writing school policy....Just keep the statements to 140 characters. Hey...why waste your texts!!

"Digital media often heighten young people's exposure to the global community and to peers with different cultural backgrounds. Such exposure increases the need for young people to recognise the social, cultural and historical influences that shape their own and others' understanding and learning. For example, they need to understand that the same actions may have different meanings in different cultures, and that many things which appear at first glance to be natural and neutral are in fact created by particular cultural and social understandings. Digital technologies, particularly online spaces, provide young people with opportunities for many new forms of interaction. Increasingly, these interactions are mediated by different modes of representation such as images and sounds. Being able to decode these multimodal texts requires an understanding of the social and cultural practices that surround their creation."

"Cyberbullying is a new version of an old problem that presents a thorny paradox: We can't equip our kids with the skills they need to function in a digital world without inadvertently equipping them to be cyberbullies. Many of the "best" cyberbullies tend to be among our most digitally literate young people. Anyone can send a hate text, but it takes some serious cyberchops to hack a website or a profile page and plaster it with shameful pictures, hurtful messages and false accusations. Advanced technology skills in the hands of a bully are analogous to advanced weaponry in the hands of a terrorist. The more skillfully they are deployed, the more damage they cause."

"ABC Pool is a social media site where you can share and engage with creative work and collaborate with the people who make it. It's a place to upload images, text, audio, and video. Anyone, any age, anywhere can contribute to Pool. Pool is run by the Australian public broadcaster and has a number of projects to which you can contribute independently or co-create with others. It's a place to meet collaborators, and Creative Commons licensing provides a way to share your work in a safe legal framework. All Pool members are asked to follow the guidelines and to report inappropriate items or comments."

Cyber bullying is a term used to describe covert, psychological bullying behaviours among mainly teenagers through email, chat rooms, mobile phones, text messages, mobile phone cameras and websites (Campbell 2005; Brown, Jackson & Cassidy�y2006). As a relatively new phenomenon, there is limited research on cyber bullying. The rise of cyber bullying is attributed primarily to increased adolescent access to the internet and mobile phones, facilitated by the anonymity provided by the internet.

In this technological age a plagiarism checker is essential for protecting your written work. A plagiarism checker benefits teachers, students, website owners and anyone else interested in protecting their writing. Our service guarantees that anything you write can be thoroughly checked by our plagiarism software to insure that your texts are unique.

Worry about information overload has become one of the drumbeats of our time. The world's books are being digitized, online magazines and newspapers and academic papers are steadily augmented by an endless stream of blog posts and Twitter feeds; and the gadgets to keep us participating in the digital deluge are more numerous and sophisticated. The total amount of information created on the world's electronic devices is expected to surpass the zettabyte mark this year (a barely conceivable 1 with 21 zeroes after it).

"Every day, you see how cyberbullying hurts students, disrupts classrooms, and impacts your school's culture. So how should you handle it? What are the right things to do and say? What can you do today that will help your students avoid this pitfall of our digital world? We created this free toolkit to help you take on those questions and take an effective stand against cyberbullying. So start here. Use it now. Rely on it to start your year off right. "

"The 20-year-old from Sydney's western suburbs is at the centre of Australia's first ''sexting'' case, after a schoolgirl sent a nude photo of herself to his mobile phone. The maximum penalty he faces is a two-year jail term."

This site, designed by Fuel Industries, includes three main components that are meant to be explored together. Videos: Each location -- Home, School, Mall -- includes several video shorts about a modern family's experience online. You determine which path the family members take at the critical decision point. Do you text that to your boyfriend? Do you purchase that ukulele? These shorts are just snapshots of more complicated issues. But, they all attempt to address a fundamental message of taking a moment to think before acting. Interactive Objects: As you view each video, you can collect interactive objects! An object opens up a quick game about the subject of the video. Once you collect the object, you can access it at anytime during your session. Messages: When you scroll down the site, you will find complementary messages targeted for each audience -- Students, Parents, Educators. These messages intend to strike a quick educational point. If you want to find out more about the subject, just click the link below the message. This will open up a pop-up with tips, advice, and links to partner resources. Make sure to check out the resources as linked in the educators' and parents' sections of the site! These resources point to curriculum and advice provided by Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely, and National Consumers League.

ThinkB4U is a "choose your own adventure" style interactive learning site designed to get everyone -- from parents to students to teachers -- thinking about how to use the Internet safely and responsibly.