SocialNetworking for Kids

Hi, our kids have been using "USpace" at school (and at home), has anyone else used it? Know anything about it? The Parent info evening isn't til the 27th. Thanks

*edited for shocking grammar

Edited by tictacjunkie

They're 10, 8 and 6 (the ones at school, I also have a 3yo and 19mth old). Been in to speak to principal today about it, basically agreed to disagree about some aspects. However, still annoyed they didn't ask parental permission first.

It's a closed social network that is controlled by the school. The teachers/administrators can see all content so can be proactive in regards to cyber-bullying. Kids can choose others in the school to be "friends" with. It is meant to be used more as an on-line journal rather than a social network.

It sounds like its administered by the teachers/school not the parents.

I don't feel comfortable with that.

Firstly because teachers have well enough work on their plates as it is without having to monitor the kids on a social network, and secondly because this is something that should be monitored by the child's parent.

Yes we signed a generic form approving the use of the internet for learning purposes when the kids first started, but that was before they introduced this new system.
The idea is every kid in the school will have a page to blog, comment on other's work, upload media etc, access homework tasks, do schoolwork while sick etc, the idea it's an educational learning platform etc. BUT, the kids who are on it already are mostly using it to just say "hi" and "what are you doing this weekend" etc on it and uploading photos, there was a metallica music video uploaded over the weekend that has now been taken down.
I agree the teacher's already have enough on their plates, and I don't expect that they should monitor my kids use, that's my job and we already have firmly established rules regarding internet use in our household, but our school hasn't set up the parental portal yet so I can only log in via my son's account.

I would love to be able to just think "woohoo, what a fabulous use of technology", but I can see far too many ways it can be misused, and they are relying pretty heavily on the kids themselves to be responsible with it. There are always kids who are going to be stupid about it and have no fear of the consequences. Our school is a full primary, so potentially my 6yo could be "buddies" with a 13yo who might think it's funny to upload something dodgy before they leave for high school and of course once something's been seen you can't take it back.

I discussed it with the principal today and while he was understanding and generally in agreement I feel he didn't quite grasp my concerns.

Anything the kids upload is able to be viewed immediately by anyone on their buddies list, so FOR EXAMPLE, Toadie McNaughty thinks haha, I'll post a pic of mum in the shower, he uploads it on a friday night, several other kids see it, one of them finally has the balls to flag it as inappropriate, an email gets sent to the administrator (a teacher at school), and as awesome as this particular teacher is, maybe he doesn't get to see the email til monday morning, then he removes the pic, in the meantime poor Mrs McNaughty is super embarrassed, a lot of kids have copied the pic, and never shows her face at the school again. And if anyone thinks that's a stretch I'd guess you don't have 10/11/12yos. Think super cunning toddlers with hormones, super-sized attitudes, a crap load more willpower and lifeskills. And my 10yo is a pretty good kid compared to some. (quiet chess-playing bookworm excellent grades science fanatic.)

The principal said today that they've already had problems with a parent insisting her daughter remove a classmate from her buddy list that she doesn't like and that's gotten quite messy between the students themselves and the parents.

Anyway, my original point was not to pick holes in it but to find out who's used it successfully and if anyone had any tips on how to make it work better/safer?
So far we as a family have added it to the list of "sites you're allowed to use but only with supervision", and banned my son from uploading any media without my permission.

Yes, our principal openly says our kids are being used as guinea pigs with this.
Every child is supposed to be "buddies" with everyone in their class, so they can have classroom-wide discussions. But yes it sounds like some kids (i.e catty girls) are using it as a bullying tool. And then of course some parents are going to say "I don't want you associating with that kid outside of school, even if it is online".
Geeze I miss the days when teething and naps were my only concerns!

Our kids have a similar system at school, here they call it 'MySchools'. I've got two in Kindergarten (NZ Year 1) and one in Year 4 (NZ Year 5). With the Kindy kids, it's used mainly as a communication tool for parent notices, so we have our child's login and password details, and we're also expected to log in regularly with the kids and help them with some of the games and activities.

It's less clear cut with Miss 9, I have no idea what her password is, but I do regularly check in when she's online at home. I only just discovered last week that she has a blog, but on further investigation it's locked inside the intranet so only her teacher and classmates can view it.

We had a major issue last year as Miss 9 and one of her friends logged in to another girl's school email account (they all told each other their passwords) and used it to send cheeky emails to some of the teachers. They got caught when she got a case of the guilts and owned up so the whole class wouldn't get punished.

I'm actually okay with them having access to the technology, maybe I'm a bit 'progressive' like that as I work in digital media, but I think as long as it's well supervised, it can be a good thing. Miss 9 has her own Facebook page and personal email address, but I have the logins for both and she asks before accepting any friend requests, even from family members. The school principal wasn't happy when I told her that in the wake of the school email drama, but I pretty much told her I'm confident in my ability to moderate her usage at home, and perhaps she should concentrate her energy on monitoring the school intranet a little more stringently.

My best advice is to make a list of your concerns and questions and bring them up at the info evening as I'm sure there are many other parents with the same concerns. You need to be 100% confident in how the school is monitoring your kids' net usage coz as you say, once you've seen something, you can't 'unsee' it.

ETA: Our school has also run a couple of Net Safety sessions for parents, one in association with the local police and one run by an internet watchdog group, I think this is important too as this is a whole new world/minefield for most parents, and there are importantly safety considerations to make.

Edited by Maya

As a primary teacher, I agree that parental permission should have been one of the first things to be done. If they are using your school as an experiment to see how the system would work then I would have expected it to be discussed in depth with parents and permission granted from ALL parents before even introducing it.

We use blogs at our school and any comments on my classes blogs need to come through my email so that I can ok them before they are published. I would expect the same security from a school intranet/social networking site. Again as a teacher, I believe it IS my responsibility to monitor my students internet access (at school of course) and if this was a school idea then it would fall to me to monitor what these students are doing online.

Of course kids need to learn about this technology, it is the world we live in now and there are fantastic learning opportunities that are now on offer that we never had before BUT it is very easy for kids to have access to things that are inappropriate or above their age bracket and there should never be a 'friends' tab?? that is just asking for trouble!

TTJ I would stick to my guns if I were you, the school should have been much more pro-active about this and have sorted all these kinds of questions well before implementing the system.

LOL, I guess you missed the next bit in my post Chikky "each to their own I guess."
I don't think I'm alone in being surprised that a 9 year old has a FB page. I was serious when I asked what a 9 year old would get out of it.

lisame wrote: LOL, I guess you missed the next bit in my post Chikky "each to their own I guess." I don't think I'm alone in being surprised that a 9 year old has a FB page. I was serious when I asked what a 9 year old would get out of it.

I am the same, no way my kids are having FB early. My now 11yr old wanted it at 9-10yrs as his friends had it seriously what is with that. He still does not have it, there is no need for it as far as we are concerned.

I had a few friend requests from mums sons at school to be my friend...hmm don't think so, just because I am their "friend" does not mean I want their a 10yr old reading my stuff..

We are a techo family & DH works in IT so it is not as if our kids are going to miss out on learning in that field.

As for the original post if you are not happy with how it is done then pull you permission till you find out more information about it.

DS1 has a forum & profile & home page set up at school but all posts are read by his teacher as she monitors everything, so nice & safe which is the way it should be. As far as I am concerned if the school sets it up they need to be responsible for it...no excuses & as a parent I am responsible for my child.