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Technology Tools

Expand your teaching toolkit with technology tools. Find reviews of tech tools, gadgets and software that can be used in your classroom to complement and augment your curriculum.

Even Personal Security Can Be Green!

My Mobile Witness™ offers anyone who has a cell phone a level of free personal security that has not been available previously. This is how it works: If a student, or teacher, or parent perceives an uncomfortable situation, they simply take a picture of the "dangerous" person or object, or type a brief text message describing the danger, and send the message to a unique phone number provided by My Mobile Witness. The information is then stored in the "digital vault," and can be retrieved by law enforcement if the danger is realized.

The service is free and, obviously, environmentally friendly, leaving a very minute carbon footprint. There may be a text message fee associated with the service provided by the cell phone company, and My Mobile Witness says they will send one or two email messages a month from their sponsors.

My Mobile Witness says the service is intended to be used as a precaution or deterrent to a potentially hazardous situation. For example, if a stranger is following you after a high school football game, or your car breaks down and someone stops to help you, or another driver has road-rage on the highway, you can snap a picture or compose a text message, and send it to My Mobile Witness using the unique phone number they provide. All messages are saved for 6 months and can only be retrieved by law enforcement. Police can access the digital vault without a court order or subpoena if they go through "Fusion Centers" that coordinate state law enforcement efforts. Even the sender cannot see or retrieve messages without going through a law enforcement agency.

My Mobile Witness cautions that the service should not be used in emergency situations (call 911 instead!), when it might aggravate a potentially harmful situation, or when it is contrary to common sense. Likewise, it is important to get signed up before you actually need the service. It is free, it is green, and it offers another level of important personal security to parents, students, and educators.

Disclaimer: The Corporation for Educational Technology (Buddy) has no agenda other than the interests of K-12 educators. Technology product reviews render no financial incentive to our organization.

This article appeared in the ETC...and More! volume 2, number 5 newsletter and is published by the Buddy Project (Corporation for Educational Technology), in collaboration with the Hoosier Educational Computer Coordinators (HECC), Indiana Computer Educators (ICE), the Indiana Department of Education, and Promoting Achievement through Technology and INstruction for all Students (PATINS).