The "homework gap" hasn't gone away. According to the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), the lack of access to the internet at home continues to put a sizable number of students at a "significant disadvantage."
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 07/17/18
At the National Association of School Resource Officers annual conference, a thousand-plus attendees made up primarily of school-based law enforcement officers, school administrators and school security and safety professionals hit the tradeshow aisles to see the latest in classroom door lockdown technology, body cameras and radio systems. While we don't all need knapsack armor panels, here are six technologies that may find a home on your campus, several of which are free for educators.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 07/09/18
CoSN CEO Keith Krueger shares insights from the 2018 National K-12 IT Leadership Survey Report.
- By Keith R. Krueger
- 06/28/18
Google is expediting access to details about college when somebody looks up a specific institution in the search engine. When a user enters a college name, he or she will receive the usual capsule description from Wikipedia, as well as a menu with quick links to information about admissions, cost, majors, outcomes and other aspects and other stats.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 06/18/18
Among those who view the internet as a "bad" thing for society, the most common issue that stood out (cited by 25 percent) was how it isolates people or pushes them to spend too much time on devices. Sixteen percent talked about the spread of fake news; 14 percent were concerned about its impact on children; and 13 percent suggested that it "encourages illegal activity."
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 06/12/18
With only three exceptions, salaries are up across the board for technology professionals in K–12 education in the last two years. The biggest gripe continues to be (not terribly surprisingly) budgets.
Technologies such as typewriters, analog cameras and cassette tape players are fading from human awareness. A new report from YouGov, a consumer data firm, examined generational differences regarding technology and found that most Gen Zers — those born in this millennium — wouldn't know how to use a fax machine, rotary phone, floppy disk or beeper. For example, just 17 percent of young people said they were comfortable using a rotary phone; 15 percent said the same about fax machines; and just 7 percent said so about pagers.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 05/22/18
A new report found that while many states have figured out how to share multiple sources of education data to reduce manual data entry or improve data consistency, they still struggle to use data "to present a full picture of student learning."
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 05/17/18
Blackboard today introduced Blackboard Ally for Web, a solution for assessing and improving the accessibility of institutions' websites. The tool expands on Blackboard's Ally product (launched last year), which focuses on the accessibility of course materials in learning management systems.
A new mobile browser developed at Carnegie Mellon University offers a better search experience for people doing complex searches across multiple websites. The app offers the promise of replacing the overwhelming tab management required by iPhone's default Safari browser. The Bento browser, as it's called, compartmentalizes search sessions into a project workspace structure.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 05/02/18