Post-quarantine rules reset

There are still a lot of unknowns about COVID-19, but for now at least, our province has started to open up a bit. Parks and beaches are open, most stores and malls are opening, and we’re even able to get haircuts again.

Helping kids authenticate information online

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.”

Sharing Social Media as a Family

I think every kid should know how to swim. It’s one of those crucial life skills that must be in everyone’s arsenal. That’s why my husband and I introduced our kids to water at the earliest possible opportunity. First in the bath and the shower (okay, so maybe these are more about hygiene), and then we graduated to sprinklers and inflatable pools, wading pools, beaches, and lakes. As soon as the kids were old enough we signed them up for swimming lessons.

Outcome Chart - Newfoundland and Labrador - English as a Second Language 2205

Outcome Chart - Newfoundland and Labrador - English as a Second Language 2205

Spies in Your Stocking: Privacy, Smart Toys and the Internet of Things

This year, it may not just be Santa Claus who sees your kids when they're sleeping and knows when they're awake: one of the hottest trends this season is so-called "smart toys", which use the Internet to hold artificially intelligent conversations with kids while they play. Last year's Hello Barbie, one of the first to use this technology, was found to have a number of major security flaws -- including automatically connecting the mobile device to which it was tethered to any Wi-Fi network with "Barbie" in its name. Now two more toys, a doll called My Friend Cayla and the i-Que Intelligent Robot, have been found to collect data in ways that are far more worrying. 

Gone in Sixty Seconds: The Sociology of Snapchat

Snapchat, the mobile app that lets users send "self-destructing" photos, has the distinction of being the only digital tool that does not have a single redeeming feature. While the moral panic associated with blogs, cell phones, social networks and online games has largely faded in grudging recognition of their more positive uses (indeed, research shows that many parents have actually helped their children lie about their age register for Facebook accounts), Snapchat is seen as the Q-tip of the digital age: its sole function is to do the thing that you're warned not to do on the box.

Outcome Chart - Prince Edward Island - Creative Multimedia 12: CMM801A

Design Principles

Explore personal and creative ways to use multimedia tools for aesthetic expression based upon knowledge of the elements and principles of design

Overall Expectations:

Students are expected to:

• DP1: identify the principles and elements of design
• DP 7.2: Perform a self and/or peer evaluation of works created using a rubric.
• DP 8: utilize software to produce a document

Specific Expectations:

Outcome Chart - Prince Edward Island - Creative Multimedia 11: CMM801A

Design Principles

Explore personal and creative ways to use multimedia tools for aesthetic expression based upon knowledge of the elements and principles of design

Overall Expectations:

Students are expected to:

• DP1: identify the principles and elements of design
• DP 7.2: Perform a self and/or peer evaluation of works created using a rubric.
• DP 8: utilize software to produce a document

Specific Expectations:

Parents’ Guide to Cyberbullying

For most youth, the Internet is all about socializing and while most of these social interactions are positive, increasing numbers of kids are using the technology to intimidate and harass others – a phenomenon known as cyberbullying.

Lights, Camera, Action! Making Media in the Classroom, Made Easy

For nearly thirty years, Canadian teachers have been at the forefront of getting students online and preparing them to use networked technologies safely, productively and responsibly. Many young Canadians have their first experiences with the internet in their classrooms and school libraries. Over the past decade, though, while digital tools have come to provide new opportunities for creating and distributing digital content, MediaSmarts’ research shows that most Canadian teachers aren’t making media in the classroom.