The U.S. Department of Education launched a new grant competition in April to help states struggling with providing equitable access to remote learning, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.
For the third consecutive year, cybersecurity ranked as the number one tech priority for K–12 IT leaders, according to “The State of Ed Tech Leadership in 2020,” a new report from the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN).
Those surveyed indicated that their districts are “highly aware of increased network attacks in K–12 environments and are increasing efforts to thwart them,” but still generally underestimate the size of those threats, according to the report.
Last month, Google for Education announced that they’ve extended access to premium Google Meet features for all G Suite for Education and G Suite Enterprise for Education users until Sept. 30, 2020.
The update was in response to students and educators around the world who are adapting to remote learning due to mandatory school closures caused by the novel coronavirus.
Out of over 1,400 surveyed teachers from around the globe, 98 percent agree interactive video will be the future of personalized learning, according to a 2019 report from software company Kaltura.
K-12 school districts looking to improve student success rates should invest in training administrators in data analysis, according to a report from the Data Quality Campaign.
The best offense is a good defense, and the adage certainly applies when it comes to a one-to-one device program. Chromebooks or tablets can be stolen or lost, so it’s up to IT to do what it can to mitigate risk.
Goshen Community School’s new Liebert power and cooling system provides system status information in real time and sends the IT staff email alerts if problems occur.
Although serious violence in elementary, middle and high schools is rare, nearly three-fourths of public schools experienced at least one incident of violence in the 2009–2010 school year, according to a 2016 Rand Corp. study, "The Role of Technology in Improving K–12 Safety."
The following 12 technologies can improve school safety:
When Dr. Sally Lindgren, director of technology and innovation at Great Prairie Area Education Agency (GPAEA) in Ottumwa, Iowa, created Room 21C — a flexible classroom that includes movable furniture paired with technologies such as Promethean ActivTable displays and large-screen TVs — only one such room was in use.
Infrastructure is not a major issue to bring computer science to schools, according to Eugene Lemon, president of the Golden Gate chapter of the Computer Science Teachers Association.
“To me, the bigger issue is the lack of trained staff, of teachers, to teach computer science concepts,” he says.
Lemon’s is a common refrain. While some states like Rhode Island are providing access to necessary training, districts elsewhere may be on their own.
