Digital Devices

To ensure your network can handle family members using it for work and school at the same time, take a look at this article for tips before your family’s usage gets heavy. Place your router in a central location and set it up for both 2.4 and 5 GHz channels. If you're still experiencing lag, it may be time for an upgraded router.

According to a study by Rutgers University, the fact that kids can so easily find information online is  hurting students' long-term retention and even resulting in lower grades on exams. During the most recent two years of the study, when students were asked how they did their homework, students who benefitted from homework reported generating their own answers and students who reported copying the answers from another source did not see the same retention of information. Of course, this calls into question the kinds of queries that are part of homework. If students are able to just plug in an answer, and are not being asked to do any critical thinking about the content or context, then it probably does make the information fairly forgettable. Something to think about as you help kids with virtual learning this school year.

Teachers, students and parents in remote learning environments have plenty to juggle -- including cybersecurity. Ryan Cloutier of SecurityStudio outlines three steps everyone can take to create a more cybersecure learning environment including how to know your personal risk, how to understand and avoid scams and how to protect personal digital devices.

Although schools across the country are varying in their approach to safety during the pandemic, many colleges campuses are still active. With the addition of new “touchless” technologies, concerns about facial recognition software continue to come up. A study from the University of Michigan, confirmed the noting that facial recognition technology has the potential to display racism and other prejudice, as the facial recognition is less accurate for people of color, children, women and other groups

Kidsay, a market research firm specializing in brand engagement for kids, tweens and teens, has a new report entitled Devices and Digital Engagement: The Impact of COVID-19 (So Far) on Device Use of Kids, Tweens and Teens that you can access for free if you sign up. Some takeaways include that smartphone use (and ownership) is on the rise, especially in the 5-to-7-year-old demographic and that 74% of tweens and teens say that they are using their favorite devices more often during COVID that they were pre-COVID. Predictions for the future in the report include: eSports will continue to grow its youth base, animation will become even more prominent in kid-centered content (since it does not require filming on location the way live action does), and TikTok and Instagram will continue to rise since they deliver the connection and content kids seek. Kidsay also says that in the near term, kids will continue to have an unprecedented amount of free time, causing increased parental concern for the amount of time they spend on their devices.

About 17 million school-age children -- including one-third of students in Black, Latino and American Indian/Alaska Native households -- do not have at-home Internet access, and 7.3 million lack access to a computer at home, according to an analysis from the Urban League, UnidosUS, the National Indian Education Association and the Alliance for Excellent Education. The groups are calling for $6.8 billion from the federal E-rate program to be directed to close the "homework gap."

Families are expecting to spend more on back-to-school shopping this year, partly because of e-learning tech needs spurred by the pandemic, a survey finds. Laptops, tablets, speakers and headphones are likely to be big sellers, with the average K-12 family expected to spend nearly $800.

Now that President Trump and Secretary of State have both threatened to ban the video app, TikTok, for its possible Chinese connections, a competitor called Byte is being downloaded at a record pace from the Apple App store. TikTok, a current favorite of teens and tweens, is still around, but it looks like young users aren’t taking any chances of losing the ability to easily shoot and share short videos.

Only 39% of students reported learning a lot daily during remote instruction, according to a survey by YouthTruth of 20,000 students in nine states. About half of students reported feeling depressed or stressed, and many students said they had obstacles to remote learning, such as distractions at home. These are interesting statistics given getting back to school is just around the corner for many students, and while not all states and districts have decided how to handle instruction this year during Covid -19, virtual learning in some capacity is sure to be a reality.

While smart phone videos taken by ordinary citizens have changed the conversation about policing in the US, it is important to know that there are privacy issues you should be aware of when taking your smart phone to a protest. Digital surveillance tools, including facial recognition technology, can be used to identify protestors and monitor their movements and communications. Furthermore, investigators and prosecutors have come to view protestors phones as potential treasure troves of information about them and their associates, setting up legal battles over personal technology and Americans’ Constitutional rights. And while protesters are within their rights to take pictures and video at protests, the images they capture could lead to unintended consequences for participants.