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School Kids Get Virtual Web Lockers
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Mon Sep 03, 2007 01:33 PM
from the my-worm-ate-my-homework dept.
from the my-worm-ate-my-homework dept.
Lucas123 writes "Seventh and eighth graders in Tulsa, Oklahoma not only get tablet PCs at the beginning of the school year, but they are now issued 100MB of storage through a hosted school 'Web Locker' system. The Web lockers also include chat, calendaring, and collaboration capabilities, but school administrators can also monitor and track all files uploaded to the system, and lock out individuals for misuse."
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Useless... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Useless... (Score:4, Insightful)
Most kids have thumb drives; why would they want to use 100MB of disk space that can be spied on?
Parent
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"But pretty much every computer on a private network is monitored, This isn't really a new "feature" so much as a continuation of existing procedure."
It depends on where you work. We don't monitor anything where I work - anyone stupid enough to try that would be caught out quickly enough. Its expected that people (both men and women) will hit a few porn sites every now and then. Big deal ... just don't download tons of porn all at once and swallow up all the bandwidth while everyone else is trying to wor
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Re:Useless... (Score:5, Funny)
Hey!
Violence is Gods work! Didn't you ever read the old testament??!?!?!?
Parent
Hrm... (Score:2)
Problem: once they provide virtual lockers, they will likely remove access to USB ports to plug in thumb drives. Can't do that now because the kids actually need access to them. And even with access to a USB port, rebooting to peanut linux probably isn't a good solution either—talk about attracting attention. In my grade/jr high/high school, when we had access to a computer, rebooting was not allowed (nor was opening applications other than the one we were supposed to be using).
I think the proper a
Re: (Score:2)
riiight ... teach the kids to be good little sheeples now.
Heck, the kids cell phones probably have more data storage than they're given on this "service". All they need to trade files is a transfer cable (which mine came with).
It's always been that way. (Score:2)
Cute. So the other 99.99% (don't question the number) of 8th graders who don't have an 'accessory gmail account' are worthless/sub par? We're in for a grim future then :)
That's nothing new, really. I think 99.99 percent is probably a stretch, but out of any 100 randomly selected children, I strongly suspect that 90 will live their entire lives completely at the whims of various higher authorities, never bothering to seriously challenge or question them. That's not really a commentary on our society in particular as much as it is human nature in general; I suspect you could go back 2000 years and see basically the same things.
Incentive? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Incentive? (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:Incentive? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
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It's not that bad as long as you ask questions that only pertain to the doilies and don't bother to open the box or measure the contents. If you do that, you might, just might manage to get to second base or destroy the entirety of whatever continent your on.
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Unlik
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Gee, I guess you didn't RTFA. There is no integration for grading, etc., yet. As for submitting assignments, the teacher has a 1-gig allotment.
The way to take this system out quickly is for a bunch of kids to all start spreading stories about one or two teachers using the chat function. You know its going to happen. A few kids will post that "Mr. Brown" keeps asking them to spend extra time with him after school doing research and
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The big difference being that the school didn't have and didn't exercise a right to read through everything written on school paper. Your love poems to the girl two rows over, and which you kept at home, were kept safe, not only from her and other schoolmates, but from the teachers too. The papers they got to see, they got to see because you handed them over, not because they
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course any technically clueful student will have a thumb drive, unofficial email and IM accounts, and lots of other places to stash/do stuff they don't want teachers and parents to know about. (Though not all students are technically clueful, and the school will try to prevent such unmonitored activity.) But all the stuff they're supposed to be doing will li
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I think the problem is it can be both for different people, or even the same person in different circumstances.
I'm horrible at handwriting, I hate doing it, and would have done a lot better in school had I typed everything, been able to copy/paste and arbitrarily reformat documents post-writing,
Re:Incentive? (Score:5, Insightful)
This big brother paranoia is going through the roof on
Some advantages:
- Local storage means much faster access times than external provider
- School bears responsibility for system upkeep - if it fails, you have a legitimate reason to not produce your homework or project that was stored or submitted there.
- System can be integrated with class notes and announcements, and the calendar can be used as school agenda - student logs in, sees the courses he's taking, and sees the homework assigned to him in each course.
- With login information tied to student IDs, it is much easier to track assignments and work going through the system for administration and teachers, you don't need to wonder who submitted the work coming from email s3xyb4b3@gmail.com.
And YES, you will get in trouble if you download pr0n or pirate music using the system... Just like you would at your workplace for doing the same thing using the corporate system. If you want to send something without being monitored, don't use the school system for that particular message, just as you wouldn't use your work email unless you expect it to be monitored by your employer.
It's very nice more schools are accepting the high-tech way of doing work. Not only it makes managing assignments much easier (meaning teachers can spend more time TEACHING and less time going through homework), but it trains children to real life, where high-tech work has already became a standard.
Parent
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That's exactly why the subject of your post is "Re: Incentive?". They want it to be for everything, but that would require a carrot.
What do you mean "for fr
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Please do explain. How is it going to be easier managing assignments? Whether an essay is submitted on paper or as a
but it trai
Product Placement (Score:5, Insightful)
And, of course, a steady supply of advertising and "product placement".
That's quite the story write-up, almost as if done by a PR writer...
Re: (Score:2)
Ummm...where in TFA (or anywhere else, for that matter) do you see advertising mentioned?
I know the tin-foil-hat mentality is rampant here on slashdot, but please, at least try to have a bit of concrete (no, anecdotal doesn't count) evidence before you go around slinging accusations.
They will WANT the control (Score:2)
because it seemed easier
because it seemed faster
because it seemed safer
because I was afraid
because I thought I had to
because it was more expensive if I didn't let them do it
becuase it wasn't worth fighting any more for freedom
because if I refused, the terrorists would win
because everyone else was doing it
a system like this- services for kids in school seems simple, seems good - but it is a wolf in sheeps clothing. These students are being taught to use a
Re:They will WANT the control - "OMG SHEEPLE!111" (Score:2)
THE SCUMBAGS.
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Re:They will WANT the control (Score:5, Insightful)
Grow up. Not everything is Big Brother.
Parent
ComputerWorld Shill (Score:4, Informative)
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Actually, this very activity - shilling stories to blogs as a part of a calculated advertising / PR campaign - would make an excellent Slashdot story itself!
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You're right! I'm going to write something up in my blog and then submit it!
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Websters: "to act as a spokesperson or promoter"
Wikipedia: "A shill is an associate of a person selling a good or service, who pretends no association and assumes the air of an enthusiastic customer." There are man
I don't understand (Score:2)
So if Taco Bell is giving away free tacos, and your mom drives down there and gets you some, that's OK. But if the guy from Taco Bell drives right up to your house and hands them to you, that's an evil marketing ploy because he's just a shill.
So basically... (Score:2)
Now, if the lockers were encrypted with TRUECRYPT (and YOU had the key in USB or something), now THAT'd be something.
Re: (Score:2)
Of course, if the kids DID encrypt their files before uploading, they'd have all those snoopy people wanting to know what sort of terr'rist crap they were into.
If the security is as poor as one system I got into a few years ago (3 attempts to get the default new user password, 1 to get the current school admin password - it was too easy to call it "hacking") ...
No system is safe from a large group of intelligent, motivated monkeys.
How many megabytes? (Score:5, Informative)
School admin here. This quote is just laughable. Granted, up until last year, I had my students set at 100 MB apiece. Looking at the quota log, most students could get along just fine with 25 MB, although those who have more usually just have too many pictures saved up.
But, as soon as we started up doing a multimedia class last year using PhotoShop and Movie Maker, 100 MB was laughable. Some PS projects alone were 60-70 MB, and editing raw video requires ~200 MB per minute of video data. I upped these kids to 300 MB, and when they worked on videos, it was in a separate lab that let students save their data to the hard drives.
I can understand the desire to have portability for students and staff, but that's what thumb drives are for. Besides, there are a number of families who still do not have online access yet.
When I were a lad (Score:3, Interesting)
The frustration of never a moments peace because we could read the books on the bus or train and be briefed ready to start our homework sooner, leaving more spare time that had to be filled with 'leisure activities - or - worse yet - the hassle of arranging to meet your friends and actually see them in person - heck sometimes we even shared a meal or some sodas in a local park - OUTDOORS - whole we worked together on projects!
At the moment it's a real pain when I have to visit my 7-year-old son's school to have him show me through his project books and explain what he has been working on. Soon I may be able to login to his folder, have a quick browse and tick a box.
Yay progress!
New? Really? (Score:2)
I've used Class Fronter [fronter.com] since around 2004. Thats...uhm...*counts on fingers*..for three years.
Class Fronter (or fronter in shorthand) has file uploading space. It got hand-in folders which blocks uploads after a specific date. It got chat. It got games. It got integrated multiple-choice tests. In short; it's a locker with some damn nice features. So why the heck is this on slashdot? I mean, Learning Management Systems, or a "Locker" is nothing new at all. It is at least 10 years old I guess.
Re: (Score:2)
Why? Because its, ummm, because ... ummm I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uhmmm, some people out there in our nation don't have maps and uh, I believe that our, I, education like such as uh, South Africa, and uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, uhhh, our education over here in the US should help the US, uh, should help South Africa, it should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future, for the child
The Tablet PCs seem to be much more notable to me (Score:2, Interesting)
Tablet PCs start around a grand, 100MB of storage is pennies
Tablet PCs allow students to use computers productively (and more easily) in all classes, 100 MB of storage provides ???
Tablet PCs have (most likely) at least 40,000 MB of storage, 100 MB of storage has 100 MB of storage...
I for one think that if teachers are taught to use the tablets effectively, they can be a boon for education, as opposed to laptops, which I find to be virtually useless in most classroom environments in current usage scenari
A digital locker you can't own but must have. (Score:4, Interesting)
This brings us one step further to losing your right to read [gnu.org]. All they need to do is fill it with non free textbooks and tell you not to share them. If there's something everyone needs, you don't need to put it in a locker. A private space for students and computer access would be nice, but not if it's just another tool of control. Requiring the use of non free software is just the first part of that control and it's funny that one of the reasons given was the lack of reliability of the old non free software. The web already offers ways to share calendars, movies and the rest outside the control of the school.
It's gonna be used for... (Score:2)
At least, that's pretty much what I did with my 200k of high school provided server storage back
ehh (Score:2, Insightful)
But the "Locker" thing... I've seen plenty of solutions like this. All have either received negative or lukewarm reviews by students (including me). WebCT and Blackboard are the only two I can think of off-hand.
Really, what it comes down to is that whatever content is posted on these portals (calling a spade a spade) is owned by the school district. If teachers and students post their work on the portal, the schoo
School deploys nfs with quota (Score:4, Insightful)
More in-depth reporting on this amazing and lightning-paced story, as it develops!
Wow, somebody got paid for this, as an innovative product. People's tax money was spent on a "technology" for storing files on a remote server. Does anyone else feel a feint impulse to just give up, turn evil, and start fleecing suckers like this? They're out there, and they're waving their money around, jumping up and down, yelling, "Do me! Do meeeeee!!"
Finally! (Score:3, Funny)
Calling it a "virtual locker" proves you're dumb. (Score:3, Funny)
It's a collaboration suite.
Re: (Score:2)
(This is, of course, a lie: you're not at all on par with them, since they're usually funny. But, the joke only works if I parrot you.)
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