High-Power Antenna Makes Schools Smaller

Dead spots are inevitable with any wireless network, particularly with older schools. Hawking Technology’s Hi-GainWireless-300N WiFi client radio can fill them with data and can work with 802.11b, g and n networks. Insuring that every computer gets a strong signal, the 300-N has removable antennas, which can be replaced with high-power ones that boost the signal two- or three-fold. It works with Macs and PCs, and costs $90.
Specs: 802.11b, g and n, removable antennas.
Bottom line: Make sure every computer has a good wireless connection with Hawking’s Hi-Gain wireless radio.

Real World Math on Teacher Tube

Want to see the latest handheld device from Texas Instruments in action? Check out real classroom footage from Fayetteville Public School on TeacherTube. This new math initiative from TI and TeacherTube invited Fayetteville to be the first school to create videos for the Real World Math program that shows how the math lessons taught in the classroom are relevant to the real world. Fayetteville’s math teachers are posting their classes’ video submissions on at http://www.teachertube.com/ti.php. The two classes (one high school and one junior high) that produce the most creative and educational videos will each win a complete TI classroom technology makeover valued at $10,000 each.

Network Management Can Prevent Crashes and Attacks

We all know when the network crashes, the school comes to a grinding halt. The GigaFin FlowLine 500-F lets IT administrators quickly detect, analyze, and prevent issues like excessive bandwidth usage, undesirable applications, and server attacks. Using  the FlowLine 500-F, IT administrators  can remediate traffic flows at high speed and protect their network from undesirable traffic and bandwidth drainage.

A video demonstration featuring the FlowLine appliance series can be viewed on YouTube. 

See Data Collection in Action

When the Hector Morales' high school Chemistry class tested LabQuest with the real science experts, they caught on fast. Students jumped into an acid-base titration experiment, and within five minutes they were collecting data in real time, navigating the LabQuest Application, and seeing their graphs displayed on the color screen. See the video at:

http://www.vernier.com/labquest/hector.html

HP Announces Mobile Thin Client Computer, Teacher Community Site

HP had three big announcements, but I can only tell you about two (the last biggie comes on tax day, April 15, so stay tuned).

The first is a mobile thin client computer – which means everything, even the operating system, is delivered to the thin client, but stored on the school network. This makes the HP Compaq 6720t Mobile Thin Client more secure, easy to update, and green-friendly since they require less energy than a traditional notebook. Although your IT folks will have to help get these up and running, teachers and admins should like it with a little training.

The other news is an online community being developed “By Teachers, For Teachers.” HP is asking for the help of teachers to share their lesson plans videos, projects, and more to populate the Teacher Experience Exchange site with content and develop an online community. The official launch will be June-ish, but teachers can hop on now to send their ideas.