Civics of Technology Parents

Teacher: “Do you check your daughter’s ClassCharts?” ClassCharts quickly became an unwelcome obsession in my life. When my daughter started secondary school, we were asked to download the app ClassCharts, a platform where we can find homework, see attendance, and, most notably, view behaviour. ClassCharts is predominantly known for its classroom behaviour management tool. Staff can award students negative and positive points shared in real-time with students, parents, and staff. Previously, at primary school, I was unaware of how my daughter’s day was until she came home, and she could decide what she would disclose; conversations were either a shrug of the shoulders or discussions on a particular lesson she enjoyed, what she had learnt or what happened at break time. Suddenly, I was enthralled in this constant stream of data being uploaded onto ClassCharts, constantly updated on what seemed like every minor discretion ‘Lack of Focus’ or the occasional positive for ‘Ambition’ amongst other one-word descriptions. Conversations after school now revolved around why you got a negative point and why you were ‘Curious’. Often, my daughter didn’t know why she had received a negative or a positive point. She frequently exclaimed how well she had done in a class and was upset that she’d only been given a negative point, reshaping how she felt about her learning experience. She no longer thought about the art she had produced and was proud of but hung up on the fact she had received a negative for ‘lack of focus’, for example. This obsession with constantly checking ClassCharts continued for several months. The negative points racked up, often displaying a mostly all-red pie chart. I began to question what good this app was doing. Not just for my daughter, but for me? Is it healthy for me as a parent to be constantly updated in real-time on everything my child does at school? More so for my daughter, who has a diagnosis of Dyslexia and was awaiting an ADHD assessment (since diagnosed). I began challenging the school and questioning what they were doing with this data. Why are they not asking what can be done to support my child in school and to understand her needs rather than continuously awarding negative points and detentions via this app? What are they gaining from collecting behaviour data in this way? The continuous negatives and consequential detentions are not working to improve behaviour; they appear only to exacerbate the situation, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. My daughter, internalising her negative points and seeing herself as the problem, is too young to understand the broader context and barriers to her education. Despite raising my concerns with the school, I was met with resistance. Even when contacting the data manager to express my concerns on how this app was being used and how detrimental it was to my child’s well-being, explaining that the data was inaccurate and biased, asking to use a different method and revoking my consent, I was told, “we do not require consent from either parents or students to continue to use the app in this way and, therefore, consent cannot be withdrawn”. I know that this situation is not unique and that other parents and their children, especially those with Special Educational Needs, are being harmed by this collection of behaviour data. As I continue to advocate for my child and remind her that she is more than data on a pie chart, parents must continue questioning this edtech, avoiding the uncritical uptake of new tech shaping our children’s lives and pursuing a more human-centered approach to education.

I'd like to share a testimonial not so much about the use of edtech in school, but about how parents navigate and negotiate the landscape of tech use in their children's lives, schooling and friendships. At my son's school (UK, primary age (8-11) there is a very wide range of parental practices around managing children's tech use. At one end of the spectrum, there is a group of parents mobilising around a local/national campaign to ban smartphones and use of screens in school and at home until early teenage years at a minimum. At the other end, some children have their own smartphones, unrestricted access to online gaming, messaging and youtube. As a 'civics of tech' parent, I remain critical of both these positions. The screen-ban group cite problematic research based on correlations between modern tech and worsening mental health that fails to contextualise young people's wellbeing in a wider social context (including increasing rates of child poverty, pandemic effects and intensifying competition and pressure in education), conflates all 'screen use' with 'social media' and makes unevidenced claims that children do not learn as well through 'screens' as non-digital pedagogies. My reading of the complex research in this landscape suggests this is a potentially dangerous simplification that could end up reinforcing educational inequalities and isolate vulnerable children. (For example, children moving between homes of separated parents have good reason to have their own phone; there are many positive connections and creative uses of tech possible). The more laissez-faire group however also don't really consider the potential harms of the digital landscape our children are being inducted into. Access to unfettered online gaming including live voice chat, the algorithms fuelling misogynistic, racist and overly commercialised video content, the 'always-on' nature of tween and teen online social life (including bullying), cultivating problematic habits of consuming constant frenetic short-form content, the exploitation of young people's data and the inculcation of our children into a platform economy are real concerns. So where does this leave me, negotiating my own son's tech use in and out of school? Mostly with a lot of questions! - How to negotiate the use of tech within children's friendship groups - when games and video drive a lot of play at this age and can lead to inclusion and exclusion? - How to have a conversation about appropriate boundaries and 'good' use of tech within and outside the school? With other parents, the school and my own kid? - How to build community led change with parents and the school that is not driven by fear and panic over dangers of simplified 'screen use', but does acknowledge the very real and problematic ways tech is shaping education and our children's lives?

Being a tech parent is complicated now—a complex mix of emotions where you see your kids growing more smarter, quick learners, and more aware because they have access to right information in their hands. It brings certain apprehensions because not all education technology is safe to use—kids do not take their privacy seriously and so often, they are not aware of the harms and risks involved. The problem is deep at the systematic level—the technology makers, the schools and institutes, and the policy makers—to build the right education and information governance models—for our collective and mutual goals and visions for what kinds of kids we want to raise for the future—beyond the boundaries, borders, and wires on the world map.

My 4-year-old is not in K-12 schooling, but I have seen this issue manifest in daycare through surveillance technology. When searching for daycares, there seemed to be two ways schools approached updates: 1. When you pick up your child at the end of the day, you get an update from the teacher 2. There is an app that is updated throughout the day with information and sometimes allows you to access a live video stream in the school. My family selected a school that uses option 1 for various reasons, but several friends attend schools with option 2. I've been with them when they get push notifications that their child didn't have a good nap, their child pooped, etc. I've also watched them join a livestream of the class to watch what was going on, including many times commenting on the behavior of other children. This constantly connected option brings up a lot of questions for me. What are the risks of opening up classrooms to live video, especially a room full of students with no way to consent to the video? What are the consequences for young parents who will move into K-12 soon, and will they expect similar services? How has video changed the behavior of teachers? What is not happening in the classroom because teachers are taking the time to update every potty time on a tablet somewhere? All of those questions are about the adults, but how does this impact the development of children? Children know we are watching them and that we have all the information. Does this change their perspective of the purpose of school?

I have high school freshman (twins). The year they began half-day Kindergarten was the same year their large public school district began 1:1 (2015; iPad for every student). I was shocked but having children in school was all a new experience for me and I felt that teachers would not have time for iPads considering all the developmentally appropriate teaching and interactions that would need to happen during the day. Asking my kids questions about what they did for recess, in 2nd grade, I learned they were using iPads for indoor recess and it turned out by the end of the year that they had a LOT of indoor recess and used those iPads every damn time. I met with one veteran teacher and quickly realized this was not a teacher issue but a lack of leadership and preparation from the top. There was no model and no oversight to ensure boundaries were in place to prevent overuse and misuse of the digital devices. I do not blame any particular administrator but rather the bureaucracy of a large school district mesmerized by the promises of "technology" (digital media on an electronic device), as they call it, and pressured by parents and administrative peers who evangelize "technology" like it is a fast moving train that if you don't immediately jump aboard you'll be left behind. This is not the story of the turtle and the hare. Slow and study wins the race, but they opted to be the hare instead.

When fellow parents seemed out of touch in my concerns I organized a panel discussion andfound there were other district parents observing similar issues in their schools. We organized and spoke to administrators and made public comment to the board of education. I now manage a FB page of 400 parents and teachers interested in advocating for their students or learning more.

I became a local and national advocate (Fairplay and other organizations). The issues are overwhelming for parents and parent advocates because their students are distracted by personal devices (see Phone Free School Movement) and school devices (1:1)

The worst argument made by administrators, frequently repeating tech evangelists' scripts, is "kids need to learn to use these now in order to use responsibly as adults". This goes against what is scientifically and observationally evident. Kids learn and adapt very quickly to utilizing new tools but they do not learn to use them properly unless clearly instructed how to do so. Students have not received this instruction at least not to the depth that would be necessary. The amount of curriculum needed to prevent a lifetime of degradation to their learning, vision, physical activity, critical thinking, ability to understand misinformation, exploitation and abuse, ability to read, academic memory, etc. and much more would be VAST (see Center for Humane Technology's "Digital Harms Ledger"). When we are given a product that is habit-forming (being constantly available, checking status, playing "educational" games, etc.) teaching about it's negative habit-forming potential is ONLY part of the solution. We try to educate about smoking, alcohol, processed foods, but we know this isn't effective for many children or adults. Children need to witness positive habits in action from their adults and PEERS. If they are to use a tool, it needs to be curated and guided to prevent negative routines turning to habits and turning to addictions. The devices that have been handed to students have been loaded with features, apps, and access that is far from curation or healthy guidance. Why? Because schools received devices that were not CREATED for children and the academic environment. They took the devices and handed them right over to teachers without removing many of these features (news app, wide internet access, YouTube and games like "Geometry Dash" which contain no math whatsoever). Curriculum for digital media so that children as early as Kindergarten can use school-issued devices isn't the solution because the digital media itself is robbing them of all the things they need at this early age physically, mentally and academically.

Here are some things we experienced over the past 10 years of 1:1.

- Over 300 apps available to teachers to download. Apps store apps are not rated by an academic body but my developers themselves. District officials admitted "it has been a while" since they had even reviewed all these apps terms of service to ensure advertising and inappropriate content, data extraction had not been added.

- Epic was a reading App that touted how much students were reading by emailing parents notifications of the minutes their students read. I found out, from my kids, that they were watching Minecraft videos instead of reading.

- My daughter's 7th grade teacher shared a YouTube video of the 100 most influential people asking students to write about what made these celebrities influential. Kim Kardashian was one of the celebrities featured. My daughter didn't know anything about her so she Googled to learn and write about her and came home concerned and asked me about this woman. She asked "is it true that she became famous for making a sex video with her boyfriend". At an age when girls are learning to become women and carry themselves with confidence and avoid being sexualized this was a disappointing lesson to be taught.

- In 2020 at the start of the pandemic shutdown our district pushed out a library app for students to have access to more books online. The intent was good, but the execution was disastrously ignorant, as the administration had recently approved new guidelines for the process of reviewing new apps and completely ignored their own process. The library app was not designed for kids which was quite evident from initially entering the app and seeing only books for adults. My suspicion was quickly confirmed with a quick "SEX" typed into the app search bar revealing and entire erotic literature section with descriptions of BDSM and threesomes and provocative photos.

- In elementary my kids have MIT coding app available but my son was just tap, tap, tapping away in way that looked more like an anxiety inducing behavior than actual play. I realized it was because the games were created/coded by children and were extremely rudimentary so tapping was the only requirement of the game and would move a very basic element in the game. Why wasn't he CODING...because no one had TAUGHT him how....the app was just there for kids to explore without instruction. Again, as stated in my intro, you cannot teach without instruction, observation and guidance.

Eleven years ago now I look back and remember the day that Apple started the 1:1 program in our districts - 1 iPad for every student. I had just founded an online safety organization and was speaking in schools about healthier and safer technology choices. I also had two young kids in the district. A kindergartner and a 2nd grader. Long story short, I have worked hard over the past decade to walk alongside my district in implementing stronger filters, safer monitoring, and direct teaching vs. digital media ratio in the classroom. I’ve met with the IT department, with the school board, with the Superintendent and I am a member of the SHAC (School Health Advisory Council) for our district to continue to be a voice in this conversation. The district has brought me in to lead online safety trainings on campus’ to help students, educators and parents understand the dangers online, on apps, even on “educational” apps. This message is so important, especially at the rate EdTech is growing in our public schools. I encourage all parents to stay involved in the decisions your schools are making when it comes to EdTech. Ask what filters and monitors the district uses to keep students safe. Ask how much time students spend per class on their devices. Ask about cell phone policies. When we speak up we show the schools that their community cares about these issues.

1) What have been your experiences as a Civics of Tech parent?

On the whole, I’d say I’ve been a much better Civics of Tech teacher and researcher than a Civics of Tech parent. You might even say that I’m a poster child for “Do what I say, not as I do.” And that makes me feel...not great! I struggle with the convenience of having the device right there, and I’ve got to finish grading and make dinner, and what’s the harm if my daughter plays another 15 minutes of Prodigy on her school iPad? I note to myself that she also has been reading and reading and reading books on our family iPad, so there’s some broccoli to balance out the cotton candy. At other times, if I’m with my kids and there’s some type of automated thing in a book or movie or on the rare occasions we muster the patience to eat at a restaurant, I’ll ask a “Should” question. Should we have robot friends? Should we order our meal from a touchscreen? The “Should” question is something I learned from my professor Dr. Megan Bang and the Learning in Places curriculum she’s co-designed with teachers and families over the past several years. I think the question helps initiate the ethical deliberation that I do with students as a Civic of Tech teacher and encourages my kids to see the world as constituted of human-made choices where they have agency to intervene and make changes.

2) Where and how have you seen educational technologies manifest in your child(ren)’s schooling?

My earliest experiences with platforms and parenting started when my oldest started at her second daycare at the age of 15 months or so. Her first daycare had been run out of a woman’s house, and there was no digital technology involved, no electronic sign in, sign out, or reports each day. That all changed when we moved and my daughter started at a franchised daycare. We had to download an app. We received daily summaries of what she’d eaten, the number of her bowel movements and wet diapers, and a lot of pictures snapped with one of the daycare center’s iPads.

With my middle and youngest child, their daycares and preschools have used a combination of paper for sign-in and sign-out, platforms seemingly designed for daycare/preschool, and now Google Classroom.

For my second grader, she has a district-issued iPad, and from what I’ve gathered, they spend a not insignificant portion of the day using iReady for math. Last year, at least in the beginning of the year, her teacher used SeeSaw a lot, and we’d get updates, but those updates dwindled and then stopped halfway through the year. This year, social emotional learning was exchanged for coding (!), and I think they use either Kodable or Scratch Jr. Also, new this year is the option to observe my daughter’s actions on her iPad in real-time and/or with a weekly summary, thanks to Securly, the district-purchased monitoring software running on the iPad.

3) What do you see as being the benefits and drawbacks?

One benefit that I observe is how excited my daughter is to play the math games, especially Prodigy as of late. Which, cool. But also: is she learning? I try to sit with her and have her explain her reasoning (and to see how the game appears to be supporting her learning). In general, I’d say these games are behaviorist brain candy that, at least from what I can tell, aren’t helping my kid learn math on a deeper level. The drawbacks are many, from data capitalism to encouraging caregivers to surveil their kids in the name of care.

4) What have you/could we do about it?

I’ve sent emails. The first email that I sent was in reply to the superintendent. He’d emailed caregivers to say the district purchased new technologies over the summer and he was excited to let us know about the increased monitoring that would be happening in learning spaces. So I wanted to know more about what he meant and I eventually met with two administrators. Another time I emailed my concerns to my daughter’s school’s IT person about Securly. I wanted to know the decision-making process the admin used when Securly flagged “inappropriate” student behavior. I received an email describing the process and left it at that. I also crowdsourced questions to ask teachers and admin about educational technology...but I’ve never used the questions, and I think that’s a problem that I’m wrestling with. How much noise to make? Do I opt out? At what cost to my daughter? To the teacher? Because I think that’s another aspect that I know you know, Allie, that of the teacher who’s also often forced to use these platforms despite knowing their problems. What else do I do about my concerns? I talk with my wife and friends, especially about surveillance. I think they mostly politely listen. The entire ed-tech ecosystem feels so permanent right now that it’s hard to imagine a clearing, let alone cut away some of the strangling vines. I wonder if there’s some collective target that CoT parents can aim for, like the student monitoring software. And I think you may be doing this already, but have a template with a letter that challenges the one-sided rollout of these technologies. But then it’s like, “Great, I sent a letter or an email and then...what?” That’s where I’ve gotten stuck: I get the email in response to my concern and then I don’t escalate the issue because it feels so exhausting to do so and easier to accept the situation, know privately that I’ll never use Securly to spy on my kid, and hurry to flip the quesadillas before they burn. So that’s where I’m at right now.

In all three of my daughters’ experiences with education technology in the classroom, I continually see a disconnect between teacher and student. For example, in my daughter’s 6th grade history class, the students spent every class period clicking through modules on a chromebook. The teacher sat at the front of the room. His job was to monitor student screens remotely so that he could close tabs when students attempted to do something online that wasn’t school work, he could quickly close their tabs. At that time, I remember feeling extremely frustrated by this style of “teaching.” In later academic situations, I would come to wish for the presence of a screen “officer” who would close tabs.

This same daughter, later in the year, started to listen to podcasts on Spotify during the school day. This was allowed, even encouraged, by her teachers. At 12 years old, she started listening to true crime podcasts throughout the entire school day. These podcasts described in graphic detail the rape and murder of young women. She became terrified of being home alone for any length of time, of walking around our extremely safe neighborhood. She worried that innocent family members may really be criminals who could hurt her at anytime. 

My oldest daughter, a sophomore in high school with ADHD, struggles with impulse control, particularly when tasked with working online. At her school, many teachers exclusively convey academic content through online platforms. Apart from movie streaming, there appear to be little to no blocks on what students can access on their chromebooks. Needless to say, when given the choice (in her mind) between creating pinterest boards and playing online games or completing online assignments, she inevitably chooses to pursue these mindless hobbies. She is now failing English. I’ve repeatedly asked the teacher to remove the chromebook, but he will not. I bought the book they are supposed to be reading on a pdf and offered to send that to school for her to read when she was struggling to pay attention on the chromebook. No response from the teacher. The only response I’ve ever gotten is that the district required benchmark tests have to be completed online. My daughter loves to read and to write. I know that if the teacher just put the chromebooks away and handed out books and engaged the students directly with the material, she would flourish in his class.

Maybe some students will always be disengaged in education. I know that many adults took English courses like the one I wish for my daughter and were bored to tears.  Still, the use of educational technologies in school feels like a choice to drop engagement altogether; it feels like a choice to prioritize data, standards, and a check-the-box kind of completion above all else.