As you gear up for the back-to-school season, check out some of Common Sense Media’s favorite Homework Help apps for kids! These mobile apps keep reference materials at kids’ fingertips and present topics in a visually appealing or interactive way.
Geo Walk HD – 3D World Fact Book (2011)
Tags: Apps, Education, Homework, Parents, Teachers
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Given advances in wireless technology, parents now have access to many exciting tools, such as Verizon’s Family Locator service, that can help them keep tabs on their child’s wireless device as they head home from school or to a friend’s house. There are also many positive examples of location-based technologies aiding in the rescue of kidnapping victims or lost drivers.
Location information is often obtained using the GPS capabilities now included in most cell phones. This location information can be used by applications (apps) and services on a cell phone such as Verizon’s Family Locator, social networking apps like Foursquare or Facebook Places, and navigation programs such as VZ Navigator and Google Maps. Customers are usually required to sign up for or purchase these apps and services.
If you want to prevent apps and services from using GPS to determine your cell phone’s location, you can typicall
Tags: Advice, GPS, Location-based services, settings
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Check out Common Sense Media’s article and video below about kid’s digital lives. Common Sense Media asserts that “Parents have lost control of the flow of information to our kids who see too much, too soon. “ What do you think? Do kids see too much, too soon as a result of digital technology?
5 Essential Facts of Digital Life
Kids are the creators. It’s all about participating, communicating, making music, images, videos, and posting written content. And the content that’s there? Kids must be able to know if it’s credible or not. Everything happens in front of a vast, invisible, and often anonymous audience. Once something is out there, it doesn’t goTags: Connected culture, Digital Life, Kids, Online Safety, Parenting, Parenting Advice
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Our kids are growing up in public
When we were growing up, a permanent record was something your school kept. Now, our kids create lasting records of their lives whenever they post something online. In a world where anything can be copied, pasted, altered and distributed in the blink of an eye to a vast invisible audience, kids must understand that they hold the key to what kind of reputation they create for themselves.
Help kids help themselvesAs parents, it’s up to us to help our kids understand the consequences of their actions and prepare them for the fact that the user name “FatGreenWizard” — which might have been cute in 5th grade — won’t be so adorable at that first job interview. We have to help them think long
Tags: Kids, Online Privacy, Online Safety, parent advice
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Verizon had a strong presence at the Family Online Safety Institute’s 4th Annual Conference, “Internet Freedom, Safety & Citizenship: A Global Call to Action.” This year’s conference included 400 participants, 90 speakers and 30 exhibitors!
Aside from Verizon’s role as a co-sponsor of this extraordinary event, Verizon Wireless’ West Area President, Tami Erwin, delivered an inspiring keynote address, and Jack McArtney represented Verizon on the panel “Tech Talk: the latest tools to empower and protect.” In his opening remarks, Stephen Balkam, CEO of FOSI, even mentioned that he uses Verizon Wireless Usage Controls on his daughter’s cell phone!
Tags: cyberbullying, FOSI Conference, Mobile Phones, Online Safety, parental controls, Social Networking, Teens
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Times have changed. We live in an increasingly connected culture in which younger generations are becoming more and more comfortable sharing personal and private information online. In an effort to educate teens about how to be smart about what they post and share online, Verizon has joined Ad Council’s new collaborative initiative, the Internet Safety Coalition. This unprecedented effort unites more than 40 industry leaders in helping to encourage teens to act responsibly online.
Verizon, along with other organizations such as Google, Facebook, Common Sense Media, MTV Networks, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, have developed a single and clear teen-targeted message: Beware What You Share. The message informs teens that posting isn
Tags: Ad Council, Internet Safety Coalition, Parents, Posting Private Information, Social Networking, Teens
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It’s always a good time to re-visit the subject of online privacy with your kids. Read the Common Sense Media article below for advice on how to talk to your kids about their behavior and activities online. Help them understand that the digital footprints they leave now could be permanent.
It’s a culture of sharing
Our kids live in a culture of sharing that has forever changed the concept of privacy. In a world where everyone is connected and anything created can get copied, pasted, and sent to thousands of people in a heartbeat, privacy starts to mean something different than simply guarding personal or private information. Each time your child fills out a profile witho
Tags: Advice, Online Privacy, Parents, Posting, Privacy, Privacy Settings, Texting
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As part of our recognition of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we wanted to bring you advice to help your kids keep the family computer secure. Check out the article and video below from Common Sense Media. This article and video give great real-life examples about how kids’ security can be compromised online.
Tags: Cybersecurity
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Internet Safety and You is an interactive online resource aimed at helping students and families become safe and responsible Internet users. Featuring Garfield the cat and his friends, kids and teens work through four learning modules that address online safety, cyberbullying, forms of media, and distinguishing fact from opinion. They learn important concepts through an engaging narrative-based animated segment. Then they collaborate with Garfield and his friends for guided practice. Finally, they apply what they have learned through interactive challenges. Additional resources for parents and teachers ensure that kids and teens have the additional support they need.
The site also features an online Safety Teacher’s Guide with the following objectives:
Tags: Garfield, Internet Safety, Online Safety, Online Safety Activities, Online Safety Curriculum, Teacher Guide to Online Safety
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The Verizon Foundation and Frontline developed a series of digital workshops for parents. This series of interactive resources will help parents deepen their knowledge of how digital technology is transforming our society and to gain insights into understanding, analyzing and participating in our technology-infused world.
The digital workshops include activities for adults to learn how to manage their family’s media usage, to become a better caregiver to the “digital natives” in their lives, to assess the impact of technology in education, and to explore the effects of multitasking on our brains and much more.
The second digital workshop in this seri
Tags: Digital Nation
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