Making ‘Common Sense’ of media and tech tools

Parents and teachers in Pittsburgh now have Common Sense Media’s help in finding the best ways to navigate online learning – and improving kids’ overall online experience.

Common Sense aims to make children’s online journeys responsible, ethical and safe, teaching students about cyberbullying and enlisting its experts and teachers in the field to rate and review apps, websites, videos, and other media for educational use and for parents’ edification. Local Common Sense Education Program Manager Jennifer Ehehalt calls their services “almost like Trip Advisor for apps in the classroom.” The company opened up its Pittsburgh office in March, thanks to support from the Grable Foundation, and has been working at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit 3 in Homestead.

There, Ehehalt runs teachers’ professional development sessions called Appy Hours, highlighting three or four apps that work well for certain subjects and grade levels, including an app “play time” for the teachers.

“We hope most of them will leave with the motivation of taking it into the classroom and trying it out themselves,” she says. She also holds App Flows, which help teachers take an established lesson plan and figure out how to incorporate apps, websites and other tech elements into each section. Two teachers from Marshall Elementary School in North Allegheny, for instance, found the lessons so useful that now 25 Marshall teachers are headed to the Common Sense office for help on adapting tech to their building, Ehehalt reports.

Next, Common Sense is working with the Shaler school district and others on their rollout of tablets for every student, helping teachers adapt to this new learning environment. The company also puts out a family tool kit for best Internet practices, guiding parents on how to find good-quality, age-appropriate content.

Explains Ehehalt: “You want to make sure parents are modeling behavior at home.”

Writer: Marty Levine

Source: Jennifer Ehehalt, Common Sense Media