eSchool News

School districts create acceptable-use policies (AUPs) to define what is--and is not--acceptable behavior when using their computer resources. But at a time when computers and internet access are seen as increasingly important tools for instruction, many school leaders are struggling with how best to enforce these policies in the event that students transgress them.

"Hybrid" courses, which offer a blend of online and face-to-face instruction, have become increasingly popular in schools and colleges nationwide. Now, a new high school in Hawaii has taken the same concept and applied it to an entire school.

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Introducing the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC, a new notebook designed just for 1:1 computing programs. It's scaled down in size and weight, but it's huge in features--including one of the biggest keyboards in its class, an 8.9" diagonal screen and wireless capability. Learn more now.

Flash-card programs, eBook reading software, and science and math simulations are among more than a dozen educational software programs developed for Apple's iPhone that appear in the new App Store, which debuted July 11.

A San Antonio-area school district has debuted new classic-yellow school buses that reportedly are the first in the nation manufactured to run on propane. District officials say the new buses are expected to cut fuel costs at least in half--no small matter, given the soaring cost of fuel.

As learning management system (LMS) provider Blackboard Inc. continues its protracted legal battle with rival Desire2Learn, educators say the ongoing dispute over patent infringement could make the growing list of open-source LMS competitors more attractive to school leaders.

Social studies teachers now have a new resource to help them integrate 21st-century skills into their lessons: a free online document that maps various social studies projects, tasks, and outcomes to corresponding skills--such as problem solving and critical thinking--that are becoming increasingly important for 21st-century success.

A high-profile push by business groups to double the number of U.S. bachelor's degrees awarded in the United States in science, math, and engineering by 2015 is falling way behind target, a new report says.

Presumptive presidential nominees Barack Obama (D) and John McCain (R) have released more details about their education platforms in recent days, with both candidates making technology a focal point of their plans.

Transformation and collaboration were the central ideas of the 2008 National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in San Antonio, which kicked off June 29 with a call to fundamentally change education and continued with several other sessions that repeated this theme.

School IT administrators know that some students will do anything to breach network security systems designed to block inappropriate web sites and keep students on task. When a group of school district IT chiefs met recently to discuss the challenges of reining in students armed with tech savvy and a determination to wreak network havoc, their tales were cautionary, but their advice could prove valuable as computers become more common in K-12 schools.

As schools grapple with budget cuts and rising fuel costs, many districts are finding it necessary to reduce or eliminate field trips, leaving students and teachers with a surprisingly attractive option--virtual field trips.

Time was--in the musty era before even the commercial internet was generally available--an upstart America Online would charge you depending on how much time you spent crawling the internet (surfing came later). Ah, memories of spending interminable minutes watching a two-color AOL logo gradually load on your computer screen.

The head of the Federal Communications Commission said July 10 he will recommend that the nation's largest cable company be punished for violating agency principles that guarantee customers open access to the internet.

A free, open-source online screen-reading program that gives visually impaired students the ability to surf the web from any internet-connected device, and a system that enables students with severe physical handicaps to control computers or wheelchairs with only their tongues, are among the latest developments in assistive technology (AT) that aim to lessen--if not completely obliterate--the gap between the able and the disabled.

The nearly 10,000 HP mini-laptops headed for the Fresno Unified School District (FUSD) in California this fall confirm the trend: K-12 schools are eager to put technology into the hands of every student, and a growing number of schools are bypassing full-sized--and more expensive--laptop computers in favor of scaled-down, low-cost machines designed specifically for kids.

Schools and colleges have made great progress in using technology to support their enterprise-level programs and in providing new learning tools to students, but according to a new survey from the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA), most still fall short in using digital assessments to target instructional needs precisely.

A company paid to run more than 30 Philadelphia public schools argued in court last week that it is not responsible for enforcing safety measures, prompting national education experts to question the validity of public-private arrangements for struggling schools.

Despite gains in the number of households that are online and the number of computing devices in the hands of students, making sure all learners have equitable access to technology resources continues to be a challenge in the United States and worldwide, said panelists at a recent summit.

A new study suggests that attitude, rather than availability, might be the key reason more Americans don't have high-speed internet access.

Police in the 1970s urged citizens to "drop a dime" in a pay phone to report crimes anonymously. Now, in an increasing number of cities, cyber-savvy youths and other tipsters are being invited to use their thumbs--to identify criminals using text messages.