On Tuesday, October 27th, I had the opportunity to facilitate the very first virtual TSPN (Tech Savvy Parenting Night) sponsored by the BPS Edtech team. For our inaugural event, part of our ongoing “Digital Bootcamp Series,” we were fortunate to have Sarah Thomas (@sarahdateechur) join us for a conversation about cyber security.

Sarah is a nationally recognized digital citizenship expert, a member of the Digital Citizenship Twitter chat moderation team, and presents regularly nation wide about cyber security and other topics related to educational technology. In her “Protect YoSelf Fool!” presentation Sarah discussed the topics of wi-fi sniffing, ATM skimming, and spoofcards. Additionally, she shares her perspective about the use of Periscope, a live video streaming app, as well as the use of Drones in education. You can see Sarah’s presentation slides here.

Our conversation emphasized using technology in a safe, ethical, and responsible manner, but to also keep in mind that there are inherent dangers in using the Internet and technology in general. The more informed parents are about both the pros and cons of the web, the safer their children will be whenever they are using digital tools. Parents of children of all ages should take the time to view the video archive of the TSPN (embedded below) to learn more about cyber security and what they can do to protect their children.

Stay tuned for November’s TSPN and thank you for watching!