Season 01 : Episode 09 : Education during COVID: Is Zoom Safe for Kids and Schools?

Episode Summary

During COVID most schools tried to create a half-school, half-home schedule. Given the likelihood that most schools will be using some version of this half and half hybrid setup now, and in the future – the next question is obvious. How will the students AT HOME engage in class activities?

Zoom, a videoconferencing platform, has been widely used in schools with mixed results. School children, school board meetings, college courses, and business conferences have been “zoom-bombed” by trolls showing graphically sexual images and disturbing racism. Zoom has also been in the news due to hacking issues, questions about data security, and data privacy. So the question remains – Should Zoom be used in schools for kids?

Just for members of the Big Mama’s House Fan Club.

Go to the Patreon channel and download the cheat sheet made specifically for this episode – including episode breakdown as well as internet safety tips and tricks checklists for both parents and schools.

  • How Covid has impacted schools, school children, and educators globally and in the US.
  • What we’ve learned about ourselves and each other through the pandemic.
  • Appreciation for the work and sacrifice of teachers – worldwide.
  • Educators always adapt to any situation they happen to be facing.
  • Schools which were already 1:1 (each student is issued a device) adapted the quickest, but “quickest”
    isn’t always the best outcome.
  • Most schools will be going to a half school / half home – school schedule.
  • What does the CDC say schools should do about scheduling?
  • Why I’m addicted to watching HGTV’s House Hunters International – it’s like watching a slow-motion
    train wreck. Plus the scenery.
  • Advice for school administrators feeling pressure to “go back to normal.”
  • UNESCO’s concern for the drop in learning which has already resulted.
  • UNESCO’s suggested resources for schools
  • What is Zoom?
  • How I use Zoom.
  • Is Zoom safe to use in schools?
  • A brief history of Zoom and it’s founder – he’s actually a good guy. Who knew?

Listen Now

Sources

About the author(s) Hayoung Kim is a consultant in McKinsey’s New Jersey office. “COVID-19 and US Higher
Education Enrollment: Preparing Leaders for Fall.” McKinsey & Company,
www.mckinsey.com/industries/social-sector/our-insights/covid-19-and-us-higher-education-enrollment-pre
paring-leaders-for-fall#.

“Cases in the U.S.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 11
June 2020, www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html.

Casey, Nicholas. “College Made Them Feel Equal. The Virus Exposed How Unequal Their Lives Are.” The New
York Times, The New York Times, 4 Apr. 2020,
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“Considerations for Schools.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 19 May 2020, www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/schools.html.

Constine, Josh. “Beware of ‘ZoomBombing’: Screensharing Filth to Video Calls.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 18 Mar. 2020, techcrunch.com/2020/03/17/zoombombing/.

Cox, Joseph. “Zoom Removes Code That Sends Data to Facebook.” Vice, 27 Mar. 2020, www.vice.com/en_us/article/z3b745/zoom-removes-code-that-sends-data-to-facebook.

“Distance Learning Solutions.” UNESCO, 19 June 2020, en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse/solutions.

Feldman, Brian. “Is It Safe to Use Zoom?” Intelligencer, Intelligencer, 9 Apr. 2020, nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/the-zoom-app-has-a-lot-of-security-problems.html.

Hartmans, Avery. “Trolls Have Started Invading Public Zoom Calls to Share Porn – Here’s How to Change Your Settings to Make Your Chat Safer.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 19 Mar. 2020, www.businessinsider.com/zoom-settings-change-avoids-trolls-porn-2020-3.

“How to Keep Uninvited Guests Out of Your Zoom Event.” Zoom Blog, 25 June 2020, blog.zoom.us/keep-uninvited-guests-out-of-your-zoom-event/.

Lee, Micah, and Yael Grauer. “Zoom Meetings Aren’t End-to-End Encrypted, Despite Misleading Marketing.” The Intercept, 31 Mar. 2020, theintercept.com/2020/03/31/zoom-meeting-encryption/.

Lorenz, Taylor, and Davey Alba. “’Zoombombing’ Becomes a Dangerous Organized Effort.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 3 Apr. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/technology/zoom-harassment-abuse-racism-fbi-warning.html.

Lorenz, Taylor. “How to Prevent ‘Zoombombing’ in a Few Easy Steps.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Apr. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/style/zoom-security-tips.html.

“The NCES Fast Facts Tool Provides Quick Answers to Many Education Questions (National Center for Education Statistics).” National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Home Page, a Part of the U.S. Department of Education, nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372.

Newman, Lily Hay. “A Zoom Flaw Gives Hackers Easy Access to Your Webcam.” Wired, Conde Nast, www.wired.com/story/zoom-bug-webcam-hackers/.

Reynolds, Kelvin. “Hack of Pickens County School Board Zoom Meeting under Investigation.” Https://Www.wbrc.com, 14 May 2020, www.wbrc.com/2020/05/14/hack-pickens-county-school-board-zoom-meeting-under-investigation/.

Rogers, Taylor Nicole. “Meet Eric Yuan, the Founder and CEO of Zoom, Who Has Made Nearly $4 Billion in 3 Months as Usage of His Video Conferencing Software Skyrockets amid the Coronavirus Pandemic.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 1 Apr. 2020, www.businessinsider.com/meet-zoom-billionaire-eric-yuan-career-net-worth-life#yuan-is-extremely-popular-with-zooms-employees-7.

Rogers, Taylor Nicole. “Meet Eric Yuan, the Founder and CEO of Zoom, Who Has Made Nearly $4 Billion in 3 Months as Usage of His Video Conferencing Software Skyrockets amid the Coronavirus Pandemic.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 1 Apr. 2020, www.businessinsider.com/meet-zoom-billionaire-eric-yuan-career-net-worth-life.

Roser, Max. “Teachers and Professors.” Our World in Data, 28 Sept. 2017, ourworldindata.org/teachers-and-professors#total-number-of-teachers.

Solochek, Jeffrey S. “Pasco PTA Zoom Meeting Gets Hacked with Porn, Racist Rants.” Tampa Bay Times, Tampa Bay Times, 12 June 2020, www.tampabay.com/news/pasco/2020/06/11/pasco-pta-zoom-meeting-gets-hacked-with-porn-racist-rants/.

“Startling Disparities in Digital Learning Emerge as COVID-19 Spreads: UN Education Agency | | UN News.” United Nations, United Nations, news.un.org/en/story/2020/04/1062232.

“University of Southern California.” USC, keepteaching.usc.edu/tools/zoombombing-resources/.

Whittaker, Zack. “A Bug Bounty Alone Won’t Save Your Startup – Here’s Why.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 2 Apr. 2020, techcrunch.com/2020/04/02/startups-bug-bounty-not-enough/.

Whittaker, Zack. “Maybe We Shouldn’t Use Zoom after All.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 31 Mar. 2020, techcrunch.com/2020/03/31/zoom-at-your-own-risk/.

Whittaker, Zack. “Zoom Admits Some Calls Were ‘Mistakenly’ Routed through China.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 4 Apr. 2020, techcrunch.com/2020/04/03/zoom-calls-routed-china/.

‘Zoombombers’ Disrupt Online Classes with Racist, Pornographic Content, www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/03/26/zoombombers-disrupt-online-classes-racist-pornographic-content.

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