THE Journal

Special FETC Focus - December 11, 2008

21st Century Learning and the 'Youth Media Culture'

John Kuglin's background is as eclectic as the 21st century learning skillset he advocates. He's been an educator since 1971. He's worked with NASA by way of the Earth Observing System project at the University of Montana. He's been a vice president at a digital media authoring and production studio. And now, as CIO of Eagle County Schools in Colorado, he's at the forefront of developing technology-infused learning environments that will help prepare today's kids for the new realities of the 21st century. Read complete article

Research - December 10, 2008

U.S. Math Scores Improve Marginally as Science Scores Stagnate

Fourth- and eighth-grade students in the United States, on the whole, have improved their math scores marginally since 1995, up about 2.12 percent for fourth-graders and 3.25 percent for eighth-graders, according to data from the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, released this week. Science scores for these students were unchanged. Read complete article

A School Security Outlook for 2009

It has been six months since technology product and service supplier CDW-G and marketing services firm Quality Education Data issued their second-annual school security index, which measures how K-12 IT and facilities professionals rate their districts' cyber security and physical safety measures. In the last round of results, which were published in May, the quality of cyber security had dropped, while the state of physical security had improved. Read complete article

Security Focus - December 9, 2008

Malware, Spam Find New Ways To Beat Up Computer Users in 2008

Spam levels have dropped slightly from 2007, even as spammers have found new ways to distribute their e-mail sales pitches and, increasingly, malware, according to the MessageLabs Intelligence 2008 Security Report. Total spam levels averaged 81.2 percent for the year, compared with 84.6 percent in 2007. As much as 90 percent of spam was being distributed by botnets, until two US Internet service providers blamed for hosting the command and control channels for some of the largest botnets, which had been responsible for half of all spam, were closed down in the fall. Botnets have since found alternative hosting, resulting in a return to spam levels close to those before the takedowns. Read complete article