Digital Citizenship

The “Ugly List” scam is making its way around again.  How does it work? You get an Instagram notification saying you've been tagged in a post. The catch? The post is called "Ugly List 2016," and it was a friend who tagged you. How mean! 

In the notification, there's a link to see the full post. You click on it, and it leads to a page that appears to be the Instagram log in. You need to enter your username and password before you can see the "Ugly List," but don't fall for it! The form is fake. It is a way for scammers to steal usernames and passwords. Once scammers have your account info, they will hack your Instagram and tag your followers in new "Ugly List" posts, perpetuating the con and stealing more information.

Five years ago online classes were touted as a way to give disadvantaged students equal access to a quality education, but recent research from the Pew Research Center shows that the online learning model has not lived up to the hype. As an article in The Atlantic is titled, virtual classrooms can be as unequal as real ones. Two of the biggest barriers are a lack of digital skills and the lack of confidence in one’s own ability to find trustworthy information on the internet.

More teens are on YouTube than any other social network, according to research from the National Cyber Security Alliance and Microsoft. Their poll of 13-17-year-old internet users found that 91% say they use YouTube, compared to 66% who use Snapchat, 65% who use Instagram, and 61% who use Facebook. Their heavy use of the site is one of the reasons that YouTube stars have more influence over teen purchase intent than traditional TV and movie celebs. Interestingly, the second most-used platform was actually Gmail, with 75% of teens reporting they use the email app.

Victims of ransomware attacks should report such incidents to their local FBI office or the Internet Crime Complaint Center to allow the FBI to investigate and understand the threat, the agency wrote in a public service announcement recently. The announcement cites the reasons ransomware victims don't report incidents to law enforcement, and offers ways to reduce the risk of cyberattacks.

Are your kids too trusting of what they find online? It might be good to introduce them to the WWWDOT Framework. WWWDOT in an acronym for the factors to consider when evaluating a website as a possible source of information:

• Who wrote it and what credentials do they have?
• Why was it written?
• When was it written or updated?
• Does it help meet my needs?
• Organization of site
• To-do list for the future

For more information on using the framework see the article Evaluation Websites as Information Sources on the Edutopia website.

Are your kids too trusting of what they find online? It might be good to introduce them to the WWWDOT Framework. WWWDOT in an acronym for the factors to consider when evaluating a website as a possible source of information:

• Who wrote it and what credentials do they have?
• Why was it written?
• When was it written or updated?
• Does it help meet my needs?
• Organization of site
• To-do list for the future

For more information on using the framework see the article Evaluation Websites as Information Sources on the Edutopia website.

The Presidential election could be tough to talk about with early elementary kids because much of it will probably go over their heads, but that doesn’t mean they are not interested in what is going on. PBS KIDS has launched a website called PBS KIDS YOU CHOOSE to teach kids ages 6 to 8 about the Presidential election process in an entertaining and fun way, reminding them that even though they are unable to vote, their voice still matters. The site allows kids to “Meet the candidates” and learn fun and important facts about them, as well as collect trading cards of past presidents and their spouses. There are also videos featuring favorite PBS KIDS characters and new role models discussing democracy, elections, and other government related topics.

Older children from middle and high school (and grownups too) can turn to PBS LearningMedia’s new interactive Electoral Decoder, a scrubbable timeline of Presidential elections. Kids can run different scenarios to see what states a candidate must win in order to achieve to the key number of 270 electoral votes. The best part is that it is free and accessible to all. These recent additions to the larger PBS ELECTION CENTRAL initiative gets entire families and kids of all ages to be involved in the Presidential elections.

Audiobooks are gaining ground in education with more and more content available every day. Research shows that using audiobooks can actually help students read books above their reading level or learn new vocabulary, as well as build critical listening skills. As you look to build your own audiobook collections, check out this list of websites that offer free audiobook downloads. The Audio Publisher's Association also provides some suggestions with their 2016 Audie winners for best audiobooks, including “Echo” by Pam Muñoz Ryan for middle-grade readers, “Lair of Dreams: A Diviners Novel” by Libba Bray for Young Adults, and for children, “Little Shop of Monsters” by R.L. Stine and Marc Brown.

Is your child looking for someone to sit with during lunch? There's an IOS app for that. The Sit With Us mobile app was created by a student who spent a year eating alone and wanted to make sure everyone has someone to sit with during lunch. The app allows students to sign up as ambassadors and post open lunch tables to help reach out to other kids who have no one to sit with.

Twitter users will be able to squeeze more words into their tweets thanks to changes the social network plans launched in mid September, The Verge reported recently. The changes will exempt certain features from counting toward its 140-character limit, including media attachments such as photos, GIFs, videos and polls. To a lesser degree, the @names in tweet replies will also not be counted toward the limit.