GCS iPad Update
News for the week of August 26, 2013
iMessage
Many parents have asked if iMessage could be turned off or blocked on the iPad. The answer is, yes.
Turning iMessage off will require you to first disable iMessage, then lock your child's ability to change the account settings on his or her iPad. That might sound difficult, but it's not.
1. Go to Settings - Messages
2. Turn iMessage off.
LOCK ABILITY TO CHANGE ACCOUNT SETTINGS IN RESTRICTIONS
1. Go to Settings. Scroll down and select Restrictions.
If you've already set up restrictions, you'll be prompted to enter the passcode. If not, choose Enable Restrictions and enter a passcode. Be sure to use a 4-digit passcode that you will remember, but your son or daughter will not guess.
2. Scroll down and select Allow Changes: choose Accounts.
3. Select Don't Allow Changes.
The iMessage icon will still appear on the iPad. When your son or daughter taps on the icon, they will receive a message which says, "Account Restriction: This iPad is restricted from creating iMessage accounts."
Ask.fm is a social networking site where users post random questions. The site can be accessed via the web or its app. Because it's a social networking app, it is not allowed on student iPads.
The site has attracted a great deal of negative press lately when it was cited as a contributing factor in the suicides of several teenagers. A Google news search for Ask.fm, will give you far too many news articles of teenagers who committed suicide after being cyberbullied on Ask.fm.
The takeaway here is to talk to your son or daughter. Do they have an Ask.fm account? If they do, look at it. Talk about it. My warnming to parents is always to consider who you are allowing into your child's life. Ask.fm gives the world to unfiltered access to your child. That should set off warning bells for you.
If you are interested in learning more about Ask.fm, here are some additional articles you can read.
Resource for Students
I'm sharing this information with you so that if your student panics late one night during the first couple of weeks of school, you will have a place to go for help.
First, I have tried to put all of our iPad resources on a web site. This is always a good place to start. Click here to visit GCS iPad Central.
If you want or need to look at the tutorial I'm sending to students today regarding Notability, our notetaking app, and eBackpack, click here.
Look at the iPad
Christina Jontra
Grace Community School
Email: cjontra@gracetyler.org
Website: gracetyler.org
Twitter: @jontracation