Spyware and Adware
Viruses are not the only threat to the security of your computer. Spyware and adware, small programs downloaded when you visit certain web sites, can also be a danger. This Washington Post article describes the problems and some recommended solutions.
A scientific search engine
eSchool News describes the effort to tailor new search engines to “scientific content” and describes Scirus a search engine supported by the publisher Elsevier. Scirus scours the web for documents that have scientific bibliographies and are structured according to scientific norms. Scirus is a free service.
School Web Sites
What do schools attempt to accomplish with their web sites (assuming they have one)? Do the intend to offer resources for parents, an outlet for student projects, the latest sports scores, or what? Do school web sites follow recommended design principles?
National Technology Plan
The technology plan is coming and various sources are “hinting” at what it has to say:
Clay Center Observatory
I was listening to “All Things Considered” on public radio and heard a report about a high school that had followed the launch of “Space Ship One” and made the images available to the general public. The Center made the images available to the general public despite the opportunity to sell the video. The Clay Center for Science and Technology offers programs for K-12 students.
This is not the K-12 experience I remember.
eSchool summarizes tech purchasing trends
eSchool News offers a summary of school purchasing projections collected by Quality Education Data and Market Data Retrieval. Overall, it appears tech budgets are flat. Trends appear to focus on mobility and flexibility – wireless laptops moved about in carts (COWS – computers on wheels). Another trend, probably in response to No Child Left Behind requirements, is the purchase of instructional software/instructional management software.