ARTICLES / TOOLS: Raising a Hacker: Cool Tools to Help Kids Learn to Code

If you've got school-age kids, you know when they're working on reading and math. But if their homework includes loops, goto commands, and branches, don't be alarmed. They're probably learning to code, and that's a very good thing. From Code.org's Hour of Code to coding camps and afterschool classes, computer programming is hot -- and, in a technology-fueled world that's only going to grow, coding is an invaluable 21st-century skill.

Some forecasters are calling coding the new literacy because of what kids learn in the process. Coding helps kids develop essential skills such as problem solving and critical thinking. Plus, it encourages them to become creators, not just consumers, of the technology they use.

Even kids who don't go on to become computer scientists will benefit from learning to speak and understand the language of coding. Here are some of our favorite tools to make learning coding basics fun, accessible, and age-appropriate.

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GAMES / EDUCATION: Reading, Writing, and Good Digital Citizenship: A Future Tense Event Highlights the Promise of Tech in Elementary Education

Kids love video games. And iPads. And even Twitter. But what can they learn from high-tech tools—and, perhaps more importantly, can the ways they use technology give us insight as tohow they learn?

Those were the guiding questions at “Getting Schooled by a Third-Grader,” a Future Tense event on technology in early education held this afternoon at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C. During the introduction, New America Foundation fellow Lisa Guernsey, author of Screen Time: How Electronic Media—From Baby Videos to Educational Software—Affects Your Child, noted that we frequently think of educational technology as the realm of middle or high school. But research currently suggests that children between the ages of 6 months and 6 years spend an average of 120 minutes a day with screens. Meanwhile, teachers—and companies producing educational software and games—are increasingly bringing technology into the classroom to appeal to kids who enter kindergarten already familiar with iPads, smartphones, and Microsoft Kinect.

full article at slate.com

ARTICLES / SOCIAL MEDIA: Young people need guidance to cope with the threats posed by social media

Professionals must be trained to deal with the social problems young people can come up against when using today's technology

This week marks the first anniversary of the summer riots, where mobile devices played such an important part in connecting rioters with each other and were used to capture much of the carnage and brutality. Of course, the technology didn't cause the riots, but as the police found out,BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) helped crowds gather at remarkable speed and to circumvent police lines.

A year is a long time in terms of technology. New mobile handsets and apps become integrated into our lives at astonishing speed. Over the last 12 months I've been working with young people excluded from mainstream schools who are taught instead in pupil referral units (PRUs). The project we've been working on is called Munch, Poke, Ping, which I have written about previously in these pages, and has looked at how these young learners are engaging with social media. Through film-making, we've been able to explore the paradox that despite being digitally connected young people are largely having to cope alone.

full article on The Guardian website

ARTICLES / IT: Uganda conference addresses cutting-edge issues of technology for development

By Terra Weikel

KAMPALA, Uganda, 19 November 2010 – How can applications for mobile phones help to meet the world’s toughest development issues? That was the big question at the Mobile Communication Technology for Development (M4D) conference held in Kampala last week.

To address this issue, the UNICEF Uganda Technology for Development (T4D) Unit teamed up with some of the most influential trendsetters in this emerging new field to offer a free ‘BarCamp’ at Makerere University.

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PROJECTS: Unicef launches free SMS number for Nepalese youths

UNICEF Tuesday launched a free SMS number for youths in Nepal so they could text in their views and comments on issues that concern them to the global organisation.

The number 4400 is a toll-free mobile text message service that allows users to send messages directly to the UNICEF in Nepal, Xinhua reported.

The number is being launched in partnership with the popular radio show 'Saathi Sanga Manka Kura' (SSMK), a youth oriented radio programme run by Equal Access Nepal.

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NEWS / IT: UNICEF gets mobile IT van for street kids program

MANILA, Philippines – Eight-year-old Christian seems like an ordinary child who should be in school like many children of his age.

But the boy only finished Grade 1, and spends most of his time at the wet market either carrying sacks of vegetables or peeling onions to earn some money.

“Huminto kasi ako. Pinahinto ako ng nanay ko,” he said, referring to his grandmother.

His usual routine at the wet market starts at 12 midnight and ends around 7 in the morning.

“Minsan P80, minsan P100. Pinambibili ng pangkain. Nagsasaing kami,” he said, when asked about how much he gets paid from his jobs.

Christian is just one of the hundreds of thousands of street and street-working children in major cities in the country.

“We estimate 250,000 street children at the moment, scattered throughout cities and 50,000 of them highly visible, spending most of their days and nights on the streets,” according to Vanessa Tobin, country representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Tobin said hunger, sickness, deprivation of a home and education are just some of the things that children on the streets have to deal with.

“This situation puts them at risk of substance abuse, alcohol abuse, sexual abuse, violence and exploitation, sexually transmitted infections, HIV and AIDS, street fights and gang brawls,” Tobin said.

Mobile education, child protection

On Tuesday afternoon, mobile phone manufacturer Sony Ericsson, its sister company Ericsson, and SM Supermalls, presented UNICEF with a mobile IT van to support its Mobile Education and Child Protection Program for Children on the streets of Manila.

Like Efren Peñaflorida’s pushcart classroom, the mobile IT van contains teaching materials. It is also equipped with a laptop and mobile broadband access and other communication tools. Sessions can be conducted right where the children and their families can be reached.

“The Mobile Education and Child Protection Program for Street Children is very innovative and involves the local government and non-government partners (NGOs) working together to give these children a second chance. The partners target areas with a high incidence of street children and provide direct services to street children and their families,” Tobin said.

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INTERNET / TECHNOLOGY: How moviegoers at different ages use technology

Digital media is changing the behavior of all moviegoers, but it's doing so very differently for varying age groups.

That's what a group of around 100 online and studio marketing executives, as well as journalists, learned this afternoon yesterday at a presentation of data from a study of 3,582 moviegoers, about 43% surveyed in person at theaters and the rest online or on the phone. The study was done by Stradella Road, a marketing consulting company started by former New Line executive Gordon Paddison, whose current clients include Peter Jackson and 3-D projection company RealD.

The research was sponsored by several of the biggest online media companies including AOL, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, so nobody was expecting to be told that this whole Internet thing is just a fad that Hollywood marketers shouldn't worry about.

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TECHNOLOGY: UNICEF provides internet to 100 schools (MALDIVES)

UNICEF today announced the completion of its project to provide internet connectivity to 100 schools in the Maldives.

The project, which cost a total of US$1.3 million, will provide internet facilities to schools in 17 atolls with student populations of more than 100.

Atolls with internet connectivity such as Addu and Fuamulah were not included.

The technology is hoped to facilitate distance learning and make available educational resources to around 40,000 students and 6,000 teachers, expanding the reach of internet in schools to nearly 50 per cent of students and teachers nationwide.

Speaking at the project’s launch, Amina Mohamed Didi, Unicef’s education specialist, said the project marked another milestone in the UN organisation’s three-decade collaboration with the government of the Maldives.

“Our hope is that this is only the beginning,” said Amina. “Our hope is that teachers in these schools will make full use of the resources provided. We will continue to support the ministry and I’m sure we can reap the full benefits of this venture.”

The project was carried out with the help of communications services provider Dhiraagu, which provided local area networks, broadband internet services and child protection mechanisms for content.

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TECHNOLOGY / NEWS: ‘RapidSMS’ system for monitoring nutrition in Malawi gets top tech award (AFRICA)

The 'RapidSMS' system developed by UNICEF for Malawi allows health workers to enter a child's data and receive instant alerts on nutritional status. It is a vast improvement on Malawi's previous nutrition surveillance system, which suffered from slow data transmission and high operating costs.

NEW YORK, USA, 10 September 2009 – UNICEF has won the Gov2.0 Summit Award for an innovative system adapting accessible technology to better monitor the health and nutritional status of children in Malawi.

'RapidSMS' is UNICEF's open-source platform for data collection, logistics coordination and communication, allowing any mobile phone to interact with the web. The technology directly responds to one of the biggest challenges facing UNICEF's field operations: access to accurate, timely and actionable information.

'Best thing I've seen'

The technology was presented at the Gov 2.0 Expo Showcase in Washington DC, where an audience of about 600 academics, entrepreneurs, journalists and representatives from non-profit organizations and government agencies voted for their favourite projects.

RapidSMS won in the category of 'Government as a Provider' and received high praise from attendees, many of whom posted reactions via Twitter.

As one post from 'ilabra' said: "Rapid SMS unicef talk best thing I've seen at Gov2.0. real problems, code production and a floss [free license and open source software] project. A generative pattern. Well done."

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TECHNOLOGY: Yemeni youth using technology (MIDDLE EAST)

Yemeni youth using technology

(Yemen Times Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) A small-scale survey including 27 male and female Yemeni youth from Sana'a revealed that many of them, although a majority were university graduates, did not know how to use modern-day technologies such as sending a fax, using a flash disk, or using Bluetooth.


The sample was chosen at random targeting men and women between 16 and 36 years old, through a questionnaire that was given to university stuYdents, people in public places, participants of a social event, members of a non governmental organization, and employees in several companies.

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TECHNOLOGY / SMS: UNICEF uses text messages to spread the word about polio in Zambia (AFRICA)

UNICEF uses text messages to spread the word about polio in Zambia

20 July 2009 – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will be sending text messages to millions of Zambian parents this week as part of a new initiative to harness modern technology in the fight to prevent polio.

UNICEF has joined forces with the Zambian Health Ministry and two mobile phone companies, ZAIN and MTN, to encourage parents to bring their children under the age of five to the nearest health-care centre for free polio vaccinations.

“It is about time that we used modern technology to ensure child health and this year is particularly important because of the polio prevention campaign,” said UNICEF Zambia Representative, Lotta Sylwander.

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OPINIONS: Twitter/Facebook: Time Well-Spent for Child/Youth Advocates?

Twitter/Facebook: Time Well-Spent for Child/Youth Advocates?

by Ray Schultz, Child Advocacy 360

This year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference drew standing-room only crowds to sessions on social media. But one question remained unanswered after hours of talk: Can Twitter and Facebook perform miracles for hardworking child advocates?

That’s dubious, based on the evidence.

Take the area of fundraising. “Very, very little money is raised through social networking sites,” says Mal Warwick, chairman of Mal Warwick Associates, an agency serving nonprofits.

His view is confirmed by research from the software vendor Blackbaud. Of the nonprofit groups with positive return on investment online, 63 percent use e-mail and 46 percent use social media. “Everything we’ve seen shows that e-mail has more proven value than social media,” says Allison Van Diest, senior product marketing manager for Blackbaud.

Nor are the social networks good for interaction with colleagues. Advocates typically use Facebook and Twitter “to communicate with a few of their friends, but not professionally,” Warwick says. And government employees, though part of many nonprofit constituencies, often lack “access to current technology or are limited by policy,” adds Nedra Kline-Weinreich, president of Weinreich Communications, an agency and consultancy.

Next is the issue of resources. Do your overworked staffers have the time to be tweeting people? And even if they do, can they write in the more personal tone required in social media?

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NEWS / ARTICLES / TECHNOLOGY / DISABILITIES: Software 'gives children a voice'

Software 'gives children a voice'

Scientists claim to have developed the first technology of its kind to allow children with communication problems to converse better.

'How was school today?' is software to help children with disabilities such as cerebral palsy communicate faster.

The system is the result of a project between computing scientists from the Universities of Aberdeen and Dundee, and Capability Scotland.

Pupils from Corseford School in Renfrewshire were first to trial it.

Dr Ehud Reiter, from the University of Aberdeen's school of natural and computing sciences, said: "How was school today? uses sensors, swipe cards, and a recording device to gather information on what the child using the system has experienced at school that day.

"This can then be turned into a story by the computer - using what is called natural language generation - which the pupils can then share when they get home.

"The system is designed to support a more interactive narration, allowing children to easily talk about their school day and to quickly answer questions."

full article - related video

Questions on technology

NEWS / TECHNOLOGY: Tajikistan bans cell phones from schools

Tajikistan bans cell phones from schools

DUSHANBE (Reuters) - The Central Asian state of Tajikistan Tuesday banned cell phones from all schools and universities in a bid to boost education.

"This measure has been taken in order to improve the quality of teaching at schools," deputy Dodikhudo Saimutdinov said after a vote in parliament.

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"Sony/Intel Student Film Contest"

Sony Creative Software and Intel’s Technology in Motion: Vision of the Future student film contest offers participating high school students the chance to experience the process of producing a professional project from start to finish using the Sony Vegas Pro 8 video and audio production platform. From script to screen, students will conceptualize, produce and edit short films that present their own visions of how technology will shape their future.

To encourage participation in the contest and highlight the importance of multimedia education, Sony Creative Software will provide each participating classroom with a "Technology in Motion" launch kit containing a free version of Sony Vegas Pro 8 video editing software, free Sony Vegas Pro 8 video tutorials and a free Digital Video and Audio Production Vegas Pro 8 teaching guide.

Maximum Award: two Sony VAIO laptop computers, a video camera, software and accessories worth more than $25,000.

Eligibility: high school students and their teacher representative.

Deadline for call to entry: February 22, 2008.

NEWS / ARTICLES / TECHNOLOGY: SMS and MSN to report antisocial behaviour (UK)

Haringey invites young people to text in crimes in confidence

By Alison Bennett - Children & Young People Now - 13 February 2008

Young people on a London estate are using text messaging to report antisocial behaviour discreetly and without fear of recrimination, in an initiative which is believed to be the first of its kind.

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