As an educator in this era of electronic media, I often debate with myself where to draw the line between what is safe and what is best. Of course, my number one job as a teacher is to maintain student safety, and I take that position very seriously. On the other hand, though, when it comes to opening doors for students to the world outside the school, I sometimes question how “safe” they really are, even with all of our firewalls and security measures.
To avoid a lengthy debate on the subject of what is best vs. what is safe, I’d like to point out a Web 2.0 tool called KIDO’Z. KIDO’Z is a “Web Environment” designed for young children to young adults, to surf the internet safely. KIDO’Z was designed to be extremely kid-friendly, and by the looks of the pages, they succeeded here.
On the safety side, parents have the control to add the content that their child views. Parents can upload new content, and choose to allow or block other content that their child is, or could be, exposed to. KIDO’Z also moderates and pre-approves the content that comes through.
In viewing this site, it is clearly geared towards young children. That being said, it is one of the easiest sites that I have seen to navigate, with less text and plenty of images to guide even the most novice reader to where they would like to go. In a school or educational setting, KIDO’Z would be an excellent tool for the K-2 classroom. At this point, it is all about exposure to the available technologies, but safety is at a premium at all times.
Kids will like the fun look of the site and the games, videos and other content available. This exposure to new technology, particularly with the similarity this site has to the look of video games, will do a great deal to enhance student’s critical thinking development, simply through learning how to navigate and use the features available.
Visit http://kidoz.net/index.html for more information.
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