A list of truly safe 2.0 tools for students
I created PikiFriends (www.pikifriends.net) because several years ago there weren't any SNS platforms out there which were safe enough and easy enough to use with my EFL jr/sr high school students. While there are many teachers out there who are very tech savvy (probably everyone reading this falls into this group), most are not and unknowingly put themselves, their school and their students at risk by using certain tools on the internet.
So if you are inclined to reply, I challenge you to find safe 2.0 options to use in schools in which NONE of the following applies:
1) students must give personal contact information to participate (email, address, telephone, etc)
2) students can 'chat' or send secret messages to each other (impossible to monitor, very risky)
2) students can 'chat' or send secret messages to each other (impossible to monitor, very risky)
3) teachers can not control/oversee their own student connections and actions
4) students can not be held accountable for their actions (who said what, who uploaded what)
5) there are incentives for students that involve money/goods
6) there are ads which are not education-specific and age appropriate
7) it's an 'open forum', where anyone can join your group/forum
8) parents/guardians have no way of knowing what their child is doing
9) the Privacy Policy is non-existent or extremely difficult to understand
4) students can not be held accountable for their actions (who said what, who uploaded what)
5) there are incentives for students that involve money/goods
6) there are ads which are not education-specific and age appropriate
7) it's an 'open forum', where anyone can join your group/forum
8) parents/guardians have no way of knowing what their child is doing
9) the Privacy Policy is non-existent or extremely difficult to understand
10) are simple enough to use for the average teacher (i.e., not Moodle!), because too complicated = not safe enough
Happy teaching,
Jeff Dionne
Tags: EFL, ESL, English, TEFL, TESOL, classroom, education, international, penpal, pikifriends
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