Tips and Tutorials
Introducing Google Apps for Education (GAFE)
Our Learning Management Platform which includes email, word processing, calendaring, ePortfolios, and for HS students, our in school social media network Google+
Google Apps for Education @ismanila.orgOpen DNS
This program helps to filter inappropriate content. It is free for basic functionality and should be installed on your home router (not the device itself as this will inhibit your child's ability to use the ISM network).
OpenDNS.movBasic Skills Programs
New to Typing? - This is a Free Online Typing Skills Program
Students in the Elementary and Middle School years, as well as students who are new to BYOD learning, are given time in class to practice and learn touch typing. It is also recommended that they practice at home in short 15 minute sessions 2-3 times per week until they reach proficiency. This is generally judged to be 25 words per minute, using the correct hand positions.
Managing Digital Distraction Resources
Distraction online is all to common and affects us all. Though understanding the challenges students face and utilizing this knowledge to develop good learning habits, we can try and overcome and/or manage digital distraction.
10 Online Tools for Better Attention & Focus
Driven to distraction: How to help wired students learn to focus
Common Sense Media: Screen time concerns
Digital Distraction: Balance in a Connected World
Digital Distraction - Balance in a Connected World"Write Your Online Story" initiative
In the write your online story initiative, we encourage students to think about what happens when they post content online and how the internet works both for good and bad.
In doing so we encourage students to think about how they will be regarded based on their online stories and how they can use this knowledge to make good decisions as online digital citizens.
Official High School Twitter Account: @ISManilaHS
Understand Twitter
Founded in 2006, Twitter is a social broadcast network that enables people and organizations to publicly share brief messages instantly around the world. The service can be accessed on the web at Twitter.com, on a wide variety of mobile devices and via text messaging. Available in more than 35 languages, Twitter has more than 200 million monthly active users. Visit www.twitter.com or follow @twitter for more information.
Remember: Twitter is a Public Space
Most of the communication taking place on Twitter is viewable to everyone. Since the information posted is public, it can be retweeted on the site by anyone who sees it.
While Tweets can be protected so only approved followers can see them, most users share their Tweets with everyone. If your child wants their Tweets to only be available to approved followers, they can protect their Tweets.
Protect passwords
Explain to your child that passwords should never be shared, not even with their friends. If the home computer is shared, remind them to always log out when they finish their Twitter session to develop good online safety habits. It's important to log out of any websites they logged into on a shared computer, otherwise, other people may be able to access their information.
Use Online Safety to Connect with your Child
Teens in particular may feel like parents are disconnected from their perspective and fear conversations about online safety will be awkward or embarrassing. Listen to how your child is using Twitter and other online mediums. Take their online relationships seriously, ask questions and perhaps even brainstorm together to come up with solutions to safety issues they have encountered.
Keep a Healthy Life Balance
As a parent, you're a role model for your child. Demonstrate the importance of a balance between online and other activities by encouraging family activities offline as well as online.
Encourage Critical Thinking
Take the opportunity to not only learn about the sorts of situations your child is experiencing online but also use these to identify solutions and encourage critical thinking. Ask them questions like:
- Who are you sharing this information with?
- Can you trust all the people that see the information on your Twitter account?
- How could your Tweet be interpreted?
Think before Tweeting
As parents, you may have seen children say or write things that were not meant to be hurtful but that others found offensive or upsetting. Help your child evaluate whether or not something is okay to post by reminding them that if they wouldn't say it to the person's face or out loud, they shouldn't say it online either.
The nature of the Internet makes it difficult to completely erase content. Consider having a conversation about how what gets posted online can hurt feelings, affect offline relationships and even jeopardize future opportunities.
Block and Ignore
If your child receives unwanted tweets from another Twitter user, we generally recommend that he or she block that user and end communication. Ignoring the content shows unwillingness to engage in such interaction, and in most cases, the aggressor loses interest. This Twitter Support article explains how to block other users.