Shift to Year-Round IT Rollouts in K–12 Education Environments
The majority of K–12 schools are still loading a disproportionate amount of IT work into the short summer months, but there are alternatives. As technology is now fully integrated into most learning environments, there is growing interest in adopting a year-round approach to rolling out IT updates. Rather than concentrating major initiatives and mass updates during the summer break, a year-round approach can make the back-to-school season more efficient and productive because IT teams aren’t cramming all of their projects into a few weeks.
Asset management platforms can facilitate this approach. They enable K–12 IT teams to better manage the proliferation of tech and infrastructure all year long. They also enable K–12 IT professionals to manage all tools and devices more seamlessly across schools and districts.
DIVE DEEPER: What is a Strategic Application Modernization Assessment?
With an asset management platform, internal technology leaders can oversee the deployment, collection, management and auditing of devices. They can gain insight into their available inventory and perform device repairs and updates in the moment or on a quarterly basis, rather than waiting to do everything over the summer.
Meanwhile, projects that benefit from having no students in the classrooms can be allocated to breaks throughout the year.
4 Benefits of a Year-Round Device Management Approach
With a year-round model for IT asset management, K–12 tech leaders can:
- Ensure devices are updated and have the latest versions of apps installed on a quarterly basis. This is especially important in advance of any scheduled student tests.
- Spread big projects or mass updates out over the year instead of cramming them all into the few weeks that make up summer break.
- Minimize stress through increased efficiencies and resources for IT team members. These are valuable considerations for hiring and retaining high-quality staff in a tight labor market.
- Enable students and staff to retain their devices through the summer. When devices go home instead of getting overhauled during the summer, schools can reduce student learning loss and staff can better prepare for the upcoming year.
There’s a growing urgency for effective and efficient asset management in K–12 schools: 90% of K–12 tech leaders expect their IT asset inventories to grow in 2024, while almost half (48%) predict their IT budgets will diminish. Three-quarters of the surveyed IT leaders named loss or breakage as the biggest challenge they faced for student devices in 2023. The attention is now on K–12 tech leaders to maximize their teams’ time and resources.
KEEP READING: What do K–12 IT leaders need to know when refreshing devices?
With a year-round approach, IT leaders will no longer have to reinvent the wheel every summer. They can use the whole year to implement and maintain the best tech solutions for students, teachers and staff. Above all, they can provide critical year-round leadership for their schools and districts within the rapidly evolving technology environment.
