Your Kid’s School-Issued Netbook Could Be Used for Spying
Wow. The Associated Press is reporting that kids in Pennsylvania, having been issued laptops from their school, have allegedly been recorded doing “inappropriate things” in their own bedrooms – recordings taken at the directive of school administrators. Tech security personnel attempting to track down stolen machines activated the laptops’ webcams in order to find out where they had been taken.
This sounds like a poorly thought-out idea from school authorities with, hopefully, good intentions. Incompetence is the name of the game here, and considering the vast number of netbooks distributed to kids in the US and abroad, the problem could be broader than we think.
Check out the footage below for more on this story.
Via AssociatedPress.
Intel Plans Huge Update To Classmate PC Netbook Line
The Intel Classmate PC is getting some updates, including new Pine Trail CPUs and a sleek redesign by Intel. Designated the Convertible Classmate, Intel’s school-centric netbook currently features a 10.1-inch swiveling touchscreen.
The new Atom CPUs are 60% smaller and 20% more efficient than the old versions. The netbook will also feature optional 3G and WiMax connectivity. Larger screen sizes could be in the works for the Intel Classmate PC.
The Classmate PC began in 2007 as a response to and competitor to the OLPC XO netbook. It was redesigned once in September 2008, but this time around, the netbook could feature better graphics and 720p video.
Intel says Argentina is going to buy 250,000 Classmate PC netbooks later this year, to be delivered to 1500 schools by the UN. Brazil and Turkey have purchased Classmate PCs as well.
Via PCWorld, image via CrunchGear.
Welborn Academy Students Get Netbooks
As of yesterday, Welborn Academy students in High Point, North Carolina received brand new netbooks. Today, the students got to test them out in the classroom. 
Teacher Courtnie James supports the idea of netbooks in the classroom and strongly believes that netbooks help prepare students for college. Her goal is to make her class paperless and have all assignments done electronically. James would like to have her students use the Internet as a resource and type up their papers on a word processor. She feels like technology plays a big role in the lives of her students and that a netbook is just another tool that can be successfully implemented in a classroom setting.
Via Digtriad.
Chesterfield County Proposes New Educational Netbook Program
Milton, Olander, and North Kansas City schools may soon be joined in the ranks of schools with netbook programs by the Chesterfield County Public School system, pending an upcoming vote. However, their plan doesn’t give netbooks to the kids – it gives them to the adults.
The new proposal involves a five-year plan delivering netbooks to all teachers and administrators. Some of the netbooks will have touchscreens for unique applications in science or art, and Wi-Fi technology should come standard.
Further steps in the plan involve the addition of digital cameras and interactive whiteboards, to be used in conjunction with the netbooks to improve students’ experience in the classroom.
The plan will cost $13 million and will be voted on this December.
Via Examiner.
Olander School Implements Netbooks For Kids
Little kids can be a lot more clever than you think. Take fourth-grader Maddie M. from the Olander School of Project Based Learning, for example:
“It’s a lot easier to learn on a netbook computer because you can learn two things at once… I can learn math and reading at the same time I am learning to use a computer.”
The computer-savvy among us tend to forget that computer skills need to grow from somewhere, and that’s an idea kids like Maddie have been benefiting from ever since Olander purchased 120 netbooks for all of its fourth- and fifth-graders. Despite the fun the kids seem to be having with them, teacher Steve Gravelle rationalized their use in the classroom:
“Netbooks are not toys. They are powerful learning tools that are integrated with district curriculum and link students to the real world and its expectations… Netbooks allow each individual student to work at his or her own level and get immediate feedback about their progress. For example, students can take a multiplication test and instantly see which problems were incorrect without waiting for me to correct and return their tests to them.”
Gravelle’s class will be using their netbooks to develop a low-scale monthly newspaper about Olander. Other anticipated programs include a correspondence with Australian students (perhaps using their own netbooks?) for collaboration on a joint project.
Via Coloradoan.
North KC School District Implements Netbook Program
Following the lead of the EVSC school corporation and others, the North Kansas City School District is bringing netbook computers to students between now and December.
The distribution is all happening this week at Kansas City’s Oak Park High school. The program involves 1300 netbooks with 10.5-inch screens and Wi-Fi for in-class wireless educational activities.
Everyone, from students to district officials, seem excited. While kids simply love the gadgets themselves, administrators and others think student will work more and work harder with netbooks.
A deal with HP has brought the netbooks down from $400 to $300. However, parents could be liable if the units are damaged.
All the netbooks should be distributed by Thanksgiving. Staley, Winnetonka, and North Kansas City High School are also involved in the netbook program.
Via KMBC.
NSW Brings 240,000 Netbooks To Students
The New South Wales Department of Education has an ambitious new plan in motion to put 240,000 netbooks into local high schools, despite the fact the CIO Stephen Wilson thinks high schools are “the most hostile environment you can roll computers into.”
The Lenovo netbook initiative will offer new challenges to tech security. Students and parents have been asked to sign forms acknowledging their intent to take care of the machines and use them properly.
The machines are being given to ninth graders and will come with Windows 7, Microsoft Office, the Adobe CS4 creative suite, iTunes, and other education-centric content. Despite the costly software package, 2 GB of RAM and 6-hour batteries, the NSW Department of Education has restrained costs to $500/unit.
In order to ensure the security of such a massive system, each netbook has been password protected. The netbooks are additionally embedded with tracking software at the BIOS level. The netbooks can be remotely disabled in the event of their theft or sale, a technique that will work regardless of whether the hard drives are switched out or operating systems cleared.
New South Wales’ move to bring netbooks to students is just the latest in a number of educational plans meant to bring technology to the individual level in classrooms.
Via Zikkir.
Texas School District Buys 4,600 Netbooks For Kids
In case you needed more convincing that netbooks are making big steps in schools, look no farther than this article from the Dallas News. It tells the story of the Irving school district in Dallas, which decided last May to buy 4600 new netbooks for students.
The netbook has plan has had an effect already, at least on the backs of students. One reacted that the netbooks were “a lot easier to carry”, and I think that’s something we can all get behind.
Be sure to check out the whole article here, as well as a few more of our own on the subject of netbooks in schools.
Schools May Use Netbooks To Transition to Electronic Textbooks
What with the PeeWee PC, Disney netbook, and Dell Latitude 2100 on the market, netbooks have been taking a larger and larger role in schools. It seems to follow that a move from paper to digital texts would allow schools to save a lot of money. So when will schools make the switch?
One blogger over at Blorge noted that that switch could be expensive but effective on the long run. It would require a large investment in e-readers, like those offered by Pixel Qi. Here’s how Blorge sees the transition going:
“They will have to start with the students who already have computers, then take the money saved on textbooks from them and funnel that into helping lower income students with the purchase of some sort of e-Textbook reader, a laptop or even something as small as a Netbook.”
It would be even easier to implement these type of plans in schools which already have netbook plans, such as the Indiana schools of the ESVC.
Check out the full article here for more on the transition to electronic texts.
