EDUC 730
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APPS AND YOUNG USERS: WARNINGS AND SAFEGUARDS ASSIGNMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
OVERVIEW
Collaboration and communication apps have become ubiquitous in everyday functioning, but there
can be risks and benefits to using these web-based tools, especially for children and teens. Few
would question that the Internet substantially influences children and teenagers, yet children and
teens often lack the self-regulation skills needed for decision-making in the complex digital world.
Applications on a smartphone can easily pull children into the digital world where cyberbullying
and the constant availability of sexual content represent potential sources of stress for children.
Apps historically noted as potentially dangerous for children and teens include Snapchat, Whisper,
Blendr, and WhatsApp, yet several of these apps are used to good advantage by many. An
unfortunate reality exists where new apps are continually being developed to look harmless and to
mask the more dangerous apps in use by young people. Careful oversight and monitoring by more
knowledgeable parents and adults are increasingly important. The ability to block inappropriate
apps and content is essential for schools, teachers, and parents.
INSTRUCTIONS
Scenario: You are viewed as an expert in educational technology and have been asked by your
principal to plan and conduct a 10-minute presentation for parents on the possible dangers of social
media apps targeting children. The principal’s goals are to:
• Inform parents of what is happening in the complicated digital world where children are
concerned.
• Demonstrate the types of challenges children are facing with actual recent news stories.
• Express the importance of parental monitoring.
• Equip parents with tools they can use for decision-making and monitoring.
1. For your presentation, identify three or more apps of particular concern for educators and
parents that are potentially dangerous for children and teens. Avoid apps that are already
commonly known (e.g., TikTok, Snapchat, etc.) unless you focus on a new danger recently
identified in the news for these apps. Do your best to identify apps that are new on the scene.
For each app identified:
• Provide a brief description along with an image of the app.
• Reveal two or three possible risks for each app when used by school-age students.
• Include at least two news items as evidence of the app’s risks and dangers to children.
Limit your browser search to news items published/produced within the last six months.
2. You must also present information from both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and
your state’s attorney general to support your claims.
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a. Using the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s What We Investigate link provided with
this assignment, browse the podcasts, press releases, and videos for resources (current,
within the past 12 months) that address issues related to each of your three apps. In your
presentation, reference and insert a direct link to a minimum of one relevant FBI
resource for each app you cover (a minimum of 3 required).
b. Using the National Association of Attorneys General link provided with this
assignment, search for your state’s attorney general website. To find the AG for your
state, click on “Find my AG,” then use the “Filter by State” option to select your state.
With a new section of the presentation, include the name of your state’s attorney general
and contact information. and then share examples of information and news items on
your attorney general’s website regarding children and Internet/social media risks. Any
sources pulled from must be current, meaning they were published within the last 12
months. Encourage parents to contact the attorney general to recommend additional
safeguards for children. In your presentation, insert a direct link to any attorney general
resources referenced.
3. In the next section of the presentation, discuss warnings and safeguards that should be put in
place for child safety on the internet.
a. Use personal experience and current news items (published/produced within the last six
months) to support the warnings and safeguards you propose.
b. Also, use current professional literature (published within the last 12 months) such as
journal articles and research to support your claims. To do this, limit your search in the
Jerry Falwell Library to dissertations, theses, and journal articles.
4. Conclude your presentation with endorsements of the best parental monitoring tool and content
blocking tool.
a. It is suggested you gain actual experience with these two tools by requesting a free trial
of the tools you select.
b. In your presentation, briefly defend your recommendations based on features, cost, etc.
Build the slide show portion of your 10-minute presentation using PowerPoint or Google Slides.
Your presentation must include audio narrations recorded within the presentation software’s audio
record feature. The audio portion of your presentation must emphasize the significance of the
concerns that are being discussed in this assignment. The audio quality must also be clear without
distracting ambient noise. There must be smooth audio transitons within the presentation.
The final presentation must be professionally formatted with quality slide design based on
standardbest practices for presentation design. It must include a title slide, references slide(s) for
any sources cited, and a credits slide with any needed copyright attributions for images, etc. Use
current APA formatting for in-text citations and citations within the references and credits slides.
EDUC 730
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To submit this assignment, generate a shareable link to your narrated presentation either through
OneDrive (for PowerPoint) or through the sharing features of Google Slides/Google Drive. Ensure
the permission settings of your shared presentation will allow anyone with the link to view the
presentation. Copy and paste the shareable link to your presentation in the assignment submission
area for this assignment.
You must review the Apps and Young Users: Warnings and Safeguards Grading Rubric to
understand the areas in which you will be graded for this assignment. Take specific note of how the
10-minute time length requirement is assessed under the “Length” row of the rubric to ensure your
presentation meets the required time.
Apps and Young Users: Warnings and Safeguards Assignment Resources:
• What We Invesigate:
• National Association for Attorney’s General:
• Watch: Is your child hooked on digital devices? These researchers hope to help:
researchers-hope-help-n1126901
• Read: Consistent and Appropriate Parental Restrictions Mitigating Against Children’s
Compulsive Internet Use: A One-Year Longitudinal Study:
