Tag Archive for Common Core

| April 30, 2017
Comments Off on A Lifetime on Social Media

A Lifetime on Social Media

From the scary stats department – In 2015, time spent on mobile apps exceeded time spent watching TV for U.S. consumers according to TechCrunch. And now influencer marketing agency MediaKix has calculated more scary social media statistics. Social media users will now spend years online during their lifetime.

Time spent on social media is increasingGrowth on many of the top social media platforms continues to rise as each network rolls out new features and functionalities to better compete for users’ daily time. It must be working, not only is the number of people using social media increasing, and the time people are spending each day on social media is increasing. MediaKix says that just  Facebook (FB) users are spending an average of 50 minutes each day on the site.

Time on popular social media platforms

In order to see how much the average person will spend on social media throughout their life, MediaKix calculated the time spent across today’s most popular social media platforms. Across today’s most popular social media platforms, people are spending the following daily averages:

The advertising firm says these social media consumption rates, across a lifetime will total up to:

  • A lifetime on social mediaYouTube: 1 year, 10 months
  • Facebook: 1 year, 7 months
  • Snapchat: 1 year, 2 months
  • Instagram: 8 months
  • Twitter: 18 days

5 years 4 months on social media

Cumulatively, this adds up for a total of 5 years and 4 months spent on social media across a lifetime. Compare the time spent on social media against more mundane life activities.

  • Social Media: 5 years, 4 months
  • Eating & Drinking: 3 years, 5 months
  • Grooming: 1 year, 10 months
  • Socializing: 1 year, 3 months
  • Laundry: 6 months

The Santa Monica, CA firm projected the social media figures across an entire lifetime and put the numbers into the infographic below.

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I have argued for a while that the social media fake news issue is a result of the American educational system. They are obsessed with teaching the common core. They don’t teach any analytical skills. Schools need to reinstate current events and media literacy classes.

Quartz cited a survey that found that teens prefer Facebook as a news source (41%). Tweens break between YouTube (41%) and Facebook (37%). By huge margins, girls prefer Facebook for news, and boys, YouTube.

The converging trends of more time spent online, preferring social media as a news source and no education is putting democracy at risk.

Related articles

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

 

Search Engine Journal offers some good suggestions on how to evaluate if a story is real or fake.

What is the Site? most major recognized sources for news journalism are not going to be producing clickbait fake news. Most of the fake news sites go for “shock” value and produce fake stories that are not as recognized. Look into the source itself and see whether it is a website that can be trusted.

Check the Domain – Many fake news stories use similar URLs and domain names to mimic reputable news sources, but rather than using a .com they use .com.co endings

What are the Authors’ Sources? – Good news stories contain links to other reputable reporting by respected organizations. Be wary of sources that cannot substantiate their claims.

Fact Check! – When in doubt, fact-check the information that you read! You can start with a simple search to look into the keywords or the event that is being reported on. You can also use sites like PolitiFact, FactCheck, and Snopes.

Examine the Website Closely – Look at the full spectrum of details on the site. Is there other fake-looking or shocking headlines? What does the overall website look like? How is the user experience? Sometimes doing just a little further digging will make it clear if a news story is fake.

Act! – Once you identify if a story is real or fake, you can make a big difference. Do not share stories on social media that are fake and make them more visible. If you notice a friend or family member share a fake story on a social media outlet, do them a favor and comment or message them showing how you found out it was fake so they don’t repeat the same mistake.

If you come across a fake news article, comment on it stating how you arrived at the conclusion it was fake. If everyone does their part to distinguish fake news stories and make them known, then they won’t be shared as easily.

Category: Social Networking | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
| July 2, 2015
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The Enemy Within at School

The Enemy Within at SchoolNaked Security reports on a hack that combines two of our favorite things on the Bach Seat, Florida, and lax data security at school. The way the Sophos blog tells the story, a 14-year-old Florida boy is charged with being a hacker by trespassing on his school’s computer system.

Florida school hacker

The charges came after he shoulder-surfed a teacher typing in his password and used it without permission to trespass in the network. The student then tried to embarrass a teacher he doesn’t like by swapping his desktop wallpaper with an image of two men kissing.

an offense against a computer system and unauthorized accessA Tampa Bay Times article says that an eighth-grader was recently arrested for “an offense against a computer system and unauthorized access.” This is a felony in Fla. Sheriff Chris Nocco said that the teen logged onto the network of a Pasco County School District school using an administrative-level password without permission.

A spokesman for the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office told Network World that the student was not detained. Rather, he was questioned at the school before being released to his mother. His sentence remains to be seen, But at this point, it’s looking like the boy isn’t going to suffer much more than a 10-day school suspension. Sheriff’s detective Anthony Bossone says is likely to be “pretrial intervention” by a judge with regards to the felony charge, the Tampa Bay Times reports. Naked Security says this is the student’s second offense.

Old school securityWhen the newspaper interviewed the student, he said that he’s not the only one who uses that password. Other students commonly log into the administrative account to screen-share with their friends, he said. It’s a well-known trick, the student said. He claimed the password was a snap to remember, it’s just the teacher’s last name, which the boy says he learned by watching the teacher type it in.

The sheriff says that the student didn’t just access the teacher’s computer to pull his wallpaper prank. He also reportedly accessed a computer with sensitive data – the state’s standardized tests – (now we know why he is in trouble – NCLB! – Common Core!!) while logged in as an administrator. Those are files he well could have viewed or tampered with, though he denies having done so. Sheriff Nocco says that’s the reason why this can’t be dismissed as being just a bit of fun. Even though some might say this is just a teenage prank, who knows what this teenager might have done.

I logged out of that computer and logged into a different one and I logged into a teacher’s computer who I didn’t like and tried putting inappropriate pictures onto his computer to annoy him.

in typical HS-er logic, he told the newspaper:

If they’d have notified me it was illegal, I wouldn’t have done it in the first place. But all they said was ‘You shouldn’t be doing that.‘

Idaho school hacker

rented a cloud based botnet to launch a distributed denial of serviceAnother report from the other side of the continent comes from Engadget. They report that a teenager from Idaho took advantage of the latest trend in online criminal activity. He likely rented a cloud-based botnet to launch a distributed denial of service (DDos) against the largest school district in Idaho. The alleged DDoS took down the school district’s internet access according to media reports.

KTVB News reports that the 17-year-old student paid a third party to conduct a distributed denial-of-service attack/ The attack forced the entire West Ada school district offline. The act disrupted more than 50 schools, bringing everything from payroll to standardized tests (More high stakes testing – NCLB! Common Core!!) grinding to a halt. Unfortunate students undertaking the Idaho Standard Achievement test had to go through the process multiple times because the system kept losing their work and results.

State and Federal felony chargesThe report goes on to say that authorities have found the Eagle High student from their IP address. The students could now face State and Federal felony charges. If found guilty, the unnamed individual is likely to serve up to 180 days in jail, as well as being expelled from school. In addition, the suspect’s parents will be asked to pay for the financial losses suffered as a consequence of the attack.

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Many school networks have bigger pipes than the business world. Some EDU networks I have worked on have had 10 GigE for years. In the rest of the online world, these incidents would serve as a wake-up call to network managers that hey, we might be at risk too, but not schools. Oh yeah – Passwords are Evil

Rightly or wrongly schools rely on the Intertubes for their core business – instruction, and NCLB high-stakes testing. However, they do not take steps to protect themselves. Administrators fight common tactics like periodic password changes, enforcing password complexity, or blacklisting common weak passwords. None bother with an anti-DDOS strategy let alone buying a tool to fight off a denial of service attack.

Related articles

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| December 9, 2014
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Subpeona Served for LA iPads

Subpeona Served for LA iPadsThis bad idea never seems to go away. Remember the Los Angles Unified School District’s $1.3 billion iPads-for-all project? LAUSD big-wigs claimed that the Apple iPads and Pearson software would raise LA students’ Common Core test scores. I covered the questionable decision here and here. While the proverbial other-shoe appears to be dropping. Not only did the apparent sweetheart deal between the LAUSD Superintendent, Apple (AAPL), and Pearson (PSO) cost Supt. John Deasy his $350,000 a year job – now the Feds are involved.

FBI served a subpoena against the LA school districtThe LA Times reports that the FBI served a subpoena against the LA school district which compelled America’s second-largest school district to cough up 20 boxes of documents related to the flawed iPad project, to a federal grand jury.

The subpoena asked for documents related to the bidding process as well as to the winning bidders in the $1.3-billion poorly planned project. The subpoena, which was provided to The LA Times, is part of a wide-ranging investigation is looking into records related to Apple and Pearson that predate the bidding process or that involve other projects. The article says the documents sought include all kinds of documents:

… score sheets; complete notepads, notebooks and binders; reports; contracts; agreements; consent forms; files; notices; agenda; meetings notes and minutes; instructions; accounting records” and much more.

The article notes that the morning after the FBI seized the documents, Supt. Ramon C. Cortines said he was shelving the contract. He denies that decision was based on the surprise visit by the FBI. Supt. Cortines told the LA Times;

We’re not going to use the original iPad contract anymore. I think there have been too many innuendos, rumors, etc…

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The grand jury process has recently developed a credibility problem in the US. So who knows what they will find in this case. Apple and Pearson have billions in cash to spread around to “educate” people about how great they are.

This just goes to prove how the confluence of bad ideas, poor planning, and greed can go terribly wrong.

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Tablet computing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
| October 8, 2013
Comments Off on LA Schools iPads Hacked In A Week

LA Schools iPads Hacked In A Week

– UPDATE 08-28-2014 – Just in time for the start of School reports surface LAUSD is “re-opening” bids for its controversial billion-dollar contract with Apple and Pearson to give all students, teachers, and administrators iPads.

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LA iPads Hacked In A WeekThe second-largest school district in the US is spending at least $1 Billion to complete a 1:1 tablet initiative. The Las Angles Unified School District (LAUSD) plans to deploy 650,000 Apple (AAPL) iPads, one for each student in LA county. The project slated to be completed by December 2014, has had problems that may prevent if from reaching that goal.

Las Angles Unified School DistrictThe project includes 500 million dollars for iPads and 500 million dollars for Wi-Fi and related infrastructure. The initiative is funded mostly by voter-approved school construction bonds, which taxpayers typically pay off over 25 years which the LA Times says “has sparked some concerns and legal and logistical hurdles.”  (rb- I first noted the project here)

The project has run into a series of issues. The first issue focused on the 25 year payback period on a $500.00 device. A second issue emerged in September 2013 when the district recognized that it may need to buy Bluetooth keyboards for the iPads. The LA Times estimated a bill of $38 million for the oversight. The LA Times reports that the included software keyboard on the iPad might not satisfy the needs of older students writing term papers.

650,000 Apple iPads,Also, LAUSD has planned to use the iPads for testing based on new Common Core English and math learning standards. The article contends that the iPad’s touch screen could frustrate students and even obscure portions of a test item that would be visible in its entirety on a full screen. (rb- I talked to many school districts about the SBAC keyboard testing issue, who is going to configure Bluetooth on and off? What about power? Does Bluetooth decrease the battery time on the iPad? Do you have enough electrical outlets to plug in 30 iPads? How is your Wi-Fi?)

In late September 2013, the LAUSD iPad project ran into a bigger problem as they deployed the iPads to high school students. According to the LA Times, it took exactly one week for nearly 300 students at Theodore Roosevelt High School to defeat the LAUSD installed device security. Following the news that students were using the hacked tablets for personal use, district officials halted home use of the Apple tablets until further notice.

Common Core English and math learning standards.Students told the LA Times once they had the iPad home they could not do anything with the $678 device. Apparently, the students began to tinker with the security lock on the tablets and soon discovered all they had to do was delete their personal profile information. With the profile deleted, a student was free to surf, tweet like, and stream music.

The new found freedom prompted L.A. Unified School District Police Chief Steven Zipperman to suggest that the district might want to delay the distribution of the devices. The chief said in a memo obtained by the LA Times, “I want to prevent a ‘runaway train‘ scenario when we may have the ability to put a hold on the roll-out.”

I want to prevent a 'runaway train' scenarioAccording to a March 2013 blog post from Roosevelt HS, LAUSD chose AirWatch as the provider for the mobile device management system. And that when students first get their iPads they will have AirWatch already installed. The district posted an update on their website that indicated they have turned to AirWatch and Apple for better solutions to their iPad problem.

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This really is a story of mismanagement from the top down. A billion-dollar project for consumer devices financed over 25 years – Really? Are the students of LA’s class of 2038 going to have to use the iPad’s from 2013? Where is the refresh program? How are they getting the money to buy 650,000 iPad 9’s in 5 or 6 years?

If the iPads are to be used at home? how is LAUSD addressing the digital divide in LA?

Did the big-wigs consider the equity of using iPads for high-stakes nationwide common core testing? Not only will LA students be compared against each other and the rest of California but also students in 44 other states.  It is my understanding that the current SBAC test is not optimized to display well on small screens. Will the tablet form factor handicap LA students or others across the US using tablets when competing against others using large screens and real keyboards in ergonomically proper positions? Will LAUSD show the test takers how to see the entire question, or how to easily switch between back and forth between screens to review a passage and then write a response.

Call me cynical after working in K-12 and living in the Detroit area, but a public $1 Billion dollar government project seems like a magnet for mismanagement, fraud, waste, and pay-to-play scams. It already seems to be at least $20 million over budget to buy keyboards even at K-12 discounts. Hopefully, the iOS and AirWatch updates are already included in the existing contracts.

While the headline-grabbing hacking story may be resolved in Apple’s iOS7. AFAIK Apple does not let anybody into its BIOS or whatever chip it is on an iPad. That is why students can easily delete the AirWatch agent. LAUSD still has a task on its hands to get all the deployed devices up to iOS 7.

LAUSD is missing 71 iPadsIn more signs of mismanagement, The LA Times reports that LAUSD is missing 71 iPads. They deployed 69 of the missing iPads last year at the Valley Academy of Arts and Science. PadGadget reports that after the fact, the District ramped up its tracking efforts by adding stronger safeguards. Global positioning can now be activated for every tablet. Plus, an electronic inventory system registers who is now responsible for a particular device, and District officials can remotely shut down iPads reported stolen.  Lt. Jose Santome of the school district’s Police Department stated, “We know what’s going out and deployed on every campus.”

Related articles

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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