The various scandals around social networking abuses have garnered lots of press in the past couple of years. Predators, bullying, slander, and harassment of all kinds on sites such as MySpace and Facebook are increasingly the subjects of horror stories and play into a renewed wave of fear about the dangers online. However, once the fear of safety…

Imagine a completely wireless school, an open network in which all students and staff can roam around using laptops or handheld computers to browse the Internet, access files and applications on the school server, and communicate with each other and the world via e-mail. It's a great picture--and at some schools the future is already here. But…

When it comes to security, many people do not know what they do not know. Consider for example, an administrator who leaves her password taped under her keyboard, or a teacher who doesn't change his password (ever!) or can't be bothered to log out or lock the computer, all the firewalls and antivirus programs in the world will not protect a…

This article provides a list of the essential steps to keeping a school's or district's network safe and sound. It describes how to establish a security architecture and approach that will continually evolve as the threat environment changes over time. The article discusses the methodology for implementing this approach and then discusses the…

It is not always easy to find the balance between protecting students from Internet dangers and distractions and reaping its benefits--but it is certainly on every district's tech priority list. Sharnell Jackson, chief e-learning officer for the 415,000-student Chicago Public Schools, and Miguel Guhlin, director of instructional technology…

There has long been a power struggle between techies and teachers over classroom computer desktops. IT personnel tend to believe allowing "inept" educators to have unfettered access to their computer's hard drive is an open invitation for trouble. Conversely, teachers often perceive tech support to be "uncaring" adversaries standing in the way of…

This article features the netTrekker d.i. The World Wide Web offers students the ability to do extensive searches for information. Properly used, it allows them to conduct the type of in-depth research that past generations could only dream of. Along with the opportunities are challenges. Danger lurks in the form of sites with misleading,…