CURRICULUM: HomePage: A Whole Family Guide to Digital Citizenship

Clay Nichols, one of the founders of DADLABS and  the chief Creative Officer of LookOut Social, has a new Kickstarter campaign that is definitely of interest to the Digifam community.

The Kickstarter, titled HomePage: A Whole Family Guide to Digital Citizenship, envisions creating a carefully researched curriculum for parents and kids to work through together to learn best practices in social media, how parents can interact with kids, what to worry about, and what not to worry about.  

The curriculum, which will be similar to a multimedia e-book and made available for purchase through the LookOut Social website, has a dual track (2-e-books-in-1), one for parents, and one for kids.  

Clay likens it to Drivers Ed for a kid’s first Facebook account. After completing the class, the parent and the tween can come to an understanding that opening a social account (or multiple accounts) is conditional only after completing the course. Parents will get a carefully researched look at the realities of the social media landscape, as well as a glimpse at how kids use social tools and the  the pitfalls and techniques for reasonable supervision. Tweens will get an authentic look at the realities of living online, in a voice that is age-appropriate, sometimes related by their peers and rich with actionable information

There are a number of  “chapters” in the curriculum, including

• Parent/Child Social Media Personality Diagnostic
• First Owned Device: What’s the best first device for kids?
• Social Media Best Practices: Words , Photos , Videos , Links , Friending

There are also chapters that offer advice on how to have frank discussions about sex, drugs and alcohol, bullying, stalking, and abusive language, as well as other topics of importance and interest.

This curriculum works hand in hand with LookOut Social’s offering, which (according to their website) will go into beta-testing  in September.   LookOut will offer an online cloud based service that will allow parents to monitor their kids social interactions in an unobtrusive manner. They’ll charge a small fee for the service.

Clay has over 10 years experience as a high school teacher, has written a book designed for teens about filmmaking and has produced over 100 episodes of DadLabs, and most importantly, has 3 kids, so he’s living it.

This is a great idea, and Clay has the experience, the knowledge, and the tools to make this curriculum indispensable to parents of tweens.

We at Digifam urge you to support this Kickstarter campaign.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 Adam Gertsacov is the co-founder and co-organizer of Digital Family Summit.  He wears many hats, including those of a professional clown, an author and publisher, an artist/educator, a non-profit administrator, a P.T. Barnum impersonator, a flea circus impresario, and the esteemed hat of the Clown Laureate of Greenbelt, Maryland.