School Technical Ideas

Educational institutions have many of the same cost and productivity concerns as the private sector so it makes sense for them to seek similar tools to help increase their ability to manage their infrastructure and control costs.

CrossTec Corporation reports today that now more than ever, schools are starting to implement CrossTec EMS into their IT programs. CrossTec EMS is an IT Asset Management (ITAM) software tool that gives schools, businesses, and government agencies the ability to streamline their IT management and reduce costs by giving them a full look into hardware and software inventory and usage levels in their organization.

CrossTec EMS has been very popular in the business and government sectors but is gaining in popularity in schools. Experts believe this may be due to the fact that schools are now dealing with slimmer budgets than ever before and see value in CrossTec EMS’ ability to track asset availability and usage levels, giving more insight into cost savings mechanisms as well as increased opportunity for higher ROI.

“Educational institutions have many of the same cost and productivity concerns as the private sector,” says Jeff Richards, VP of Sales for CrossTec. “So it makes sense for them to seek similar tools to help increase their ability to manage their infrastructure and control costs.”

By leveraging the software metering feature, IT managers can track how many licenses of given applications they currently own as well as usage levels on those applications. They are able to track which users are using the applications and for how long, giving them the ability to accurately plan future software purchases based on actual usage levels.

IT managers are also enabled to view a full list of hardware in their organization which can be sorted by a number of variables, including: manufacturer, processor type/speed, RAM installed, available RAM slots for expansion, hard drive space, and more. This allows IT managers to quickly and easily track which computers need to be replaced and which computers can be repurposed as the time comes.

CrossTec EMS comes with a variety of alerts that can be implemented to notify IT personnel immediately when a problem arises in their organization. This can range from application start/stop alerts, disk space alerts, windows system and event log alerts, and more.

To cut down on support and software implementation time, CrossTec EMS has a software distribution tool which provides IT managers with the ability to create software installation packages and schedule a distribution of that package to a group of users, to a department, or the entire organization. This saves a considerable amount of time and is crucial for schools which have previously reduced their IT staff.

For a full list of features on CrossTec EMS or for information on other CrossTec products, please visit .

CrossTec Corporation will be hosting a webinar titled “9 Ways CrossTec EMS will Save You Money” on December 15. You can register for the webinar at:

If you are unable to make the webinar on December 15th, they are also hosting a webinar titled “Software Metering & Cost Savings With CrossTec EMS” on January 25. You can register for this webinar at: About CrossTec Corporation:

CrossTec Corporation, headquartered in Boca Raton, FL, has been a leading provider of software solutions for schools since 1996, including the award winning CrossTec SchoolVue brand of classroom management software. CrossTec’s mission is to empower IT departments and tech coordinators by offering a combination of education-tested products, substantial feature sets, superior value, and unparalleled customer service.

In June 1997, John Andrew Mazie, was killed by a drunken driver at age 26. John felt very strongly about one’s responsibility to give back to the community. He was particularly concerned with the plight of youths who want to focus on education and career but, for reasons beyond their control, face steep odds against success.

Shortly after John’s tragic death, his parents, Barbara and Lowell Mazie, together with their daughter Linda, created the John Andrew Mazie Memorial Foundation, a publically funded, grassroots, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping aspiring Framingham and Waltham Massachusetts High School students realize their full potential.

It is through a goal-oriented mentor program that the Foundation honors John’s concern by providing support to young people who, for reasons beyond their control, face tremendous adversity on their path to success. The program helps students set and achieve goals, prepare to apply to college and experience success. In 2010, for example, four students from Framingham High School were accepted into the UMass Medical Center’s Healthcare Career Exploration summer program (which is exciting in and of itself since kids apply from all over MA) and all four were Mazie Mentoring Program students.

The Mazie Foundation is actively seeking mentors.

To qualify as a Mentor, you must:

• Be a high school graduate, at least 21 years of age and of high moral character.
• If employed, be in good standing at your place of employment.
• Submit to a Massachusetts Criminal History Systems Report (CORI)
• Commit to spend at least 8 hours per month in face-to-face activities with your mentee, for a minimum of 1 year. Mentors are encouraged to stay in relationship with their mentee for the 2 ½ to 3 years that the mentee is in the program. Most do.
• Commit to making a positive impact on a young teen’s life.

As a Mentor, your responsibilities to your mentee will include:

• Guiding their personal development
• Developing their interests
• Exposing them to culture
• Providing support for their academic pursuits
• Assisting them in the college preparation process
• Introducing them to the world of careers and jobs

And you should:

• Be creative in planning your activities with them
• Encourage them to try new things
• Turn all activities into a learning experience
• Always model good behavior and responsibility
• Be your mentee’s friend,-but also their coach, developer, encourager, fellow explorer, and guardian angel!

For information about the Framingham High School Program,contact Lauren Kracoff, Mentoring Program Director 508-620-4963 ext. 27545 Download Framingham Mentor Application

For information about the Waltham High School Program,contact Ethel Williams, Mentoring Program Director,781-314-5526 Download Waltham Mentor Application

TOEFL Experience by Vamsi

I just want to share my TOEFL experience. I’ve taken TOEFL exam on 26th November. Till 26th morning I’m very confident enough about the scores and I never have second thoughts about my confidence levels.

I thought I can easily score 100 plus. Most of our friends strongly believe in luck factor in cases of GRE, TOEFL and Visa interviews.

I must say that luck is the only factor lacking in my case.

On the exam day morning…….. I reached Prometric Testing Center by 9.30 and my exam is scheduled at 10:00 am.

By the time I reached test center I was shocked to see some 100 students gathered around few people who are calling names by checking in the paper list.

For 15 minutes I didn’t even understand what’s happening around. But later on slowly realized that administrators calling out names as per the registration lists they have.

There are 2 counters arranged but few students names are completely missing from all the lists at both counters. Then the fear factor in me alarmed and I started running to both the counters checked twice in all the lists in heavy competition (with students who all are missing their names) and the time was already 11:00 am.

Slowly one person came out of 2nd floor of the testing center and starting calling names of the missing candidates. Some how my name was announced by 11:15 am.

I started with my dream exam by 11.30 am. Done well with the reading section and started off with listening section.

Suddenly got deviated by hearing a heavy (LOUD) voice. One student (girl) who’s taking exam with me in the same room sitting behind me started screaming ( I guess she’s giving listening section answers).

Everybody started staring at her in the room and few students smiled at her. Somehow managed to finish with the listening section. But when I started Speaking section I was totally lost my focus due to the LOUD, BOLD and HEAVY voice of her (who’s sitting behind me).

She’s really crazy and she started shouting the speaking section answers and I tried to concentrate but due to heavy noise I lost completely.

Tried to complain about the situation to the invigilators but lost so much of time there.

My frustration also influenced the next (writing) section and stepped out of exam center very soon leaving the exam center with lot of frustration. I thought of giving her a tight slap but just controlled my nerve.

Because even she must be in exam tension. Not only myself but many students lost their focus and time because this immature student.

So friends I would like to request everyone not to panic at the exam centers. Because it affects not only your performance but it may also affect other performance and some times you may face embarrassing situations like someone coming to you pointing on your behavior.

Stay calm and relaxed on the exam day. The pattern of exam is very simple and all you need is little concentration and little luck

Hope my experience will make someone think in a better way……

ETS should address this problem of having test takers site next to each other and have a speaking section.

You are not the first person to complain about TOEFL  and disturbances while nearby test takers are answering Speaking questions.

After you complained about her, what happened? Did the test center staff take action?

Newt Gingrich has said that if hes elected president he will teach an online course. According to a piece by Jo Ling Kent at NBC:

If elected to the White House, former speaker of the House and history professor Newt Gingrich wants to teach Americans a lesson that is, for free on the Internet about his policy views. The self-proclaimed ideas man said on Monday his course would be distributed on the Web in a format similar to the University of Phoenix or Kaplan.

I will probably try to do something that outlines for the whole country what were going to try to accomplish, he said. It will be free.

Thats because no one would ever pay money for such a thing.

Something that outlines for the whole country what were going to try to accomplish is not actually a course. A course is a unit of instruction in one subject.

What Gingrich is talking about just sounds like a bunch of long speeches delivered over the Internet.

You know, sort of like what Muammar Gaddafi used to do.