The 10-day suspension of two eighth-graders in Pennsylvania school was in response to their creation of an imposter MySpace profile representing their principal "as a pedophile and a sex addict, among other things," ArsTechnica.com reports. In its coverage of the ruling, the Student Press Law Center reports that US District Judge James "wrote in his opinion that the arguments fell into three … [Read more...] about Federal judge allows students’ suspension
School & Tech
Students’ online free-speech rights
Law Prof. Mary-Rose Papandrea at Boston College recently looked at "all of the various justifications for limiting juvenile speech rights" - including the in loco parentis doctrine and Tinker's material disruption test - and "concludes that none of them supports granting schools broad authority to limiting student speech in the digital media." In "Student Speech Rights in the Digital Age," she … [Read more...] about Students’ online free-speech rights
Top cellphone picks for students
Yes, it has come to that: cellphones among back-to-school supplies (though maybe not on school administrators' lists!). "All cell phones are not created equal, and some are better suited for students than others," CNET reports. CNET editors picked a quiver of phones that, in various ways - e.g., full QWERTY keyboard, organization tools, multimedia features – are suited for students. … [Read more...] about Top cellphone picks for students
Back-to-school tech
Electronics retailers really like this time of year. Notebook computers, which usually represent three-quarters of all computer sales (desktops 25%), represent 80% of computer sales this time of year, CNET reports. "This year there should be a 25% increase spread across July and early August," CNET cites NPD Group figures as showing. Still, back-to-school sales should be more modest this year than … [Read more...] about Back-to-school tech
Time for social networking in school?
TechNewsWorld suggests it's time to end the stark dichotomy of second-nature social networking at home vs. a complete ban on social networking at school - even in an academic context. Though not so much in the classroom, "some school districts are going beyond e-mail technology and using collaboration software and online services to share information, host Web conferences and assign tasks and … [Read more...] about Time for social networking in school?