Web-based applications offer teachers, students, and school districts a convenient way to accomplish a wide range of tasks, from accounting to word processing, for free. Cloud computing has the potential to offer staff and students better services at a lower cost than the technology deployment models they're using now. Saving money and improving…

The ability to distract has put the use of laptops, netbooks, cell phones, PDAs, iPod/MP3 players, and portable game players on the banned list in many schools. Educators are discovering that students are more interested in online resources, such as Facebook, game sites, chat, and YouTube, than classroom lectures and textbook chapters about the…

Do all schools need brick-and-mortar libraries? In this article, Johnson and Mastrion share their contradictory thoughts to the question. Johnson says some schools don't need library facilities or programs or librarians. These schools' teachers and administrators: (1) feel no need for a collaborative learning space; (2) feel the ability to process…

In this article, the author talks about the net generation (NG) of learners and how the net generation media specialist could help students in their needs. The NG media specialist creates a program that serves students who are diverse economically, culturally, and academically. Thus, if the NG media specialist provides resources, facilities, and…

Many children today have never lived in a home without a computer. They are the "Net Generation," constantly "connected" by iPod, cell phone, keyboard, digital video camera, or game controller to various technologies. Recent studies have found that Net Genners see technology as "embedded in society," a primary means of connection with friends, and…

By and large, educators are honest and ethical. Yet, copyright violations such as those described in the following scenarios are all too common in many, if not most, schools: Teacher Gray shows Disney's The Little Mermaid to reward her students for scoring exceptionally well on a recent test. Teacher Black adds images taken from various Internet…

The concepts of intellectual freedom as expressed in these two quotations are as relevant to information in electronic formats as they are in print. As a proponent of intellectual freedom, the author of this article advocated and received administrative support for unfiltered Internet access in the Mankato Area (Minnesota) Public Schools from 1994…