Two Ph.D. students and their professors have developed an open-source system for tracking the location of a lost or stolen laptop that does not rely on a proprietary, central tracking service--providing some competition for commercial software developers. One leading commercial developer, however, says the open-source version lacks a number of essential features and, therefore, is less effective in deterring laptop thefts and recovering laptops that do go missing.

Tags: laptops open-source stolen tracking on 08-11-2008 -Cached -About Shared by:Jeff Johnson

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Many schools are already inundated with curriculum initiatives, state mandates, and technology infusion programs designed to improve instruction and promote student academic success. The last thing they need is another new initiative to add to a litany of reform efforts. What makes LoTi different?

Tags: assessment baseline benchmark data improvement loti needs assessment on 07-15-2008 -Cached -About Shared by:Jeff Johnson

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I’ve been getting this question a lot lately from administrators, parents, and taxpayers. The question isn’t malicious, but rather comes from folks with a vested interest in making sure that our technology dollars directly benefit students. Does giving teachers laptops directly benefit students? For people who aren’t actively teaching in a classroom, that’s a hard question to answer.\n\nI don’t think it’s very hard for teachers to answer the question, though, especially at the secondary level. For most people entering the business world, there is no question that they will have a computer on their desk when they are hired. It might be a laptop, a desktop, a shared desktop facilitated with some sort of flextime arrangement, or even a computer allowance so that the new hire can buy a machine that makes them the most productive. However, it’s not terribly likely that they’ll just be handed a dry erase marker and a whiteboard, pointed towards a copy machine, and told to go for it.

Tags: 1-to-1 benefit budget initiative laptop learning program students on 07-09-2008 -Cached -About Shared by:Jeff Johnson

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Google SketchUp Teacher Guide FUN projects you can use in your classroom, using FREE Google SketchUp software For each project shown, you can view project details in HTML or PDF format.

Tags: edtech google sketchup software teacher guide on 07-09-2008 -Cached -About Shared by:Jeff Johnson

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A survey by Symantec Corp. suggests that parents are unaware of their children's internet activity.

Tags: clueless internet internet safety parents safety students on 07-08-2008 -Cached -About Shared by:Jeff Johnson

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