Tag Archives: computer
Teaching with Technology in the Facebook Era
As educators, we know all too well how prevalent Facebook has become in the lives of today’s students. While almost all students use Facebook, many have a love/hate relationship with it. They like staying constantly connected with their friends – and their friends of friends – but they also know how much time they waste on it. They might not be willing to admit it, but students actually want to get away from Facebook in order to study. At StudyBlue, we learned this lesson firsthand. Continue reading
Protecting Data Privacy on School Computer Systems
K-12 and higher education school computer systems contain private data of staff, students and parents/guardians. Cybercriminals are motivated to gain unauthorized access to school computer systems because the data on these systems could be used by the attacker to commit crime, such as identity theft, computer system vandalism, fraud using stolen credit card numbers, and privacy breaches to students’ education records. Continue reading
Protecting School Computer Systems from Cybercrime
K-12 and higher education school computer systems are under attack. Cybercriminals are targeting school computer systems because if they can gain unauthorized access to these computer systems, then they can steal student and staff private information, such as Social Security numbers, medical records, and other private data. Cybercriminals are also motivated to commit other crimes, such as changing grades, causing damage to school computers’ hardware and software, and other crimes. Some examples of these crimes can be found by doing Internet searches for articles related to school computer security breaches. By typing “hacked school computer systems” in the Google search engine, you will find over 600,000 hits related to this topic. Some links even provide guidance on how to illegally hack into school computer systems. Some important stories are: Continue reading
Four Online Resources for Classroom Images
May means a lot of things. It’s the unofficial field trip month: just try reserving a school bus in May and you’ll find out just how many field trips occur in your district. May is test month. Students take state standardized tests and AP tests in May. They’re stressed until the middle of the month. May is senior month with another senior activity every other day: the senior banquet, the senior field trip, the senior graduation practice, the seniors’ last baseball game or track meet. It’s concert season, it’s the rainy season, and kids are squirrely. You’re packing up, tearing down, collecting, cataloging, figuring grades, and making sure your seniors are on track for passing your class.
May is also project month. We have just weeks left of school; no one wants to lecture students who squirm in their seats and watch the clock. Better to keep them engaged with the content and let them direct their own learning with a project. Continue reading
Students Online: Time Wasters or Innovators?
Your students are spending a lot of their free time online. Think of the number of hours you estimate they spend online. Double it. The doubled number is probably closer to the truth.
According to the Norton Online Living Report 2009, parents believe their children spend 21 hours online. The reality is that students in twelve countries reported spending 39 hours online. Don’t tell me these kids don’t have time to finish their assignments or clean their rooms. Continue reading
Five Documentation Strategies that Work Part Two: the computer-assisted paper trail.
I loved my computer grading program. Sure, it had its quirks, its functionality problems, but I loved the neat columns of numbers that didn’t come from my calculator at 11 p.m. the night before.
I really began to love it when Mark, an art teacher I worked with and admired, showed me how it could be a great documentation tool. This tip is stolen directly from that eye-opening conversation one parent-teacher conference night. Thank you, Mark. Continue reading
