Parents’ Concerns About E-Teaching Apps Innovating Education
Amid the times of COVID, online education delivery apps have become highly popular across the world, and a majority of children globally are dependent on them to receive education during the lockdown period. But, what about the risks associated with the use of such tech applications? Do parents really understand what sort of privacy and safety risks their children get exposed to while learning by leveraging modern technology?
Here, in this article, we will talk about the 3 questions that parents should ask themselves before allowing children to take learning classes online.
Share of US adults who think children learn better in class than online (2020)
Source: Statista
Did you know that as many as 1.5 billion children around the world are been forced to receive an education online instead of going to schools because of COVID spread?
Potential Risks Associated with the Use of Edutech Apps
Online education technology is fairly new to parents as well as their kids, and there is little to no awareness about the privacy and safety risks associated with the same. Schools, amid the times of COVID, are delivering education to their students over the web, which requires parents to give consent to an array of terms & conditions that most parents either don’t read or fully understand. Parents across the globe need to understand that imparting education online, for a school, or a tutor, requires the use of an Edutech app that takes multiple permissions from them pertaining to their children’s online privacy.
However, parents are forced to allow their children to gain access to learning through edutech apps that are innovating education in the times of COVID, they still can oversee and supervise the concerned process to safeguard their children’s rights. As a parent, ensure choosing a responsible and credible online platform to have your children receive learning from. Trusted portals like Edvantic (the world’s education company) can be visited to sign up for online learning courses that are specific to improving the employability of graduates and working professionals, across industry domains.
Now, it’s time to come straight to the point and talk about the things that parents should be vigilant about when allowing children to take classes online.
3 Things Parents Must Ensure While Allowing Children Access Online Learning
Does Education Technology, or the App, Promotes Creativity?
The edutech app your child uses to gain online education must offer data to showcase its educational value. Not every Edutech application can be trusted, neither each of them boasts of exceptional reviews from the users. Parents can seek out research-led evaluations from third-party organizations to gauge the effectiveness of education technology or a related app. The technology must also promote the eruption of independent thoughts and creativity among its users.
Does education technology protect the child’s personal data?
The technology being leveraged to access online learning must safeguard children from potential exploitation, harassment, online bullying, and other forms of risks pertaining to digital security. When children converse with their peers online over an Edutech application, they are highly vulnerable to all sorts of digital risks, e.g. vulgarity, abuse, obscene content, and similar adversities associated with digital learning.
An underage kid must be secured from such online adversities, and the concerned app must protect the child from most of them. Besides, parents also need to ensure that the concerned edutech app is not selling their children’s personal data to third parties without their consent.
Does the Subscribed Edutech App Conform to Responsible Usage?
A large percentage of edutech applications are designed to maximize their usage by the children, thereby indirectly making them addicted to such apps. There must be a provision of usage-limit attached to the concerned app that should restrict children from using the software tool beyond a specific time duration. Parents, as an added aid, can teach their children about the potential disadvantages with the overuse of the learning application. Children between the ages of 2-5 must not spend more than one hour on the digital gadgets in a day, while those above the age of 5 should practice usage in moderation, that too, supervised by their parents.
