Flickr: Hannahgirl

Bullying is an age-old problem that has plagued countless kids and ruined what could otherwise be a transformational school experience for them, replacing the love of learning with fear of humiliation. Though tactics may not have changed, the tools have, and technology is the most current smoking gun.

But parents and kids are not powerless. As much as technology can be used as a weapon, it can also be used as a powerful resource of information, garnering support among peers, and putting an end to where the bad behavior begins.

Nearly one-third of teens have been targets of cyber-bullying, according to a study released today by the Chicago youth-market research firm TRU, and in the wake of Tyler Clementi’s suicide, the statistic takes on that much more relevance.

Though there’s valid reason to be alarmed, a great article by the Christian Science Monitor’s Stacy Teicher Khadaroo about the subject gives us some much-needed context about what’s already being done now and what parents can do to help: namely, empower kids to set boundaries and stop malicious actions before they escalate.

When it comes to safety online, young people’s main “knowledge gap” relates to “setting ground rules of what’s acceptable behavior … and how that technology may be used against them … where they could be blackmailed or cyberbullied,” says Richard Harrison, lead mentor for the Safe and Secure Online program, which enlists online security experts to volunteer in schools.

WHAT’S BEING DONE

Grabbing teens’ attention right where it naturally lives, MTV’s website A Thin Line asks: “Do you have digital drama?” The guides to the answers are provided by teen celebs: rapper Asher Roth representing boys or actress Michelle Trachtenberg representing girls.

Questions vary from how they feel about incessant instant messages from boyfriends/girlfriends (“It’s proof of how much he loves you” or “It’s like you’re being stalked”); how to deal with someone who’s making accusations and insults online (“Defriend them, block them, notify online service provider, tell a parent, teacher or authorities you’re being harassed online”); to how to respond to salacious photos (“delete,” “keep” or “forward”).

The blurry line between harassment and attention is further explored by juxtaposing ideas: insult/injury; him/the whole school; love/abuse; this moment/forever; curious/controlling; words/wounds.

Tapping into youths’ facility of sharing information, the site invites users to discuss tricky situations they’ve encountered, and how they reacted.

MTV also launched its “Love is Louder” campaign soliciting videos that show examples of love and support.

Teicher Khadaroo also points out that both TV personalities Dr. Phil and Anderson Cooper have dedicated entire shows to the subject.

And as part of its public information effort during October’s National Cyber Security Awareness Month, organizations like Stay Safe Online provide a comprehensive list of actions parents and consumers can take.

With so much attention from media and celebrities spotlighting the problem, what I’d love to see next year is a study that shows cyber-bullying incidents dropping. Now that would be newsworthy.

Recruiting qualified educators, and supporting, elevating, and giving incentives to teachers are his top priorities.

Anticipating that 1 million baby-boom generation teachers will be retiring in the next few years, Duncan announced the launch of Teach.gov, a full-scale national campaign on the part of the federal government to recruit teachers.

“This is about a call to service… Our ability to attract and retain teachers will shape the future of education in the next 25 to 30 years,” he said to Brokaw. “If you want to have an impact, this is the civil rights issue of our generation. I’m very optimistic because we know what works. We are the answers: Great teachers, great principals, great schools will strengthen our economy and give children the chance to fulfill their potential. If young kids can help us to fight for social justice, it’ll last for generations to come.”

According to Duncan, the site lists 2,000 teaching job openings as of today, and the department will be going around the country to recruit freshmen, sophomores, and seniors from colleges and universities.

Duncan also spoke on a number of different topics to journalists. Here’s a roundup of themes he touched on.

On What It Takes to be an Effective Teacher:

“It’s tough work. You need courage, tenacity, and have to believe in your heart that every student can learn. It’s the hardest professions that it exists. Great teachers are like Picasso and Michelangelo, inspiring students. It’s amazing to watch. It takes intellectual [knowledge] of the content. At the end of the day, the most important thing it takes is passion… And it takes time – there will be days when you actually take a step back, you cry and figure out what you did that… there’ll be a child who does phenomenally well, and mom would get beaten at home at night. Then you have to help the child deal with the sadness at home. You have to stay with this for the long haul.”

On the Teaching Profession:

“We have to elevate the status of a teacher. It’s a huge part of the solution. Countries that outperform us – Finland, South Korea – they’re getting the best and brightest going into education. In five years, I want to have best in the world. That’s my goal.”

On Teacher Layoffs:

“It’s tough right now, but we have to look over the horizon. We need to pay teachers more, and great teachers more on top of that. For those who are volunteering to go work in rural or urban areas, new math and science teachers, special education teachers. Anywhere we have more need. We have to reward excellence. In math and science, we’re usually around 21^st or 25^th. We have to pay math and science teachers more money — another $5000 or $10,000 a year – to make it better.”

On Teacher Incentives:

“Teach Grants offer $4,000 a year that can be applied to undergrad tuition, if they work in poor schools. And they can take off $16,000 from tuition. And we’ve increased incentives by $60 billion. There’s the Income-Based Repayment program, where after 10 years of public service, including teaching, all your college debt is gone.”

On Parental Involvement:

“The parental piece is huge. Parents are children’s first teachers and most important teachers. If parents aren’t part of the solution, we’ll never get to where we need to get as a country. The Department of Education has to change, and this is where we under-invested. We’re looking to double the investment to $270 million, investing in great programs to make difference. Great things will happen.”

On School as Community Center:

“For kids who go to underperforming schools, parents are sometimes working two jobs. [For those families,} academic enrichment should be at the heart of every school, after school. If we want parents to be engaged, we have to open up our doors. They have to have libraries, gyms, pools, rec center. Those things don’t belong to me or to schools, they belong to the community. Our schools have to be the heart of the neighborhood.”

On Teacher Support and Development:

“Teachers don’t get enough support or mentoring they need. They struggle with classroom management skills. Those master and mentor teachers helping them through rough days is hugely important. We have to build real career ladders. Teaching is a craft – it takes years to develop. So we can’t let those young teachers burnout in the first few years. Teachers have been beaten down, but they used to be revered. They have to be treated like doctors – they’re doing the most important work in our society. We have to elevate the profession.”

Flickr: FotoChronicle

By Katie Stansberry

According to an article that appeared in Friday’s Wall Street Journal, popular Web sites aimed at children, including sites featuring educational games and hosting social networks for kids, install more tracking technologies on personal computers than the top Web sites geared toward adults. About 30% more to be exact. The 50 kid-oriented sites examined by the editors installed a total of 4,123 pieces of tracking technology on a test computer.

These tracking devices, referred to as “cookies” and “beacons” are used for a variety of reasons, such as keeping individuals logged in to a network and remembering a player’s spot in a game. One of the most common reasons that sites, or third party advertisers, download tracking devices onto computers is to monitor activities to build a user profile. For advertisers targeting the elusive and often fickle young adult market, information on how young people are using the Internet can be extremely valuable.

For example, Google Ad Preferences accurately predicted over a dozen pastimes and hobbies of a fifth grade girl featured in the article. The ability to target young people based on personal interest makes it possible for advertisers to drastically increase the effectiveness of their ads.

Google knows more about me than many of my closest friends. It knows my shopping and reading habits, my procrastination tools, the toy preferences of my toddler, and my weakness for reality television gossip. However, I believe that I trade a certain degree of privacy for the wealth of information and entertainment afforded by the Web sites I visit and applications I use.

Sites that automatically download cookies rarely announce their intent to place tracking devices on a user’s computer. Plus, how many adolescent Web users actually read a site’s fine print? I hardly think that an elementary school student is in the position to decide how much of their privacy they are willing to compromise in exchange for online entertainment.

The good news is that changing a browser’s security settings to prevent sites from downloading tracking devices is a fairly easy and quick fix. Also, it’s a good idea to periodically purge your computer of cookies and beacons. Click here for a guide to clearing your machine of unwanted tracking devices.

[This post also appeared on ISTEConnects]

Flickr: House of Sims

With recent news of preschool students being outfitted with tracking devices in Richmond, Calif., schoolbus riders being scanned on the bus in Chicago, and New Caanan public schools considering placing radio frequency strips on students, questions are surfacing about best practices, as well as broader cultural and safety implications.

GPS tracking systems for kids have traditionally been used under the purview of parents, but now more schools are using the devices for a number of reasons: curbing truancy; tracking young children (especially in busy preschools and elementary schools); placing students during emergencies; monitoring those coming in and out of school; and saving time when it comes to roll call.

But there could be downsides, too. Teachers and caretakers could rely too heavily on the devices, which would be useless if they were broken, lost, or taken off by students.

And there’s the matter of privacy. To what extent should kids be monitored during and after school hours? Do they have the same rights as adults negotiating their daily lives?

In most metropolitan cities, streets are monitored by video cameras 24 hours a day, as are public and private buildings. But there’s a big difference between monitoring a space and placing a tracking device on a person.

What’s your opinion on the topic? Do you have any experience with using tracking devices at school or at home? Weigh in with your comments.