Digital Safety Lessons

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With the school year starting up, our kids will be jumping into new classes and there’s one lesson we want them to learn for inside and outside of the classroom: digital safety. It’s important to remind our kids that actions online and offline have real life effects. While lessons on bullying used to focus on hallways and playgrounds, it has extended into social media and the internet. We found Stay Safe Online’s Cyberbullying and Harassment tips helpful in preventing and reporting online threats since rumors can spread from whispers at school onto newsfeeds online. It’s also important to protect our kids from strangers. Kids like to share on social media and may not realize just how much personal information they’re posting about online. With location settings turned on, people can pinpoint exactly where someone is just by their post. We advise kids to not only make their profiles private, but also turn off location tracking from sites like Instagram and Facebook.

At DijiWise, we understand that technology can bring about consequences but also benefits. Our smartphones are incredible devices and the apps on them lead to unlimited possibilities. We can use apps for games and organization but also self-defense. This list of 5 Safety Apps You Should Arm Your Students With from FOSI highlights important apps that can be life-saving in dangerous situations. Our devices can play a significant role in keeping us safe by instantly connecting us to people and alerting them for help.

While our phones can help protect us from dangers in the world, they also make the upsetting reality of violence in the media accessible for view. Breaking news reports take over the web, trend on Twitter and the front page of sites. It’s difficult to monitor all the information our kids see and hear because news found online can be brought up in conversations between their friends. It’s important to have open conversations about current events, and Common Sense Media’s advice on How do I talk to my kids about violence on TV and in movies or games? provides a good basis for starting those chats.

Digital safety lessons touch on a wide range of situations so it’s important to have frequent discussions about them with your kids. At DijiWise, we will continue to share the resources and tools we find helpful because as parents, we’ll be learning with them too!

Get on our Invite List and be the first DijiWise Parents to gain membership access for when we launch on the App Store and Google Play!

DijiWise Contest Rules

We're excited to start off the school year with a DijiWise Contest! Here are the rules to the contest on Facebook, but also check out our Twitter and Instagram to participate.

Like our Facebook page and comment on the picture posted on Monday, 8/24/2015, and you will be entered to win a $50 coffee card to the vendor of your choosing. The winner will be randomly selected from the comments section and must verify that they “liked” our page.

The contest will end on Friday 8/28/2015.

The winner will be notified by a response to their comment on Monday 8/31/2015 and asked to email their shipping address to dijiwise@gmail.com. The prize will be mailed to the winner as soon as possible.

Must be 18 years old to enter, valid only in the United States.

This contest is in no way affiliated with Facebook.

Best Back to School Apps For Your Middle School to College Students

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Help your high school or college student stay organized and work smarter, not harder, this school year with this list of awesome apps, compiled by a student in the DijiWise family who discovered the value some of these brought to her schedule! From study tools to organizational planners, these apps will help your child conquer this school year with success.

Quizlet - FREE

Quizlet is a free study tool which can save your child a lot of time and hassle. Students can make their own set of flashcards and study anywhere! Create a Quizlet account, and students can make their own set of study materials -- and even send them to their friends. Users can also search millions of study sets that other Quizlet users have already created! If your child’s lucky, his or her teacher already has a teacher’s Quizlet account to help their class study.

Evernote – FREE (paid upgrades available)

Evernote is a great organizational tool that can help with anything your child has on his or her “To Do” list. From grocery lists, to class notes, to chores, to collaborating with others, Evernote is the perfect way to get things done. The app has a great sharing features, so users can create and send their lists, notes or work to other users. Evernote keeps subjects organized by using tags to help the user search the notes easier. Give this app a try this school year, you won’t be sorry!

Study Cal - $1.99

Study Cal is an awesome way for your child to keep track of high school or college classes for the semester. First, the user enters class details such as the teacher’s name, class times and location, followed by the ability to input assignments and due dates, and keep track of grades in the classes. Your student can even send classes and assignments to friends who have Study Cal! The app costs $1.99, but the value far surpasses the cost. This app will help your child keep track of assignments and due dates, as well as provide him or her with regular grade updates.

EasyBib - FREE

EasyBib is a great tool for those who are looking to save time writing those pesky research papers. First, the user chooses their style of citation (MLA, APA, etc.), then selects the media (book, website, article etc.). Let’s say they need to cite a book. Your child can scan the book barcode or enter the title and the app automatically cites the resource. The citation can be saved in the app and exported to a Word document. This app is a time saver for sure!

iScanner – FREE

iScanner is a scanner for your phone, and it can be extremely useful for school work. The app recognizes the edges of the sheet of paper, takes a picture of it, provides layout and color options, and then turns it into a PDF format for the user to share or save. Sharing notes with classmates is now a whole lot easier for your high schooler or college kid with iScanner.

Graphing Calculator – FREE

Did your child forget to bring their graphing calculator? No problem, there’s an app for that! The app functions very similar to the graphing calculator, and has a useful and easy to use Reference page when they need help. Download this app and they’ll never have to carry around that bulky TI-89 again. (Unless, of course, their teacher requires it!)

Google Drive - FREE

The Google Drive app is a great tool for all the group projects your child will work on this year. Using a gmail account to log into the Google Drive app, students can can contribute to team projects on the go. This app is perfect for uploading a quick picture or graphic, reading other contributor’s work, or looking up saved information when they don’t have their computer with them! This app is an A+ in our book.

DijiWise wishes you and your children a happy and successful school year!

Get on our Invite List and be the first DijiWise Parents to gain membership access for when we launch on the App Store and Google Play!

A Balancing Act: Online vs. Offline

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Our smartphones seem to be attached to us in one way or another. They’re that rectangular bulge in our back pockets, that extra limb extending from our palms. We use our phones to capture a lot of important moments: our kid’s first day on the school bus, a family reunion with four generations lined up together, or summer road trip adventures across the states. But on social media interspersed with photos and videos of these memories are the BLT sandwich your co-worker had for lunch and the beach selfie your best friend posted. National Public Radio’s post Should We Live Life, Or Capture It? discusses our understandable human urge to record and share moments in our lives while encouraging us to live in the moment instead of through the lens.

Being thoughtful in deciding when to use our smartphones and when to be fully engaged eye-to-eye can bring out the best of our online and offline worlds. As great as our smartphones are, their constant presence in our lives isn’t always appropriate. This topic takes on a new set of considerations when placed in the classroom. In many schools, kids are allowed to carry their phones with them throughout the day. Guidelines vary from school to school, and this Safe Search Kids post about Cell Phones In School compares the pros and cons of the situation. As parents, we can teach our kids about how to balance their online and offline time at school and throughout their lives.

In school

Schools seek balance for cellphones in class: Are they a teaching tool or a distraction? 
by The Boston Globe
With policies ranging from BYOD (bring your own device) to restricted use, schools are handling the complex topic of tech in classrooms with varied approaches. This article offers a candid look into how schools in Massachusetts and New York are figuring out the logistics.

17 Pros and Cons of Using iPads in the Classroom
by SecurEdge
With iPads appearing in schools as teaching devices, this list explains some of the realities that we can expect with this new classroom technology.

In social gatherings

Why Snapchat Has Ruined Our Nights Out
by The Odyssey
We think the author of this post says it best, “Capturing the moment is one thing, capturing every single moment for your snap story and therefore experiencing the moment through your phone camera is another.”

‘Pics or it didn’t happen’ – the mantra of the Instagram era
by The Guardian
Teenagers constantly spout the saying “pics or it didn’t happen” when capturing moments with their smartphone, and this article dives into revealing why it’s so important for people to feel recognized and heard on social media.

Get on our Invite List and be the first DijiWise Parents to gain membership access for when we launch on the App Store and Google Play!

Back to School with DijiWise

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Our back-to-school essentials include sharpened pencils, spiral notebooks and cyber smarts. From digital safety to social media etiquette, positive online behavior applies during the school year just as it does during the summer.

With kids carrying cell phones in their pockets and bringing laptops into the classroom, keeping devices safe at school is crucial. We found PC Magazine's article Protect Yourself From Cyber-Snoops, Stalkers, and Thieves at School applicable to both college students and grade schoolers. Losing a pencil and losing a cell phone at school are very different scenarios. Protecting digital devices is part of protecting your own identity. 

These great tips from the Family Online Safety Institute on how to Fill Your Child's Digital Backpack prepare your kids for a safe and positive school year experience. We love this resource for its age specific content, from pre-school to college. So while you're buying school supplies, consider incorporating some lessons on cyber smarts into the school year preparation. 

The grade school years

Power of Words 
by Common Sense Media
This animated video teaches kids the importance of being kind and how to handle mean words online. A great watch for those just onboarding to social media.

The Best Educational Apps for Kids
by Parents
Encourage your kids to use some of their screen time to learn new things. From read-along Disney books to ocean exploration with the Magic School Bus, these apps are fun and educational.

The teenage years

A Teenager's View on Social Media 
by Medium
This 19-year old's perspective on multiple social media apps from Facebook to Tumblr to Yik Yak offers an eye-opening view. Using this article as a starting point, chat with your high schooler about how they view social media.

 A 13-Year-Old's View on Social Media 
by Medium
In response to the 19-year old's article, a 13 year-old provides a different perspective on social media apps through the eyes of a middle schooler.

How High School Students Use Social Media in Their College Search
by Uversity
With the digital world, looking at colleges doesn't just stop at campus visits anymore. Understand how your kids are using social media to figure out if a school will be a good fit. 

The college years

LinkedIn Profile Checklist
In college, your kid's social media networks begin to include professional online communities as well, and LinkedIn is a primary one. This guide helps them understand the basics of what goes into creating a LinkedIn profile.

A College Student's Perspective on Tinder
by Family Online Safety Institute
Dating apps are becoming more popular, and Tinder is a hot one among college students. Read this article to understand the app and how to talk to your kids about online safety.

Get on our Invite List and be the first DijiWise Parents to gain membership access for when we launch on the App Store and Google Play!