The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children id currently hosting a campaign called Take25. The premise of the campaign is that if everyone takes 25 minutes to engage with children about staying safe while online.

The idea to make it 25 minutes was born from the fact that May 25th is National Missing Children Day. While this national awareness day was created in 1983, but the Take 25 campaign was launched in 2007.  The first year in existence saw an incredible amount of engagement. Throughout the country, there were 375 events held promoting child safety.  Since then the initiative has grown exponentially.  In 2012 there were over 11,000 events nationally and 2013 plans to be the most successful year yet.

The NCMEC has made it very easy for everyone to get involved with the Take25 campaign.  If you want to become part of the initiative you can do any of the following:

• Make A Pledge: You can pledge to spend 25 minutes speaking with a child about safety issues.  To do this, you can visit The Pledge Site.  Your 25 minutes will be added to the total minutes pledged and to the goal of 5,000 hours.  To make it easy for everyone to be successful in their efforts, they have provided tips and topics to start the conversation.

• Host an Event: If you have the time to do so, you can host a Take25 Campaign event. This can be any event aimed at providing safety resources for children or helping children to learn about staying safe.  The Take 25 website even has a list of ideas for your event and resources to help you plan and carry out your event. You can access this information here.

• Attend an Event: If you don’t have time to plan and host your own event, you can still help the initiative be successful by attending an event in your area. These events are sure to be full of helpful information for parents, teachers, community leaders and children.  You can find an event near you by visiting the Take 25 event list.

Even if you are unable to take part in any of the above activities, you can still help with the success of the initiative by helping to spread the word. You can tell a friend or family member about the campaign and send them to www.take25.org for more information.  If you are on social media, you can connect with Take 25 on Twitter (@iTake25 ), their Facebook page or even on Instagram (iTake25).  The NCMEC really has made it easy for you to get involved in the issue of child safety through this event and we hope you will take the time to participate and help our children stay safe!

Nikki Junker is Social Media Coordinator and Victim Advisor at The Identity Theft Resource Center. She specializes in Identity Theft on social networks and smartphones. She enjoys working one on one with victims of identity theft as well as researching and writing about preventative measures for consumers.

In today’s society, we have an app for our emails, an app for cooking recipes, an app to find restaurants, an app to take pictures, and much more. Children, and even young children, are increasingly using apps on their tablets, smartphones, and other digital devices.

So what does this mean for you as a parent?

First, you must understand how to safeguard your child’s personal information. Many apps, including ones specifically targeting children, often require the user to have some type of account.   The FTC recently released a new infographic explaining what kid’s apps might not be telling you.

For example:
1.    Apps might collect and share personal info
2.    Apps might let your kids spend real money –even if the app is free
3.    Apps might include ads
4.    Apps might link to social media

To make sure the app is age appropriate, the FTC recommends that you:
• Download and play the app with your children
• Talk to you kids about your rules for using apps
• Turn off Wi-Fi and data services to prevent unwanted downloading
• Search for outside reviewers of the app from sources that you respect

Mobile apps aren’t necessarily good or bad. Depending on how they are used they can be great productivity tools, or simple time distracters. Parents should always be involved with what their children are doing, and mobile usage is no different.  Because various apps offer a spectrum of good and bad content, you need to actively establish guidelines for your family.

iKeepSafe has an acronym, BE a PRO, which helps all parents teach their children how they can become responsible, ethical digital citizens that have healthy online relations. Each of the six BE a PRO pillars, Balance, Ethics, Privacy, Reputation, Relationships and Online Security, can help guide your decisions regarding what is considered age appropriate.

The needs of each child are different, but as their parent, no one knows them better. Talk with your child frequently about appropriate behavior. We know from the public health model that youth respond best to messages that are both optimistic and come from someone that they trust.

Children also need to understand that whether it is on an application, or on the computer, they should always think before they act. Everything they do online contributes to their digital footprint. Even the pictures that “disappear” after ten seconds on the popular Snapchat app are actually permanent and can be retrieved. Be sure to encourage your children to use apps and the internet responsibly and to create positive reputations for themselves.

For more information and guidance about how to BE a PRO parent online go to iKeepSafe.org.

Ethan Parry is the Director of Public Relations for the Internet Keep Safe Coalition, an organization that gives parents, educators, and policymakers the information and tools that empower them to teach children the safe and healthy use of technology and the internet.

The world is a big place, one that is filled with over 7 billion people. iKeepSafe has an acronym, BE a PRO, which helps all parents everywhere prepare their children to be ethical, responsible, and resilient digital citizens. One of the Rs stands for relationships.

Technology can be used for both good and bad when it comes to forming relationships. Unfortunately, the internet has allowed for bullying on the playground to follow a child home.  Even though cyberbullying exists, the internet can still be used in positive ways.  According to a recent study, 70% percent of people worldwide say that the internet has improved their relationships.

When I was in elementary school, I participated in the Flat Stanley Project. The basic purpose of this project is to bring students together with other students from across the world. Students create and send out “flat” people and watch as they embark on their own journeys as they move from person to person.  I remember sending my first Flat Stanley to my friend who lived in Colorado at the time. He had lived most of his life in Germany, so upon receiving Flat Stanley, he sent him over to one of his friends in Germany. Flat Stanley traveled the world, and as a youngster, I thoroughly enjoyed imagining all the adventures that he was having.

Technology is dynamically changing the classroom environment. Kids are bringing laptops, tablets, and other devices to school. Teachers are experimenting with new teaching methods, like the flipped learning method where students learn at home and do homework at school. Tools, such as Skype in the Classroom, allow students to actually talk to their pen pals, hold interactive lessons, and the possibilities go on.

Here are just some of the ideas of how you could video conferencing technology to improve the learning experience:

•    Guest speakers
•    Engage in Classroom-to-Classroom dialogue, projects, etc.
•    Learn and practice foreign languages with others
•    Virtual Fieldtrips
•    Professional Development- Sharing ideas, lessons and units with other teachers (locally and internationally)

Reputation is only one of the six pillars that children need to know in order to be a successful global, digital citizen. To learn more about BE a PRO and how you can incorporate into you classroom, home, and everyday life visit www.ikeepsafe.org/be-a-pro/info/.

How has technology enhanced your relationships with others? How might these same technologies hurt your relationships?

Ethan Parry is the Director of Public Relations for the Internet Keep Safe Coalition, an organization that gives parents, educators, and policymakers the information and tools that empower them to teach children the safe and healthy use of technology and the internet.

Even two years ago I found that many schools and organizations failed to confront cyberbullying, with the belief that they couldn’t do much about it, or even doubting the serious implications it has. As with all things technology-related, however, I’m seeing and hearing about a new trend in cyberbullying: accidental cyberbullying.

Apps like Instagram and sites like ask.fm are all the rage these days amongst kids; out with the complex apps and sites like Facebook, and in with the simple, easy-to-manage apps and sites such as Twitter. While these outlets allow its users to post pictures with simple captions, or post short thoughts, the emerging trend within a lot of social media is user-driven contests. You may have heard them referred to as “beauty contests” or “pop[ularity] contests,”and they are driving entire school systems and families to the brink.

In the past few months, the majority of schools that I have visited (early middle school through high school), and the majority of the ones I’ve been contacted by to schedule a future visit have asked me to address these contests, or survey sites like ask.fm.

There are many different ways they work, but here is generally how they go: on sites like Instagram: a user will post a collage of 4 classmates’ pictures and ask their followers to tag which person they think is the most attractive. The person with the most votes will win the “beauty pageant”, while the other 3 are considered the losers. On survey sites like ask.fm, users can anonymously set up an open-ended survey, asking things like “who do you think is more popular” and other users can anonymously answer back.

As you can imagine, these can also go from G rated questions (i.e. which sport do you like best) to R or X rated very quickly. One school highschool I visited recently had a major issue with a contest asking who was the most promiscuous in the school, prompting two students to drop out of that school as a result of what was said about them.

While these nasty contests and surveys are clearly an issue, I believe that the bigger issue is the accidental cyberbullying that goes along with this latest trend. That is, the users who set these things up, or who participate in them, not really meaning to hurt anyone’s feelings. An 8th grader recent told me last week that she set up a beauty pageant on Instagram to boost her friend’s confidence. She asked her other friends to vote for her in this contest she made, because she knew her friend had been feeling bad about herself and felt that winning this contest would make her feel better. In the process, however, three other girls were extremely hurt by not being voted as the “winner,” prompting a school-wide investigation and call to end such contests.

When I ask students if these contests or surveys are cyberbullying, the majority of them say no. Due to the popularity of things such as beauty pageants and survey sites like ask.fm, it’s my belief that kids often don’t comprehend the unintended consequences that come along with them. I think as parents and educators we should do everything possible to discourage and prohibit such contests, and promote the other positive uses of these apps and sites.

Former Director of Internet Safety for the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and Intelligence Analyst for the Massachusetts State Police, Katie LeClerc Greer travels the country educating students, parents, administrators and law enforcement officers about technology and digital responsibility/safety. You can learn more about Katie at: www.klgreer.com

An unofficial survey of the eighth graders in my Cyber Civics class at Journey School yielded even worse news for Facebook. During a project that involved using social media, I asked how the students how many of them used Facebook and not a single hand was raised. Instagram? Every hand shot up. Other social networks of choice included Snapchat, Vine, and Kik Messenger.

If none of these apps sound familiar to you, you’re not alone. Most parents (and educators) are largely unaware of what their kids are doing on their digital devices, and that’s too bad because research shows that kids look to their parents more than any other source to learn how to conduct their online lives. It’s hard to be a good role model when you don’t know what it is you are modeling.

We hope that this video: “What Kids are (Really) Doing Online” will help. It’s a key element of iKeepSafe’s BE a PRO workshops to improve family literacy sponsored by Verizon Wireless and the California School Library Association (CSLA).

The first phase rollout, called “BE a PRO Mobile: Connect with Confidence” is currently being introduced to a few select California schools. These workshops help bridge the generational gap many families are experiencing with technology by providing digital literacy and citizenship education. If you live near Monte Vista Elementary in the Santa Ana area, we will be there May 21st at 8:15 a.m. and at 6 p.m. If you live in Long Beach, we will be at both Stanford Middle School and Long Beach Poly High the 29th at 6:00 p.m.

In addition to being research-based, this video has also been kid-approved. The narrator is not a professional voice actress but an actual device-using, 14-year old (full disclosure: my daughter) whose agent (my other daughter) insisted that her participation in this project be contingent upon full script-approval. In other words, what you will learn about “What Kids Are (Really) Doing Online” comes directly from the source.

If you have any questions after watching, please visit the NewsWise section of the CyberWise website for current news articles and research about what kids are up to online. Good luck.

Diana Graber, who has an M.A. in Media Psychology and Social Change, is Co-Founder of CyberWise, a Digital Hub that helps busy adults understand and use digital tools. Diana also teaches CyberCivics at Journey School in Aliso Viejo, CA, and is Adjunct Faculty of the new Media Psychology program at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology.

References:

Crook, Jordan (Apr. 10, 2013). Facebook still reigns supreme with teens, but social media interest dwindling. Tech Crunch.
http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/10/facebook-still-reigns-supreme-with-teens-but-social-media-interest-dwindling/
Lenhart, A., et al (Nov. 9, 2011). Teens, kindness and cruelty on social media networks. Pew Internet. http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Teens-and-social-media/Part-4/Online-safety-and-parent-involvement.aspx

Every year Faux Paw the Techno Cat makes her journey to the University of Maryland for their Maryland Day event. The University invited the 105,000 participants who attended to “explore our world of fearless ideas.”

“Maryland Day is a terrific opportunity for families to experience the joys of discovery, as they peek over the shoulders of great researchers and teachers,” says University of Maryland President Wallace Loh. “Learning should always be this much fun.”

With the help of the Division of Information Technology and the Maryland Cybersecurity Center (MC2), Faux Paw taught visitors how to protect personal information, how to create powerful passwords and how they can stay safe online.

“Maryland Day wouldn’t be the same without a visit from Faux Paw the Techno Cat. Her message of online safety is welcomed by kids of all ages.” Gerry Sneeringer, Director of Security & Policy, University of Maryland Division of Information Technology.

For more information about Faux Paw the Techno Cat, visit: http://www.ikeepsafe.org/youth/fauxpaw/. To order Faux Paw books, visit: www.brandsawonline.com/ikeepsafe.

Ethan Parry is the Director of Public Relations for the Internet Keep Safe Coalition, an organization that gives parents, educators, and policymakers the information and tools that empower them to teach children the safe and healthy use of technology and the internet.

Thoughts of summer may seem premature to many but, out west, periods of warm weather often blur the line between seasons and remind us that summer is just around the corner.  For students and school staff members, preparing for summer used to mean getting ready to say goodbye to friends, teachers, and colleagues; however, with today’s technology, this is likely no longer the case for many.

Since technology now has the potential to keep people connected even during the summer break, it is important that students, parents, and teachers enter the summer with clear guidelines for using technology and maintaining appropriate summer-time boundaries.  The below guidelines may help reduce trouble that could surface during summer (or throughout the school year) when students and staff have more free time on their hands.

1.    Discuss and establish expectations before summer. Just as summer preparations often involve returning to the garden, locating the swimsuit, and planning a vacation, now is the optimal time to discuss expectations for student-student and student-staff communications during the summer.  What are considered appropriate and inappropriate behaviors?  Which applications will your child be permitted to use?  How much time should your child devote to technology use each day, and during what hours?  What are the black and white rules which may have legal consequences if violated (e.g., impersonation, sexting, bullying, hacking, etc.)?  Is it a good idea for staff members to be communicating online with students?

2.    Be a positive example. If you want your child or student to use technology for positive purposes, then model appropriate communications through your own online communications.  When using social media, for example, refrain from engaging in online rants, posting putdowns, and promoting sexually explicit or discriminatory comments and images.  When you encounter inappropriate communications, discuss the impact of such communications with your child, if appropriate.

3.    Avoid secret communications. Whether through instant messaging, texts, or social media, communications between two or more friends or between a student and teacher should not be secret.  As a parent of school-aged children, it is your business and obligation to know with whom your children are communicating.  Communications made through today’s technology are not akin to yesterday’s diary, which was incapable of “going viral.”  If you are a staff member, you should generally not be communicating with students during the summer.  If you must use technology to communicate about a legitimate school-related topic, however, make sure you communicate during reasonable business hours and that you involve parents in your communications.  Your career and reputation may depend upon such precautions.

4.    Maintain professional standards. Summer break does not mean that staff members can abandon their professional standards.  At least one state appellate court has found that a teacher’s off-duty online conduct “surely would have washed over into . . . [the teacher’s] professional life and interfered with his ability to serve as a role model.”  (San Diego Unified School District v. Commission on Professional Competence (Lampedusa) (2011) 194 Cal. App. 4th 1454.)  While it may seem unfair to hold teachers to a higher standard, they are role models and should behave accordingly, even when communicating online and while taking a well-deserved break from school.

5.    Maintain personal standards and manage your reputation. Teachers are not the only ones whose professional and personal lives can be hampered by inappropriate online conduct which occurs when off-duty.  Even during the summer, students should be diligent about maintaining high personal standards and managing their reputations.  To this end, students should remember that “private” communications have a great potential to embarrass and become public.

As you wrap up this school year and prepare for the summer, consider these guidelines and the role technology will have during your summer break.  Then, take proactive steps to protect your student and yourself.  A little planning will go a long way when it comes to technology use this summer.

Penelope Glover is a Senior Associate with Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo.  She is a member of the firm’s Education Law Practice Group and the leader of the Education Law Technology Group.  Ms. Glover represents public school districts, county offices of education, community colleges, and universities throughout California in the areas of technology, human resources, and student discipline.

Sometimes, we share too much information online.  At the time of this story, it had not been proven the killer saw her Twitter feed; but announcing you’re home alone to the general public is not a good idea.

Like the reporter in this story, I searched on Twitter for the phrase “I’m home alone” and found tweets from young and old alike.

Sadly, the murder case is an extreme example of what could happen if you share too much information online. But even less extreme consequences aren’t worth it. Other consequences of information oversharing could include home burglary while on vacation or identity thieves taking your identity because you posted your birthdate, address, and cellphone number on Facebook.

It’s called the “World Wide Web” for a reason—it’s worldwide.

What should a parent do?

Talk with your kids about the problem of sharing too much online.
Consider getting a parental controls software solution to help you monitor what your teens are saying on social network sites.  At Top Ten Reviews, check out the list of products to help monitor a child’s Facebook use.
And, as one social media expert said: Parents should drill into their child’s mind that when they post on social media, they should avoid revealing the three W’s.  Those stand for who they are with, where they are going, and when they will arrive.

These three W’s are the same details parents insist on having in order to find a child if something goes wrong. So it should be no surprise that a child should not share this information online…with strangers.

Russ Warner is President & CEO of ContentWatch, maker of the top-rated desktop and mobile web filter Net Nanny (www.netnanny.com). He is used as an expert source in the national press on a regular basis and speaks regularly on the topic of Internet Safety. Warner was most recently asked to speak at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on what parents can do to help their children navigate the digital age. Under Warner’s leadership, ContentWatch leads an ongoing Internet safety campaign and has conducted seminars for the Utah Coalition Against Pornography, and numerous schools.

“We are grateful for your tireless determination to infuse digital literacy in our communities with remarkable passion and drive. Bringing this program to CSLA is our way of thanking Teacher-librarians for your expertise in digital literacy and being the ‘unsung heroes’ of education.”

Glen Warren, nominee for Teacher of the County, who led the presentation, also shared some of the resources that are available for parents to help their children stay academically smart, digitally sharp and have fun this summer.

Some of the tweets from the event:

Verizon Executives Jay Jaffin, Paul Garcia, and Dave Thatcher were also in attendance. The BE a PRO Mobile: Connect with Confidence workshops are being held in select California schools this spring.

Ethan Parry is the Director of Public Relations for the Internet Keep Safe Coalition, an organization that gives parents, educators, and policymakers the information and tools that empower them to teach children the safe and healthy use of technology and the internet.