News
September 10, 2007
Tech-Equipped Students Safely Chronicle "Tour across America" on the Web
10 students, 16 days, 100s of posts, 243 photo uploads, 0 online incidents
Bakersfield, Calif. — September 10, 2007 — Equipped with school-issued e-pads, Verizon Wireless air cards, and Lightspeed Systems' Guide for web
filtering and reporting, ten middle school students researched and journaled their way across America on a 16-day, 5,640-mile excursion in July.
These fortunate Lemon Grove School District students were part of a 51-passenger bus tour that began in San Diego, culminated in Washington, DC,
and took in at least 14 major sites. The trip was initiated by the Broadway Heights Community Council.
As they traveled, the kids were able to do online research, keep a blog, upload photos, and more," says Darryl LaGace, Chief Technology
Officer for Lemon Grove School District. "Even with their e-Pads and wireless access, though, this innovative learning opportunity would not have
been possible without the online safety that the Lightspeed Guide provided."
The Lightspeed Guide desktop filter employs the Lightspeed Systems Total Traffic Control filtering database used today by more than 800 school
districts, shielding millions of students from Internet threats and inappropriate content.
"In addition to blocking sites they shouldn't be at, every student knew that the Lightspeed Guide would report all of their web activity, so we
really didn't have any incidents where students needed to be reprimanded or hovered over," says LaGace. "In fact, it was encouraging to see how
much research they were actually doing. That's a big accomplishment with middle school students."
The school-supplied e-pads are part of a multi-partner collaboration between the school district, Microsoft, Cox Communications, DT Research,
Cisco and the County Office of Education.
The trip's itinerary, tour map, student journals and photo gallery are all accessible at:
http://lemongroveschools1.net/1341106245362970/site/default.asp.
About Lightspeed Systems
Lightspeed Systems, Inc. develops network security software to ensure CIPA compliance and provide total traffic control to educational IT
professionals through a single interface. TTC is deployed in approximately 800 school districts throughout the U.S. and protects over 4 million
end users from the dangers of the Internet. Lightspeed Systems maintains its corporate headquarters at: 1800 19th Street, Bakersfield, California.
Telephone: (661) 716-7600.
CONTACTS:
Joel Heinrichs, Lightspeed Systems
661-716-7600
joel@lightspeedsystems.com
More News