Blog IT

Laptop Requirement

The laundry list of requirements for incoming students at Fitchburg State College just got a little longer: All new students must bring personal laptop computers. Read full article.

Boot Camp Turns Your Mac Into a Reliable Windows PC

-By WALTER S. MOSSBERG
For mainstream computer users doing typical tasks, Apple Computer's Macintosh models have huge advantages over the prevalent Windows computers from companies such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard. The Macs have sleeker hardware designs, a superior operating system, much better built-in software, and virtually no exposure to viruses and spyware. Apple's flagship model, the iMac, is the best consumer desktop on the market. Read full article.

No laptops in class: Didn't we go through this years ago with calculators?

- Associated Press
A group of University of Memphis law students are passing a petition against a professor who banned laptop computers from her classroom because she considers them a distraction in lectures. On March 6, Professor June Entman warned her first-year law students by e-mail to bring pens and paper to take notes in class. Read full article.

Get smart

-The Age
The digital age means students need to be more tech savvy than ever. Mary Riekert and Lia Timson report. Victorian students making the daily trip to and from school have more than books and pencil cases in their backpacks. Laptops, PDAs and flash drives jostle with mobile phones and digital music players as technology blurs the divide between home and school. Read full article.

Downtown students may need laptop

- Tara Brite, WebDevil
Students attending ASU's downtown campus in the fall may not have to wait in line at a computing commons to get online since they may be required to have a laptop. Adrian Sannier, a University tech officer, is working with different groups at the downtown campus to implement a "1:1" technology plan where there will be one computer for every student on campus. Under the plan, ASU would invest money in helping students purchase laptops and choose the appropriate software programs for their majors. "The benefit of this is that it is student-owned technology. That computer is yours," Sannier said. "It represents your own connection to your academic life." Read full article.

Apple Computer Begins Great Intel Microprocessor Trek

-By: Enterprise Open Source News Desk
Apple began its historic move to Intel when it started selling its first Intel box, an iMac desktop fitted with Intel's mobile 65nm Yonah chip, the new 32-bit Core Duo, and priced, reasonably enough by Apple's lights, at $1,299 for a 1.8GHz chip and a 17-inch display or $1,699 for a 2GHz chip and a 20-inch display. Apple also announced its first Intel laptop, the Yonah-based MacBook Pro. Read full article.

Learners as contributors - the end of the industrial model

"I've just read one of the best posts that shows how the Internet changes everything in education; many just don't realise it yet."

And I could say the same thing about his post. Read his entry here.

Hang on: Here come new standards for high-speed, converged wireless

- Robert Brumfield, eSchool News
Schools stand to benefit from a number of emerging developments in wireless technology--including a new higher-speed standard that is moving closer to approval, as well as other innovations that eventually will allow various wireless devices to communicate with each other, regardless of platform. Read full article.

NMU campus one of most 'unwired'

- Christopher Deim, Mining Journal
Northern Michigan University was recently named the nineteenth most "unwired" campus among the top 50 in America by Intel Corporation, a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. The designation recognizes NMU's extensive wireless network, declared by Meru Networks - which installed equipment on the campus - to be the highest density wireless network they have ever worked with. "It really assists (students) in getting access to the educational resources they need and classroom materials, as well as to university services," said Gavin Leach, associate vice president of finance and planning. Read full article.

Supe, 30, shatters rural stereotypes

Laura Ascione, Assistant Editor, eSchool News
Thirty-year-old Bart Banfield, one of the youngest superintendents in the nation, was still in school when the internet exploded into the mainstream of American life. As a result, he can appreciate firsthand how today's technology tools are transforming teaching and learning. This firsthand experience has helped Banfield lead Oklahoma's Stidham Public Schools--a one-school district with just 135 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade--to the forefront of technology integration. Banfield's district is quickly breaking stereotypes about rural schools and limited access to technology. Dubbed "Oklahoma's most progressive dependent school," Stidham aims to "provide a progressive learning environment that challenges and encourages students to recognize and maximize their unique learning potential in the 21st century," Banfield said. Read full article.