This is your Teen on Screens

via the Huffington Post. Click to see full graphic.

Pediatricians say to limit tech time to 2 hours, and keep Internet out of bedrooms

Parents should limit kids’ tweeting and texting and keep smartphones and laptops out of bedrooms, according to the American Association of Pediatricians.

Read the full article at http://fluency21.com/blog/2013/11/04/doctors-prescribe-tech-limits-for-kids/

This seems like common sense, and I'm sure most parents would follow it. But sometimes it helps to get support from medical professionals when your children repeatedly tell you that you are the only parent in the world to make such unfair rules.

For Seniors- How to Migrate All Your Google Apps data

As this year's Senior class prepares to graduate and move on to bigger and better things, we want to make sure that they can take all their hard work with them to college or work. Most student data is stored in Google Apps for Education in the students.oregonsd.net domain.

Students can export their data directly from Google Apps (directions here), but there are also tools to automatically move all the contents of a Google Apps account to another Google account. For example, a student could move their documents, gmail, calendar items, and websites from student.sample@students.oregonsd.net  to a new personal account such as mynewaccount@gmail.com, or to their new university email address.

One tool to do this is Backupify's Migrator, available at https://www.backupify.com/free-tools/migrator-google-apps

Another is Google Takeout from the Data Liberation Front.

We (the OSD IT department) don't own these tools, so we really can't support them, but wanted to let you know they exist. Best wishes to the Seniors!

Frequent Questions About Student Devices in School

Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD, is a popular way for students to maintain access to computing resources during the school day. Oregon Schools have allowed students to bring computing devices to support their learning for several years, but it has accelerated with the availability of iPads and Chromebooks. 

The whole idea of bringing a computing device to school is very different than when most of us were in school, so there naturally are many questions about how this should work. We have prepared a list of Frequently Asked Questions and posted them on the district website at http://www.OregonSD.org/byod. 

How to choose good online passwords

Part of staying safe online is protecting your information. This means choosing and using strong passwords to keep the bad guys out. Below is a video explaining how to create (and remember!) strong passwords for all your accounts.

Parents can sign up for text alerts from Oregon School District

Parents and guardians are now able to sign up to receive text message (SMS) alerts from the Oregon School District.

To sign up for text messages, and to choose which type(s) of notifications to receive via text, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Campus Portal at http://www.OregonSD.org/portal. If you do not have a Campus Portal account, you can request one by sending an email to portal@oregonsd.net
2. On the left side of the Portal window, click on the Contact Preferences link.
3. In the contact preferences grid each row is for a phone number or email address. Each column is for a type of notification that you can receive, such as: Emergency, Attendance, General Notification or Priority Notification.
4. Select the "Text (SMS)" checkbox in the grid to indicate which phone number(s) should receive text messages, and for which types of notifications. I suggest selecting "Emergency" and "Priority Notification," since these are time-sensitive notices.
5. Click Save.

Please note that although there is no charge from the district for text messages, your cell phone provider may charge you for text (SMS) service. I hope you find this new service beneficial.

How Deeper Learning Contributes to Digital Learning

Without much comment, here is an infographic from Getting Smart about digital learning.

SnapChat - a headache for parents, and an opportunity for conversation

Facebook is old and stodgy, according to teens. The new cool thing for teens is SnapChat. Like many a "cool new thing" kids like, SnapChat makes us parents nervous, and for good reason. The idea is that it allows a user to send a picture to another user, and then that picture disappears after ten seconds. At least, that's the idea. In reality, anything you post or send electronically is never really gone. I think parents need to remind kids of that. You can use this article as an example.

Parents need to have an open dialogue with their children about what they are doing on their devices, and make very clear expectations. Disallowing them from using SnapChat is probably a good idea, but having a conversation with them about why they want to use it is an even better idea. Getting beyond the typical responses of "it's just cool- you wouldn't get it," or "my friends are doing it" is challenging, but beneficial. Encouraging a teenager to articulate the reasons they want to use it (or any app) may make them analyze their motivations differently.

Having this relationship with children and teens is the most important thing, so that we can help them develop the skill of thinking about the consequences of their decisions. This is harder than simply erasing SnapChat, but has more long-term benefits. After all, this isn't the first app/service/site to allow kids to do impulsive things that they'll later regret, and it won't be the last.

Good to Know: Protecting Your Data (and Yourself) on the Web

Whether you are a new or experienced Internet user, Google's "Good to Know" page is a great resource safe and responsible Internet use. You may want to use it to educate children about how their data is used, and how to safeguard it. It's broken into 4 main areas:

• Stay Safe online — good for teaching about strong passwords, the dangers that exist, such as phishing, malware, and scams and more
• Your Data on the Web — learn how you are tracked using "cookies" and IP addresses
• Your data on Google — good for teachings kids how to use a search engine properly, as well as making them  aware that Google (and other sites) collect data on users
• Manage Your Data — the best part of this section is "Me on the Web," which is a perfect starting place for students to learn about their "digital footprint"

An added bonus is the "jargon busters" section at the bottom of the page, which explains some technical terms. 

The direct URL is http://www.google.com/goodtoknow/