One of the biggest hurdles any decision-maker in education has to face is the budget. Striking a balance between maintaining costs and providing the tools students and teachers need to be successful can be daunting, but it is not impossible.

Here we speak with Caroline Lightfoot, CTO of Dickinson ISD in Texas, about her efforts to build equity within her 12,000-student district by providing proper tools and programs to all schools and utilizing Schoology for blending learning.

Lightfoot was recently recognized as Most Innovative CTO at a Tech & Learning Regional Leadership Summit with an Innovative Leader Award.

Upgrades Across The Board

Some days it can seem impossible to keep up with the tools that will make the greatest impact on education. However, by organizing your resources to provide proper tools and programs to every student and teacher within a district (regardless of how old the campus is), all can enjoy the same levels of education. Lightfoot explains how she approached this goal in her own district.

“We have a tendency to fund our new campuses for technology, and they are able to get the latest, greatest tech,” says Lightfoot. “So when I became the executive director of our department, we really wanted to start getting that out to all campuses and not just our new buildings. So we looked at the age of devices and where the work orders were and we started pecking away at it from there.”

Lightfoot and her team were able to update half the campuses last year, and plan to have everyone on board by February, with the exception of a few teachers at the high school.

Why was it so important to make this shift within the district?

“All of our teachers deserve the latest, greatest technology,” Lightfoot says. “Also, we have a little bit of a push because we have many older desktops that are not compatible with the systems we replaced. We needed to replace those anyway. This was a great opportunity to be able to do that and get some more portable, brighter technology in our classrooms.”

Challenges of Updating Tech

Taking on challenges comes with the territory when education is involved. Lightfoot experienced her own obstacles in reworking her district’s technology.

“We are in Texas,” Lightfoot says. “And, like many districts I know around the nation, we’re in that education funding crisis. We have to get pretty creative with some funding. So we funded at first with our technology budget, but we also asked [for money from the federal programs] to help with our teachers.”

The challenge then becomes spending the money to best support learning goals.

“Like so many other districts, we’ve been moving toward that blended learning model,” Lightfoot says. “We’re definitely there, but Schoology happens to be our learning management system of choice here in Dickinson. We’ve got lots of procedures in place to make things easier for teachers. After COVID, people were on board with online learning. It’s really been great to see them grow and thrive and integrate different tools within Schoology that we have in our district here as well.”

A Focus on Equity

Ideally, all schools, teachers, and students should have access to the same tools and programs to provide the same level of education across the board. Many districts struggle with maintaining a level of equity that would empower these goals.

“It’s just making a point that [achieving equity] is what needs to happen, and getting all the people in your district on board with it,” says Lightfoot. “It’s time that all educators realize that there are occasional funding things that get in the way, but we’ve been able to standardize on equipment as well so that things aren’t as hodgepodge. It makes things easier and more efficient.”

Bringing equity to a school district doesn’t always mean breaking the budget to put the latest technology in your schools, but having the mindset that you want to elevate the schools in your district equally can help advance the tech you have while not breaking the established budget. It also means that getting everyone in your district on the same page can make a big difference in agreeing on how to move forward.

• Innovative Leader Award
• Regional Leadership Summit

Keeping school devices running can be one of the most important tasks an IT technician can have. But, as Timothy Jaw states, it isn’t all about just focusing on the hands-on aspect with IT. Catering to the human side of IT can also go a long way in establishing and maintaining meaningful relationships within a school environment.

Jaw, Technology Coordinator at Warren Hills Regional School District in New Jersey, was recently honored with an Innovative Leader Award at a recent Tech & Learning Regional Leadership Summit for his IT work.

Your Call Is Very Important To Us

Dealing with customer service can be stressful for many, as it involves trying to resolve an issue or solve a problem that you cannot do on your own. Sometimes it requires you explaining an issue to another live individual, and this can result in varying outcomes based on a number of factors. Most importantly, you never know what kind of individual you will be dealing with and whether you’ll get your issue solved or not.

Jaw maintains that the way to make the customer service approach work in an educational setting is to begin by showing patience and understanding. Exhibiting qualities that mark excellent customer service can be very helpful when others look to you for answers to their technical questions. With the amount of tech we use in schools, just one device not working can derail an entire day. As Jaw puts it, showing empathy and compassion can go a long way.

“It starts with me, right?” Jaw says. “If I don’t conduct myself with that level of patience, customer service, empathy, and compassion that I expect the people that work in my department to exhibit, then it’s not going to work. The first step is starting with me and making sure that I’m doing that. From there, when I onboard people, we would go over our values, we talk about what’s important to us and try to come up with a shared set of values.”

Involving people who come to work in IT from the beginning mitigates potential pushbacks.

“It doesn’t take a lot of arm-twisting,” Jaw says. “If we are not there serving the people who work in the school community, what are we doing?”

Making Customer Service the Standard

Customer service normally invokes images of business, not education. However, as Jaw says when asked how other schools and IT departments can follow his lead to revamp their own offerings, it costs nothing to change a mindset.

“I would say that people are the most important thing,” Jaw says. “It’s just how we conduct ourselves, how we communicate, and how we operate that brings that success. It’s not due to a system. It’s not due to a product. It’s what we do on a day-to-day basis, who we are as people, and what we bring to the school community every day that makes the biggest difference. [If another school wanted to follow suit] that is what I see as having the biggest impact.”

But what happens if there is pushback to a customer service-oriented mindset?

“Everybody has different experiences and different personalities,” Jaw says. “I think that if we expect ourselves to have that level of understanding and patience and empathy toward the stakeholders that we serve in the school community, then we should have that toward each other as well. When there are people who are having a bad day or have something going on, I let my people know that I’ll take that call. I’ll help that person. I’ll make sure that it’s done the way that we want the department to be perceived in the school community. We have each other’s backs.”

Making the extra effort to help those in need, no matter what they may be dealing with, can help make an IT department go from a dreaded environment to the superheroes of the school.

• Regional Leadership Summit
• Innovative Leader Award

Prior to the start of the pandemic, chief information officers on higher ed campuses across the country developed a reputation for discouraging the use of new tech tools because of security concerns. But that has changed due to the pandemic, says Brian Kelly, director of the Cybersecurity Program at Educause. 

“The cybersecurity officer, the chief information security officer, who used to be the office of ‘No,’ as in, ‘No you can't do that.’ Or, ‘No, you're not doing it correctly,’ or ‘Don't do it,’ has really moved to be the office of K-N-O-W,” Kelly says. “We want you to know how to do it securely.” 

More communication between cybersecurity officers and instructors necessitated by the pandemic has led to a cultural shift in which instructors now see those officers as facilitators rather than gatekeepers, and go to them with questions about how to safely implement new tech tools, Kelly says. 

This increased spirit of collaboration is one of many ways campus cybersecurity has evolved since March 2020. 

More Flexible Threats and a More Flexible Defense 

The pandemic moved college classrooms off campus and even though institutions have since reopened, students, professors, and staff have gotten used to connecting to school networks from wherever they are whenever they want. “Our institutional assets now are all over the place,” Kelly says. 

Keeping these remote-learning and remote-work friendly networks safe has led to increased emphasis on preventative cybersecurity strategies, such as endpoint detection response (EDR), which is the process of monitoring endpoint activity in real time while identifying and halting digital threats. 

With these new threats in mind, Educause offers several resources to help cybersecurity professionals, including the: 

• Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Toolkit A questionnaire framework specifically designed for higher ed to measure vendor risk.  
• End Detection and Response (EDR) Resources on EDR include a roundup of what you should know about EDR and a research case study conducted at Boston University.  

What Can IT Professionals Do to Combat Cyber Threats  

For IT professionals, Kelly says it's important to maintain a dialog with campus stakeholders about IT policies and get feedback, noting that these policies should be formed in a collaborative way. 

Beyond fostering collaboration on campus, cybersecurity professionals should remember that practice makes perfect. 

“If we use the college analogy, most of our sports teams are practicing many times a week before it's game day,” Kelly says. Similarly, cybersecurity teams should be practicing what to do in the event of a ransomware attack or some other breach. “Going through those steps really helps to show the best practices to maybe point out where there's gaps in your strategies, and then you make policies and tweak from there.” 

What Can Instructors Do to Protect Against Cyber Attacks?  

Keeping those lines of communication open isn’t just the responsibility of the information security professionals on campus. Faculty and staff members should also make an effort to connect with and get to know their institution’s cybersecurity experts. For example, if a professor is interested in using a new tech tool, they should ask questions of their IT team and reach out to fellow instructors. 

“We all use Yelp before we go out to a restaurant,” Kelly says. “Not to quote Ted Lasso, but be curious about the applications you’re going to use with your students, be curious about what type of data that application is collecting, how it's stored. Then ask and seek those professionals on campus for guidance, because they're there to help.” 

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Tech & Learning is launching a new event series to address the age-old question: “Can the marriage of technology and curriculum be saved?” 

The new Tech & Learning Regional Leadership Summits will bring together instructional and technology district leaders in a relaxed virtual setting in which attendees can talk candidly about how collaboration between these departments is key to developing effective district strategic plans. 

Each Tech & Learning Leadership Summit focuses on the unique needs of specific regions to give attendees the valuable insight they need to develop action plans. 

What follows are the dates and regions for the 2021 Tech & Learning Regional Leadership Summits:

March 23: Texas - website

April 23: Mid-South - website

May 21: California- website

June 21: Georgia- website 

 “We’re excited about this new event series,” says Tech & Learning Content Director Christine Weiser. “We’ve learned this past year that a healthy collaboration between the instructional and technology departments continues to play a crucial role in implementing effective district initiatives. The focus of each Regional Summit will be on how these departments can use collaboration, communication, and leadership to guide these initiatives as districts plan for next year and beyond.” 

For more information and to apply to attend this invitation-only event, please visit the website for the region of your choosing. There is no charge to attend. 

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: CTOs, CAOs, Instructional/Tech District Leaders

WHY TO ATTEND: 

• Collaborate with other technology and curriculum district leaders
• Share ideas and best practices
• Expand your PLN through this new community 
• Get the latest news about school funding in your region 
• Walk away with specific actions for your strategic planning 

COMING UP: 

SEPTEMBER 24: Midwest

OCTOBER 22: Northeast

NOVEMBER 12: Northwest

DECEMBER 3: Florida

For more information, contact Christine Weiser at Christine.Weiser@futurenet.com. 

To close the digital divide school districts across the country have paid for internet for students and provided hotspot-enabled devices to students in need. But a number of school districts -- from Rhode Island to California to Texas and in between -- have gone a step further and used pandemic-related funding to invest in infrastructure to bypass internet carriers, in some cases becoming their own internet service providers. Some have laid down broadband cables while others are beaming connectivity into student’s homes with cutting-edge technology. 

In some areas these practices were in place prior to the arrival of Covid-19, but efforts intensified and accelerated due to the increased need for connectivity during the pandemic and a growing realization of their potential for cost savings. 

Why Can it Be Better Than a Hotspot? 

“A hotspot solution is quick--get this to the students or the family. And they can turn it on, press the button: Boom! They have internet,” says Angela Siefer, executive director at the National Digital Inclusion Alliance. “Is it a little bit unstable sometimes, yes. Kind of expensive, yes. But it works right now.” 

If you build your own network, after the initial investment, the cost will be lower, the connection should be more stable, and you are in control, Siefer says. “When you're working with someone else who's providing this really essential service to your students, you rely upon the decisions that they make, the priorities that they have, which may not be your priorities,” she says. 

What Technology is Used? 

Schools are providing direct internet access to students in a variety of ways. In some cases,  they are running their own fiber optics cables to specific areas; in others, they are using antennas to beam internet signals over short distances on airwave spectrums licensed by the FCC. 

In the Murray City School District of Utah, efforts that began before the pandemic to connect more than 4,500 students have recently intensified. The district’s technology coordinator, Jason Eyre, explains this is done using LTE radios that transmit internet signals to students. “It's a technology that the FCC has called Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS),” Eyre says. “It's a specific type of LTE that's made available to businesses and community people.” 

In San Antonio, Texas, the city has begun to provide internet access to 20,000-plus students utilizing small cell antennas. In many areas they had to place antennas where the signal would not be blocked by trees. “The technical challenge is how do you either penetrate through the canopy or how do you go over that canopy to provide that signal,” says John Rodriguez, assistant IT director for the city. They were able to solve this issue by mounting the antennas on school buildings, city-owned radio towers, and other city buildings and properties with high elevation spots. 

How Much Less Expensive is It? 

Rodriguez estimates that providing internet access by using small cell antennas can cost as little as $4 per student per month as opposed to $20 per month with a discounted rate from a commercial carrier. Connectivity is also better overall. “It's a very robust service, it can be much better than you would get from a carrier, simply because you're focusing bandwidth within that neighborhood,” Rodriguez says. 

But administrators should be aware that currently bandwidth purchased with the E-rate discount can not be used for these type of programs. “The E-rate does not allow you to provide services off of your campus,” Erye says. “So we've had to buy additional bandwidth and make sure that we route our LTE network through that bandwidth so that we're not taking subsidized circuits and providing off campus services there.” 

Educators are hopeful this restriction may be lifted in the future.

Is It Just for Students?  

Oftentimes, internet provided by school districts is limited to students with a school-issued device, but student-centered internet is serving as a model for municipalities that want to take more ownership of their own community bandwidth capabilities. 

Candelaria Mendoza, Smart City Coordinator for San Antonio, says that at the same time students stopped going into classes many of their parents lost their jobs. “People were being laid off and needed to apply for Workforce Development, and if you don't have a computer, if you don't have internet access, how are you doing that?” Mendoza says. 

Siefer says if more of these programs could eventually provide access to households, it would help everyone. “Students need supportive adults in their lives,” she says. “And those adults need internet access. So this really gets at that bigger household problem.” 

If I Want To Implement This in My District, What Should I Do?  

The Murray City School District of Utah was able to launch its program thanks to help from the state and is now serving as a model for similar efforts in Utah. 

Erye recommends that school officials look for resources beyond their districts. “Don't go out at all by yourself if you don't have to,” he says. “Look to service centers, look to statewide organizations, and start a little bit bigger than yourself if you can. If you can't, there are solutions, such as cloud computing and other things you can buy ‘off the shelf,’ so to speak.” 

Amina Fazlullah, policy counsel at Common Sense Media, says the pandemic has really highlighted the digital divide and homework gap, and there is much more enthusiasm for fixing these problems then previously. “My advice is to take advantage of this moment,” Fazlullah says. 

Every school should develop a detailed and high-quality assessment of student, school, and teacher needs, and share that data with policy makers. “I think there are going to be folks within the local, state, and federal governments who are able to actually push changes in policy,” she says. 

Why Are More Schools Considering It?

Jennifer Covington, superintendent of the Murray City School District, says that beyond the technical challenges and price points, these types of programs can be vital for increasing educational equity. “Technology will never replace good teaching, but technology enhances good teaching, and our students, every single one of them no matter what their background is, deserve to have the ability to have that equal playing field,” Covinton says. “I really think that school systems need to look at this because that educational equity divide with regard to technology is huge.” 

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Seventy-five percent of K-12 transgender students have identified as feeling unsafe at school while more than half of transgender teachers face harassment, according to NPR. In that light, what can an IT department do to help make trans and non-binary students, faculty, and staff feel safe and welcomed? 

One simple action the IT staff can take is to provide students the opportunity within the student information system (SIS) and personnel systems for a preferred name. This would allow all students and employees to use their preferred name, whether it's as simple as Jon instead of Jonathan or more complicated, such as Doris instead of Russ. 

SIS systems could also allow for more than a binary choice for gender. This would also help instructional staff and coaches to be more aware of non-binary or trans students prior to their arrival in a course or team. Reporting forms that require gender selection can also be addressed and amended. We can all recall at least one faculty member whose given name was something he or she never used except for their formal email. 

Providing the selection of M. or Mx. on forms requiring titles is another step most IT teams can easily implement. Considering that adding options is rarely difficult once a system is in place, making someone feel more comfortable when completing a form or other document is a reasonable accommodation. 

IT staff should also be aware of the growing body of IT resources to support LGBTQ+ individuals and groups. LGBTTech provides resources and research on LBGTQ+ technology-related issues, including online safety and connectivity. Pride.com provides a list of seven LGBT Tech Groups that support LGBT individuals. GLSEN has an excellent set of educator resources to support an inclusive and safe school for all. 

A primary issue for educators regarding non-binary and trans students is their own personal and often deeply held beliefs. While individuals should not be forced to set their beliefs aside, educators need to be supportive of all within the scope of the school environment. The need to be courteous and kind should be universal. 

Research suggests the quality of the campus experience has a profound effect on student recruitment and retention. Providing a high-quality experience helps colleges and universities get students in the door and see them through to completion. What’s more, how students interact with technology on campus — including how fast colleges and universities are able to resolve students’ IT problems — plays a critical role in shaping their experience.

How the Student Experience Affects Recruitment

The higher-education landscape is extremely competitive, and it’s expected to become more so in the coming years. Colleges and universities are vying with each other to recruit top students and faculty. How these stakeholders perceive their campus experience affects the reputation of an institution — and whether they have reliable technology services and timely IT support helps define their experience.

Being known as an IT leader can help colleges and universities distinguish themselves from the competition. On the other hand, if students struggle to get a WiFi signal or have to wait for days to have an IT problem resolved, they’re likely to share their negative experience through social media — and reputation is one of seven critical factors that students consider when choosing a college.

The ability to recruit students will take on more importance as enrollment falls over the next few years. U.S. college enrollment is expected to drop by nearly 300,000 students over a four-year period at the end of the next decade as the college-age population declines. This will make the student experience even more valuable to recruitment.

How Retention Is Linked to Student Satisfaction

If students are happy with their campus experience, they’re also more likely to persist in their studies, which affects college retention and completion. Not surprisingly, a study across 65 institutions found that student satisfaction “is indeed connected to student persistence, as well as to the word-of-mouth reputation of an institution.”

If students have a good college experience, the researchers say, they’re more apt to feel connected with their institution. This means they’re more likely to be fully engaged in their education and to complete their degree. Again, the quality of students’ IT experience is a key factor in defining the quality of their experience overall.

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What This Means for IT Leaders

The emergence of online services from Amazon and other companies has set a high bar for colleges and universities. Students and faculty want the same convenience and immediacy they experience as consumers when they interact with campus services. They’re judging your institution by how well it stacks up against other organizations and services in their lives.

IT leaders need a clear vision for using technology to enhance the campus experience — and they need the right infrastructure and processes to make this vision a reality. This includes an efficient way to manage IT projects and deliver exceptional IT service and support.

At Palm Beach State College, for instance, CIO Kenneth Libutti and his team built a self-service platform in which students and faculty can quickly find their own answers to common IT problems. At Tallahassee Community College, Vice President of IT Bret Ingerman and his staff have created a system that generates automated email and text-message reminders to students, based on certain triggers set up within the college’s student information system. The reminders are helping students remain on track with their studies.

And at Bridgewater State University, CIO Ray Lefebvre and his organization have developed a number of IT innovations designed to enhance the student experience — including a “One Button Studio,” where students and faculty can record a presentation without knowing anything about technology, and a mobile app with a unique “Smart Parking” feature in which students can see in real time where parking spaces are available on campus.

Improving the delivery of IT services and completing innovative IT projects that enrich the quality of the student experience can help colleges and universities attract and retain more students and enhance their reputation — allowing them to thrive among increasing competition.

Andrew Graf is the Chief Product Strategist for TeamDynamix, a provider of IT service management and project portfolio management software for education enterprises.  

Nominate yourself, a colleague, or a team for one of CoSN’s awards or recognition programs. Winners will be officially recognized in March at the 2020 Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

• District Team Leadership (Team): 4 CoSN2020 Conference Registrations, a $2,000 Honorarium, and a $5,000 DonorsChoose.org gift card
• National CTO of the Year (Withrow): 1 CoSN 2020 Conference Registration, a $1,000 honoriaum, and a $2,500 DonorsChoose.org gift card
• Digital Equity District Award: 4 CoSN2020 Conference Registrations, a $2,000 Honorarium, and a $5,000 DonorsChoose.org gift card
• Empowered Superintendent Award: 1 CoSN 2020 Conference Registration, a $1,000 honorarium, and a $2,500 DonorsChoose.org gift card

The deadline for nominations is November 19, 2019, at 11:59pmET. DonorsChoose giftcards are courtesy of our partner DonorsChoose.org.

As the school year winds down, we need to start considering preparing for the fall. One of the key opportunities in the fall will be to onboard new faculty and staff via new teacher orientation and similar events across the nation. The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) provides a guidebook for onboarding new employees. They identify four areas for onboarding; compliance, clarification, culture, and connection. 

How does that impact the technology staff as they interact with new staff? Compliance is straightforward in many ways. Explaining to staff appropriate behavior with technology, explaining network or technology use agreements, teaching proper password safety, etc. is simple for most organizations.

CIO Magazine and the AME Group both provide ways to address common IT compliance issues that can be adapted to effective orientation. Clarification regarding technology should share who to contact for what type of need. In the best IT organizations, a user should be able to call a single help desk number and be directed to the correct person. Telling people to contact another aspect of the IT system is less than excellent customer service. 

The Balance Small Business website has a good nine point summary for effective customer service. This can easily be adapted to school IT employees to make sure IT services always stands out for its excellent service to new (and all) employees. Regarding culture and connection, it is important for IT staff to make sure that they take the time to interact and make connections with new employees. 

Often new employees will be willing to try new things and expand the use of technology. Where possible, make sure IT staff have as many opportunities as possible to interact with the new staff and set a positive first impression. Where possible small gifts like mouse pads with IT help numbers, etc. is another way to make a positive impression with new staff. Good luck with planning your new year! It is coming more quickly than you think. 

This week during CoSN’s 2019 Annual Conference in Portland, OR, the organization awarded distinguished school technology leaders, experts and districts. The individuals and teams were honored as part of CoSN’s 2019 awards program for their school technology accomplishments and dedication to advancing innovative learning settings.

The winners of CoSN’s 2019 awards are:

• District Team Leadership Award: Hampton Township School District Team (PA)
• Community Leadership Award for Digital Equity: Vancouver School District (WA)
• Hurley Private Sector Champion Award: Gavin Lee, Business Development, State & Local Government and Education (SLED), Juniper Networks
• Volunteer of the Year Award: Andrew Moore, CIO, Boulder Valley School District (CO)
• Frank Withrow Outstanding CTO of the Year Award: Phil Hintz, Director of Technology, Gurnee School District 56 (IL)
• EmpowerED Superintendent of the Year Award: Mark D. Benigni, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools, Meriden Public Schools (CT)
• Seymour Papert Lifetime Achievement Award: Bob Moore (awarded posthumously)

Learn more about CoSN’s Awards Program at: cosn.org/awards. 

Just glance at your inbox and odds are you’ll find at least one variety of phishing scam or email hack. Whether it’s spear phishing, spoofing, account takeovers through embedded malware, or that time-honored plea from a Nigerian prince, there’s no doubt that our schools’ email systems are under near-constant attack.

One careless click of a link can turn a teacher’s account into a spam factory, landing your email system on a blacklist and cutting off communication with the rest of the world. Providing employee tax information to a phisher posing as your superintendent, for example, can result in the identity theft of hundreds of employees.

The sad truth is that phishing and spamming scams are now part of life in this digital age. But through more engaging education, more authentic practice, and more creative protection practices, schools have a much better chance of mitigating the impact.

NEVER STOP EDUCATING

Studies indicate that annual, one-off email security awareness training is not effective. Here are some more effective ways an IT department can educate school staff to reduce the risk of cyber attacks:

■ Send periodic email reminders about common phishing strategies. This can reduce the number of users who fall victim to email-based threats. Don’t be overly specific in these messages, or your staff might become disinterested or believe you’re only concerned about a particular scam and miss the general concepts of email safety.
■ Connect with users on a personal level. Let staff know that learning to recognize phishing scams protects them not just at work but also can help them avoid personal email scams that come in many forms—from online banking to social media and even online dating sites.
■ Mistakes happen. Make sure your teachers feel comfortable approaching you about mistakes and asking for help. To avoid detection, an infected email account usually will not initiate the release of thousands of spam emails until the weekend or late at night. Quickly changing a user’s password is often all that is needed to avoid infecting your entire network. Let your staff know that prompt reporting of any phishing concerns is crucial.
■ Back up data regularly. In the age of the cloud, the fear of wiping a computer in order to stop a virus should no longer deter a teacher from reporting a breach. Remind teachers just how easy it is to back up and restore devices.
■ Reevaluate staff policies. Multiple mistakes by individual staff members can be considered grounds for corrective action. Consider revising employee technology use policies and include resources that support cyber security best practices in staff handbooks. Proactively involve unions to affirm that effective and reliable communication is a core function of schools.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

All of the training, resources, warnings, and exhortations to vigilance can still come up short when users come face-to-face with a well-crafted phishing email. Because of this, many districts are choosing to implement phishing simulations. The theory is that if people are exposed to a few instances of simulated hacks and are met with fairly immediate educational feedback, then the likelihood of falling for the real thing will be diminished.

Phishing simulations are common in government and business sectors, but less so in public education—and they’re not usually embraced warmly by employees. An IT department can help school staff see the benefit of phishing simulations. Let users know that these periodic tests can help all staff become more savvy about spotting phishing scams so that less convenient security practices, such as two-factor authentication or overly restrictive password policies, can be avoided. Phishing simulations can also discreetly identify specific employees who need additional email safety training, rather than requiring all teachers to sit through training sessions.

Teachers resent group punishment, but they typically welcome collective rewards. Rather than shame those who fail, celebrate those who succeed. Consider canceling a routine staff meeting following a highly successful phishing simulation, or at the very least cater that meeting with everyone’s favorite pizza or donuts. Some schools enter the names of those who didn’t take the phishing bait into a drawing for gift cards or preferential parking spaces. No one needs to know whose names are in the prize hat, or whose names are on the list for personalized support. These are small prices to pay when contrasted with the lost time and energy and breakdown of communication that result from an email breach.

SECURE THE PERIMETER

Certainly, education and practice are critical in the fight against phishing, but there are technology-based approaches to consider in this seemingly endless assault on our lines of communication. Consider these approaches to stanch the flow of ill-intentioned email:

■ Familiarize yourself with anti-spoofing authentication methods found in all major email solutions such as DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) or Sender Policy Framework (SPF). Explore attachment sandboxing to remove the really nasty malware codes that can infect multiple systems quickly.
■ Trying to block the ever-changing names and email addresses of phishers is an endless game of Whack-a-Mole, but you might be surprised just how unoriginal many phishers are, relying on oft-repeated and awkward verbiage. Phrase blocking via your email filter is a very effective way of stopping phishers before they ever get through the gates.
■ Encourage the use of alternate forms of communication. Very few people in schools should be sending hundreds of external emails. Use services like Remind or School Messenger to keep your blacklist ratings low. It only takes a handful of spam complaints for a local ISP to throttle delivery or block your communications entirely.
■ Proactively monitor blacklists and review your sender reputation. Removal from block lists can be a time-consuming and often manual process. Don’t wait until all outbound communication has ceased before clearing or establishing your school’s good name.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

A failure of basic email safety impacts everyone—teachers, students, families and the community. Keeping communication flowing is a shared responsibility. As IT works to limit the threats that make it into our inboxes, teachers need to be engaged in authentic cyber-security learning experiences so they know exactly what to do when facing a suspicious email. There’s no silver bullet in the fight against email hacking, but a concerted and multi-pronged effort involving all stakeholders can keep the phishing wolves at bay.

Andrew Wallace is the director of technology for South Portland (ME) schools and is the president of the Maine Educational Technology Directors Association. Connect with him @andrewtwallace

Five Things to Look for in 2019 on Student Data Privacy

117 state bills and 22 laws written in 2018; 43 states have passed foundational student data privacy legislation

Here’s what to look for in 2019: All eyes on the feds—There’s increasing interest in federal privacy legislation from both sides of the aisle in Congress.

Children first—Look for discussions about providing students between the ages of 13 and 16 with more control over their personal information.

Hands off—The best way to protect privacy and eliminate data breaches is to not collect the data in the first place.

States in action—Discussions from 2018 will turn into action in 2019. Watch Illinois, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania.

A new sheriff in town—Both the FTC and the Education Department need to ramp up their enforcement of existing privacy laws. SOURCE: EdSurge, https://tinyurl.com/y7yg5ff6

Education Ranked Worst at Cybersecurity out of 17 Major Industries

SecurityScorecard has ranked education the worst in cybersecurity. The analysis, published in December, reveals incredible risk to student data as hackers become more adept at accessing student and school data.

Areas of cybersecurity weakness:

• Application security
• Endpoint security
• Patching cadence
• Network security
• Insufficient staffing
• Phishing scams, which account for 41% of cybersecurity incidents.

SOURCE: EdScoop, https://tinyurl.com/ycyx5g3s

Resources & Definitions

Resources: Security awareness training and detection software https://www.knowbe4.com

Phishing simulators https://resources.infosecinstitute.com/top-9-freephishing-simulators

List of email scams maintained by the Federal Trade Commission https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/scam-alerts

Definitions (adapted from https://www.techopedia.com & https://techterms.com)

Social Engineering: The non-technical cracking of information security. It applies deception for the sole purpose of gathering information, fraud or system access. It is an umbrella term that includes phishing.

Phishing: The fraudulent act of acquiring private and sensitive information, such as account usernames and passwords. Using social engineering techniques and computer programming expertise, phishers lure email recipients into believing that a spoofed website is legitimate and genuine.

Account Hijacking: A process through which an email or computer account is stolen by a hacker. It’s a type of identity theft in which the hacker uses the stolen account information to carry out malicious or unauthorized activity.

This month’s entry is about communication with students and staff members for new teachers or those new to a building or system.

To ensure your return to school, or new teaching experience, goes more smoothly, make sure that there is a simple, reliable method for two-way digital communication between you and your students. This promotes student accountability, encourages academic success and makes life easier for everyone. It also creates a record of your communication with your students. There is never a doubt if you informed them or reminded them.

If you are new, find out if your school offers email accounts to students. Do they know how to access them? Who does? Do you know how to send a group email using this system? Is the email a function of your online gradebook or another application? If your school uses Google classroom, the communication mechanism is pretty simple. Google Classroom did some up updating this summer, so familiarize yourself with these updates, if you use it.

Make sure you know how to use all functions of your school system’s online gradebook. Most include communication functions that allow you to post homework and deadlines, send emails or texts as class messages and send parent communications to individuals or to a group. This gives you a quickly accessible record for face-to-face conferences. Using the official school email system when contacting parents is the best way to go. Learn to print grade reports for students, parents or administrators before you actually need to do it. Now, it will be simple if you are called to a last minute meeting.

If your school’s online gradebook does not have a communication function, or if you would like to send an additional method of communication, check out an app like Remind. This app allows you to send texts or emails to specific classes. It also translates messages into about 70 languages for new students whose first language is not English. See the website for a quick overview. There are other communication apps, but this is the one with which we have had good luck. Feel free to suggest others to us. We have found the easiest way to get students’ email addresses and phone numbers for texting purposes is to bring up the Remind website and while the students are doing group work, over the first 2 or 3 class periods, have the students enter the information themselves. This saves time and ensures the information is correct. If you need to enter Gmail accounts for your Google Classroom, this works too. Of course, you will need to do a quick check of your rolls before you send your first test message.

Any students who don’t get the reminder you sent, need to check the information they entered. If all the students receive your test text, or whatever method of communication you use, great. If some don’t, you can use this first test communication as a lesson on technology, proving that accuracy is important. Of course everyone in the class you are teaching at the time did a wonderful job, but a few people in your “other classes” may need to correct their information. Those students will need to email you with the correct information. This is a great lead in to a class discussion on the importance of accuracy and reliability in the internet sources they choose.

Collaborations:

We will include suggestions for collaborative projects or school-wide events in later blogs, but right now the focus is on establishing, or re-establishing, the systems that will make your job easier.

If you are new to your building, for your technology needs, develop a relationship with these important people:

Librarian: This person is the best source for technology and print resources in your building. If what you need is not in the library, the Librarian will know where it is. Set up a meeting to run your project ideas past your Librarians early so that they can provide you with the best resources for your students- many that may surprise you. Remember that Librarians work with every department in the building, so they will have cross-curricula ideas for you and time to do personalized professional development during your planning bell or after school. They also set up equipment for meetings and events, so if you are tasked with presenting a program in your building or elsewhere, let them know. They can make sure you are comfortable with the equipment you will be using and have the equipment ready for you. Always test the equipment ahead of time.

Instructional Technology Resource person: Every school system in the country has this person. You may be lucky enough to have one assigned to your building. Their job is to train teachers to integrate technology and software effectively. He or she is probably already working very closely with your Librarian. If you are not sure who this person is and where he or she is located, please contact your Librarian.

School Network Engineer: Every school has a Network Engineer responsible for their building. Again, many of you will be lucky enough to have one full time in your building. This is the person who will make sure the network is running. Among their many duties, they often troubleshoot problems with your access to the Wi-Fi. Introduce yourself and make sure you know the procedure to have equipment repaired. Be aware these people will be very busy at the beginning of the year, so remember the person who submits the request nicely and correctly, including a detailed description, will get quicker service. Please do not turn in a request simply stating, “It’s not working.” Librarians and other tech people are often working throughout the building and may talk to 15 more people before they get back to their offices. So email them (best) or hand them your request or put it on their desk.

Upcoming Events:

September 23-29: Banned Book Week: Great for Business Law and Social Studies classes.

October: National CyberSecurity Month, NSA Day Of Cyber

Future blogs will include specific lesson plan ideas for collaborations and technology.

See you at the end of September!

cross posted at collaborationsdigitalandotherwise.weebly.com

Deborah Marshall is the Department Chair of Career & Technical Education and Lisa McKnight Ward is the librarian at Granby High School in Norfolk, Virginia. Both are Nationally Board Certified, former Teachers of the Year, who have taught multiple subjects including AP and IB courses. They have over a decade of experience collaborating on technology-based learning. Read more at collaborationsdigitalandotherwise.weebly.com/

The start of school is always a challenging time in any marriage. Making sure everything is ordered. Getting your kids all the materials they might need. Arguing about who is in charge of what when it comes to being ready for the first day of school.

I’m not talking about a traditional marriage, I’m talking about the struggle that is the marriage between IT and curriculum. Last spring I wrote a post around this very subject. In reflecting on that post, I’d have to say that the beginning of school has the toughest stress on this relationship.

[21 Things Every 21st Century Educator Should Try This Year (2018 Version)]

With more and more resources going digital, determining who is in charge of what can be similar to the night time routine in our house when we debate who wants to do the dishes versus put the kids to bed. While on a much smaller scale, communication and expectation can make something as simple as that discussion take a downward turn. Now ramp that up 1000 degrees and add the pressure of account provisioning, single sign-on, data privacy, version updates, and a wide variety of resource providers and data formats, and it’s enough to make this marriage turn toward breaking dishes, not cleaning them.

So during this back to school time of stress, just remember, we need to stick together….for the kids.

In my experience working with education officials around the world over the past two decades, the confidence of senior leadership in an education system's approach to computer and data security is often inversely proportional to how much time, energy and expense have been devoted to considering security issues, to say nothing of the robustness and comprehensiveness of related approaches being deployed.

As part of my job at the World Bank, I help ministries of education think through issues related to the use of new technologies in education. Along the way, there has been, in my experience and generally speaking, comparatively little attention, energy and resources paid to issues of computer and data security as part of the rollout of digital technologies in education in many parts of the world, and especially in middle and low income countries, where I spend the bulk of my time.

At a basic level, this should not be too surprising. Resources are often quite scare, as is related know-how. Most initiatives focus first on introducing computers (and later tablets and other gadgets) into schools, and on rolling out and improving connectivity. Many countries new to the use of computers in schools are challenged to adequately handle some of the most basic security-related tasks, like installing (and keeping updated) anti-virus packages on individual devices. And to be honest: The initial stakes are often quite low. Only over time, once a critical mass of infrastructure is in place -- and is being used -- do thoughts turn to any significant extent to issues of computer and data security. But still: Unlike passing out shiny new tablets to schoolchildren or cutting the ribbon on a new educational makerspace, strengthening an education system's security practices typically doesn't make for compelling photo opportunities. For education ministers who typically enjoy short tenures in their jobs, it's often quite logical to leave such issues for the next lady (or guy) to handle.

That said, as connectivity spreads and improves, and as education systems move beyond a patchwork of often small and uncoordinated pilot projects to become more dependent on their ICT infrastructure at the classroom, school and system level, 'security' is gradually added to the list of responsibilities of a few staff, related budget line items are established, and sometimes small units are formed inside education bureaucracies.

Even then, though, digital security concerns usually tend not to be prioritized by ministries of education, and much of what is done is reactive in nature. In my experience, only when one of two types things take place do computer security issues get real attention: (1) when there is a move to computerized, especially online, testing; and/or (2) when something important is 'hacked'. (There is a third catalyst for action -- government regulation -- but that typically occurs only after one or both of these first two things have occurred.)

[20 Innovative Edtech Projects From Around the World]

In the past two years, however, things have begun to change a bit. While still never the focus of our discussions, people from a number of ministries of education with which I have worked have begun to bring up this issue proactively. Often, related exchanges begin with some form of the question, "We are thinking about introducing online testing but are wondering if we might get hacked -- how worried should we be, and what can we do to prevent this from happening?"

My response to this sort of question is usually is something along the lines of, "You are right to be worried, and there are a lot of things you can and should be doing as a result." (Whether or not online testing is actually a good idea is a separate question, and discussion.) We then quickly talk through a number of the standard high level issues, topics and concerns, touch on the feasibility and cost of a number of related first (and second, and third, and fourth ...) steps that need to be taken, and at the end draw up a list of names and organizations for potential follow-up. Before the discussion 'ends' (a discussion about computer security never actually 'ends', of course; once opened, Pandora's Box can never be fully closed), I make sure to make the following statement, and pose a related question:

Prevention is important. Obviously! I am glad to see that this is increasingly prominent on your agenda. If you have a checklist of things you are concerned about, and a list of how you are addressing them, we can take a look at it and talk through some potential related issues, to the extent that this might be useful. We can also talk about some other countries where some bad things have happened, in case any of those stories might be of interest.

But, no matter how successful you are when it comes to protecting your digital infrastructure and your data, if you are using connected digital technologies in your education system, at some point in the future:

• Data or intellectual property will be stolen (like personal information about students, teachers or administrators); and/or
• The integrity of data or a service will be called into question (through cheating on a test, for example, or by changing grades after the fact); and/or
• Online testing, or access to a web site, online service or database, will be disrupted (as a result of a DDoS attack, for example, or the use of ransomware).
  etc. etc. etc.

For many education systems, when it comes to be being hacked, it's not a question of if, but rather, when, what, and to what extent?

What are you going to do once this happens?

(When I say this sort of thing in meetings with ministries of education, the room often gets increasingly quiet, and a few people throw me dirty looks for 'focusing on the negative'. In such instances, I'm often trying to be deliberately provocative, as a way to help force attention, if only transiently, to issues that are not being prioritized, or even considered.)

• Maybe this made the headlines.
• Maybe you 'successfully' covered it up.
• Maybe you (accurately or not) invoked the spectre of unnamed 'hackers' or blasted 'incompetent vendors' in an attempt to assign blame outside the ministry.
• Maybe you didn't even know it happened. (Maybe ... it's still happening?)

There is no shortage of potential threats or 'attack vectors'. You need to identify potential threats, prioritize them, and figure out ways to prevent them from happening. That's pretty straightforward to understand -- and good practice.

However, let's imagine for the moment that you do a good job with all of this. (In my experience, this is almost never the case when it comes to ministries of education, but perhaps your ministry is an outlier in this regard.) Despite your best efforts:

You. Have. Been. Hacked.

------

During a recent conversation of this sort, a very senior education official remained quiet for a while and then exclaimed, "We need a law so we can go after the hackers!"

Indeed, I responded, it is quite possible that you do need a law. And it is certainly important to go after the folks responsible for whatever happened. Maybe there is no law against what was done, or existing laws are not good fits. (In which case: You have one pretty clear item on your to-do list.) Maybe there are relevant laws on the books, and someone can figure out who did whatever was done (and how they did it) and prosecute them. (If so: I wish you the best of luck with this.) You'll of course need to communicate with different stakeholder groups about what happened. That said, in addition to your related messaging, and (potentially) the activities of law enforcement, you need to get things moving again -- and fast!

How do you plan to do this?

Even where appropriate, relevant preventative measure are in place (some of these will be explored in upcoming companion EduTech blog posts), in most of the places where I have worked, comparatively little thinking or action has taken place related to what to do after something has gone wrong.

In considering a set of potential related scenarios and implementing a set of concrete actions, you may end up saving yourself from a lot of grief, aggravation, damage, downtime and loss of stakeholder trust. Or maybe you won't: No one is perfect, after all. Technologies change. The bad guys can be quite good at what they do. But in planning for how you might get back on your feet after you are knocked down, you may also come to have a better understanding of where some of your most critical security vulnerabilities may lie. This may not only help you to respond if and when they are exploited, but also might just help you better protect yourself and stay on your feet in the first place.

cross posted at blogs.worldbank.org/edutech

Michael Trucano is the World Bank's Senior Education & Technology Policy Specialist and Global Lead for Innovation in Education, serving as the organization's focal point on issues at the intersection of technology use and education in middle- and low-income countries and emerging markets around the world. Read more at blogs.worldbank.org/edutech.

Supporting teachers is key to blending educational technology and curriculum. It helps them increase student achievement. Edtech integration specialists need to differentiate instruction and support the needs of teachers. It’s a collaborative cycle of support that should consist of setting goals with the teachers, co-planning lessons, observing the teacher in action, and then debriefing after the lesson. Best practices include:

1. Form connections with teachers—let teachers know you recognize their teaching abilities and willingness to take risks. 
2. Have a planning meeting to discuss IT integration—work with teachers to marry technology to the content and standards they’re teaching.
3. Test tech tools in the classroom—model the lesson live with students and allow teachers to observe new strategies in practice. Remember that the teacher is the curriculum expert. This collaboration is where the marriage of curriculum and technology can truly shine.
4. Reflect on lessons learned from the IT demo—keep notes of what tools were used and how they were implemented to help with reflection and to serve as a reference.
5. Work with teachers to implement new solutions—together, determine what went well and what could be improved.
6. Remember to check back—revisit the classrooms to see how things are progressing. 

https://tinyurl.com/ycp7x3zz

OETC has partnered with TeamDynamix to provide access to their products for OETC members.

TeamDynamix offers IT Service Management (ITSM) and Project Portfolio Management (PPM) on a single platform. The solution helps K-12 districts and Higher Ed institutions manage IT service delivery, including help desk services, change management, and project management. The solution is built for education and offers an online portal with an integrated knowledge base.

[T&L's ISTE 2018 Best of Show Awards]

OETC is a consortium of over 1,000 K-12 schools, colleges, universities, education service districts, libraries, and state departments of education across the country. Members benefit from collective buying power of products that are selected through an RFP process to evaluate product effectiveness.

Districts and institutions that use TeamDynamix are able to:

• realize a decrease in call volume as students begin to self-service from the portal,
• optimize resources by managing tickets and projects in one view,
• implement ITIL best practices including change management,
• manage big and small projects using Waterfall, Agile, Kanban, Cardwall, and task lists,
• provide a single platform approach to IT, Facilities, Human Resources, Media Services, and more.

TeamDynamix can be found in the OETC Store.

Relationships are always a work in progress. Kayne and Kim. Will and Jada. Beyonce and Jay-Z. Carl and Renee. The list goes on and on. Some couples make it, others end in divorce. While every couple has its own unique circumstances and situation, there are some common tips to make their marriage more successful.

Over the last few years, more and more, I feel like a marriage counselor when it comes to the couple known as “IT & Curriculum.” This relationship is a tricky one, because there is no way to opt out. While my district has what I would call a very healthy relationship between the two, it wasn’t always that way. And when I go out and speak with other districts, there seems to be some common problems that arise between curriculum and IT.

Last week at #TLTechLive event in Boston, I had the honor of being the opening keynote to address this topic head on. And while I won’t recap the entire presentation, I found some interesting insights over the course of our one hour “counseling session” that I thought I would share here.

Like any marriage, there need to be a set of agreed upon vows or standards. During my session last week, I donned some preacher robes (actually a graduation gown) to deliver the vows between IT and Curriculum. Here’s an abbreviated version:

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate this thing called….Learning.

Curriculum – Do you solemnly swear to check interoperability standards before purchasing an application?

IT – Do you solemnly swear to being open to new ideas, as long as it furthers the learning of our kids?

….in sickness and health, through printer errors and slow wifi, until death or the end of public education do us part….may I have the ringtone?”

As I recited the vows on stage, I realized that wedding vows sound an awful lot like Acceptable Use Policies.

[The Marriage of Tech & Curriculum: A Toast]

Patient #1 – Dealing with Insecurity

With all the new applications or online textbooks being purchased almost daily it seems, our schools have many points of vulnerability when it comes to data. The IT side of the relationship wants to be open to these new programs and applications, but also is concerned about security and data privacy.

While there is no magic bullet answer to this relationship issue, many districts and states are moving toward a standard agreement when it comes to the use of student data. In fact, in Massachusetts, there is a Student Privacy Alliance which connects districts across the state to leverage the collective power in getting companies to agree to their student data privacy agreement.

With all the recent news with the Zuckerberg testimony to Congress and the subsequent avalanche of companies changing their terms of service when it comes to user data, this issue in the relationship between IT and Curriculum could soon be going away, allowing the happy couple to finally go on the honeymoon they’ve always wanted.

On stage with one of my ‘patients’ @MatthewXJoseph

If you’ve ever been a teacher and attended some state-wide or national ed tech conference, there is almost always some app or tool that you learn about that you want to try. However, when you get back home, IT says “no” before you even attempt to pilot it with your students.

The truth is, there is more than just IT that needs to vet new tools. I’ve seen many an app out there that is really just students mindlessly tapping on screens and not vetting in any type of research. In our district we have a workflow for requesting new apps for students (the app store isn’t on their iPads) as well as our League of Innovators – a group of early adopters that are willing to try and test new software or hardware. What mechanisms does your district have in place for trying new applications or tools? Is there a process for piloting new ideas?

These questions can sting an unstable relationship as it gives IT the impression that you are happy with what they are offering and your eye is starting to wander. However, a stable relationship has an open dialogue and a process for getting new ideas, if effective, into the hands of students.

Patient #3 – Feeling out of sync

After the honeymoon phase, typically a couple decides to purchase their first house. In the case of IT & Curriculum that could be in the form of a Learning Management System (LMS) or perhaps a large online textbook adoption. This new purchase has many needs and requires the attention of both sides of the relationship.

For IT, there is nothing more frustrating than finding out that Curriculum has purchased a new adoption that either doesn’t work on the district’s existing devices OR requires a lot of heavy lifting to get student data into the system. The good news is, there are more and more platforms moving to a Single-Sign On (SSO) approach and with the One Roster standard from IMS Global becoming more widely adopted, the issues of data uploads via .csv files may soon go away.

At some point in a relationship, kids enter the picture. With IT & Curriculum, they are there on day one. The focus of both ‘parents’ in this marriage should ultimately be the students. Many times, districts purchase expensive software or applications in the hopes of enhancing student learning. But how do we know if that’s actually happening? How do we measure the effectiveness of the programs we are using?

For me, it means pulling up usage statistics of over 40 applications or online resources. This process can take more than a week and the data comes in a variety of formats which is rarely longitudinal in terms of usage. Again, the good news here is that there are now tools in development to help with this efficacy of use and ultimately, learning. One company I’ve been advising with over the past year that does this very thing is CatchOn. Their motto is simple – “Simplify the evaluation of Ed Tech usage.”

Once you have the data you need at the touch of your finger, the next challenge becomes those hard conversations in the relationship around budget. Maybe curriculum is spending too much or IT is too much of a penny-pincher, whatever the case, once you have the usage data you can make better decisions for your “family” around whether to cut a program or keep it and provide more professional learning around it.

How do we save this marriage?

Through all of the issues between this couple, the keys to an effective relationship sound eerily similar to that of an actual marriage:

1. Better communication
2. Empathy and understanding of both sides
3. Being open to new ideas
4. Working together, not separate

And ultimately…we need to stay together…for the kids.

Editor’s note: Looking to learn more? Check out my book Mobile Learning Mindset: The IT Professional’s Guide to Implementation which includes an entire chapter dedicated to the marriage between IT and Curriculum.

cross posted at http://hookedoninnovation.com

Carl Hooker has been a part of a strong educational shift with technology integration since becoming an educator. As Director of Innovation & Digital Learning at Eanes ISD, he has helped spearhead the LEAP program, which put one-to-one iPads in the hands of all K-12 students in his 8000-student district. He is also the founder of “iPadpalooza”- a three-day “learning festival” held in Austin annually. He's also the author of the six-book series titled Mobile Learning Mindset, a guide for teachers, administrators, parents and others to support and embrace mobile learning in our schools. Read more at Hooked on Innovation.

At the recent Tech & Learning Live in Boston, many school leaders took risks in the interest of professional development. I participated in my first EdTech #PoetrySlam. Carl Hooker (@mrhooker), Director of Innovation at Eanes ISD (TX), delivered an interactive keynote speech in which he addressed the challenges of achieving collaboration between instruction and technology (check out his slides for a full look at the content here). One phrase that resonated with me and our table was about being a “Yes, and” community. By taking this approach, edtech and curriculum leaders can share innovative ideas and become a cohort of learners, not two separate commodities. By shifting from a “Yes, but” to a “Yes, and,” more ideas are launched through pilots or full adoptions and edtech and curriculum leaders can work together to solve problems and enhance the current system.

Carl created an environment for all of us to take a risk. So how do district leaders do that for others? There are some basic rules to taking smart risks:

• Don’t risk everything – taking a risk is for growth
• Know what you want and ask/plan for it
• Execute
• Practice and learn from errors
• Don’t stop and don’t worry about what others think

Here are some ways school district leaders can further support their curriculum and technology colleagues in their risk-taking:

[Robotics Showcase 2017! (Why taking risks is legit)]

Define Smart Risks and Set Limits

We need to define what we mean by “smart risk.” The last thing we want as leaders is for every staff member to just take a risk for the “heck of it” and jeopardize student learning or educator confidence/growth. That is not smart risk taking.

Model Risk-taking Behavior

School district leaders can’t just show staff what they do well. They must be willing to try something new and let staff observe and celebrate their willingness to try. Try using new technology in staff meetings, social media, or professional development. Don’t be afraid to show vulnerability to your staff.

Create A Safe Environment for Risk Taking

Creating a safe environment means not punishing people who take smart, acceptable risks. As a principal for 11 years, I know the evaluation process well. Unfortunately, concern over teacher evaluations may deter some from taking risks. To create a safe environment for risk taking, school leaders can talk about taking smart risks in educator goal setting meetings early in the year. They can encourage educators to try new instructional styles or incorporate new innovative tools into lessons. If educators hear in their first meeting with school leaders that one of their goals is to try a new edtech and/or curriculum initiative or instructional style, they will be more willing to take risks. Leaders can assure teachers that they will not be punished or ratings affected for trying new things, even if those ideas don’t always succeed. Using educators’ goals and creating an encouraging community will diminish teacher concern and in turn increase the excitement for trying something new.

Reward Smart Missteps

Set up a structure that reviews missteps and celebrates the best attempts to show that the school is serious about risk-taking. Instead of just designing plans in the spring and summer that will focus on academic success in the first few weeks of school, why not create plans that encourage risk taking and celebrate attempts? One idea could be to build into every staff meeting a time for staff to share something they tried the past month. They can share successes and missteps. This process could also be a time for staff to come to the meeting with an idea and gather feedback. Sharing missteps could help to gather other ideas to increase collaboration and create a safe time to share.

When staff understand what smart risk taking is, they will understand their comfort zones and be able to deal with anxiety and uncertainty more easily. Create a culture of risk taking starts with preparation, vision, and taking a risk to do it.

Dr. Matthew X. Joseph (@MatthewXJoseph) is currently Director of Digital Learning and Innovation for Milford Public School, Milford, Ma. Before Tech and Learning Boston 2018, he had the opportunity to present at #TLTechLive in Boston and New Jersey in 2017 and other state opportunities focused on Ed Tech Leadership and empowering teachers. Before Milford, he was a building principal for 11 years in Massachusetts. Other professional roles include: classroom teacher, PD specialist, and other district roles supporting technology instruction. Dr. Joseph holds licenses in general education, school administration, and MA superintendent. His master's degree is in SPED and he holds an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Boston College.

Here’s the challenge. As the technology coordinator in your school, you want teachers—and students—to read the manual before using (new) technology. But people have been conditioned to believe that tech manuals are written by geeks who know how the thing works, and who therefore set out the manual in a very logical way—logical, that is, if you already know how it works and have a good idea of what you would want to know.

To take a simple example, a techie writing a manual for a digital camera would probably list all the functions for each button on the camera and wouldn’t get to how to actually take a picture until page 75, by which time the user will have lost the will to live. This is all a bit of a pity because in your school, as far as everyone else is concerned, the geek is you! So, how can you overcome your geeky tendencies and write a manual that people will not only read but actually enjoy? Taking the example of a digital camera manual, here are five tips.

1. Think About What the User Wants to Do

The average student or teacher doesn’t need to know how to adjust the focal length and aperture in order to achieve a soft-focus effect—at least not right away. What they want (wait for it) is to take a picture. There’s a reason that every programming manual gets the reader to create a program called “Hello, World” by page two. Achieving something more or less immediately builds confidence and therefore builds motivation—not to mention the fact that most people can’t handle deferred gratification.

So, get the user to take a picture right away, and then point them to where they can find out how to work on becoming the next award-winning National Geographic photographer—if that’s what they want.

Taking this a step further, what’s the next thing that the average teacher or student will want to do? They’ll probably want to save the picture somewhere accessible, carry out some simple editing, and insert it into a document. They probably do not want to know about color saturation, bleeding, and heaven knows what else. They just want to use the darn thing.

2. Make the Manual Readable

Yes, we know that you have ambitions to be the new D.H. Lawrence, but for the manual, keep it simple with short sentences and liberal use of numbered and bulleted lists. Use numbered lists for giving instructions that must be followed in a particular order. Use bulleted lists for instructions where the order doesn’t matter.

And keep the text light-hearted, even if it means sacrificing a bit of technical accuracy or jargon. For example, there is no earthly reason that the word “aperture” should appear anywhere. You just have to write, “The darker the place you’re in, the lower the f-number you should use on the dial around the lens.”

3. Use Illustrations

Pictures not only paint thousands of words, but they also break up the text. Don’t be afraid to use hand-drawn illustrations either, and even humorous ones. Can’t draw? No problem! Find a student who can. They will leap at the chance to contribute, and it will give them a small bit of fame (though probably not fortune). One of my most successful manuals was a spreadsheet guide that included hilarious drawings created by a student. In fact, shortly after the manual was published, a huge poster about an upcoming school trip appeared in the lobby, obviously illustrated by the same student (he had a distinctive style). I’m sure someone in the upper echelons of school management saw the spreadsheet manual and then made a beeline for the student. I often wonder if he went on to make a living from his craft. I hope so.

4. Test It on Users

On the subject of students, get a few of them to test the manual before you release it to the world. I have done this even with how-to posters, and the feedback has been invaluable. The students also love being treated as partners rather than just having stuff done to them. In fact, if your school has an after-school computer club or similar, why not get them to test it? Better yet, why not get them to write it? What a brilliant project that would make. Think about it: they’d have to research user needs, grab screenshots and photos, write the text, maybe create an interactive ebook with video demos in it, and organize themselves and collaborate with each other. And then, once the manual was complete, they’d need to test it on a user group.

5. Make the Manual Inviting

The days when school documents looked like something typed on a manual typewriter with a staple in the corner are over. Hold a competition for students to design the cover art, find a nice template, and print it on good quality paper. Why not splash out and self-publish it on Kindle and KDP? For the paperback version, you’ll be able to buy the manuals for the cost of printing. If other schools decide they like them, they can buy them on Amazon, thereby giving your school a nice royalty. Back in 1992 or thereabouts, I wrote and published a word-processing manual and sold it to schools and individuals around the country. The school made enough profit to be able to afford a flatbed scanner—which in those days cost almost as much as a computer, and computers cost a fortune. If I could do that before Amazon was a twinkle in Jeff Bezos’ eye, and even before email was widely used, I see no reason that schools couldn’t do it now.

Bottom Line

If you make your manual look inviting, people will want to read it. And if you can make it readable, then they will read it!

Terry Freedman is an independent edtech consultant and freelance writer based in London, England. He publishes the ICT & Computing in Education website.

When asked about the top concerns in keeping their IT departments running efficiently, over 100 IT leaders in the K-12 community said that managing resources topped the list. Cyber security was also noted.

In a blog post, Andrew Graf, Chief Product Strategist for TeamDynamix, which conducted the study, wrote, “In an ongoing effort to communicate with customers and address real-time needs and issues, we asked feedback from IT leaders in K-12 education about their department’s IT Maturity status. Based on their comments, we know that there are a few keys areas IT departments need to focus on to tackle weak areas.”

TeamDynamix identified five areas where K-12 campuses could improve:

1) Implementing self-service portals so multiple users can tap into the wealth of information available in schools and districts.

2) Employing knowledge-centered support.

3) Improving endpoint control and security standards will protect from cyber attacks.

4) Using the ITIL framework.

5) Implementing ITIL’s change management process will open the door for more efficient systems.

“Simple changes are key to making the most of existing resources, which will result in more efficiencies and better levels of service,” concluded Graf.

Expanded posts on these five improvement strategies are found here.

Jamf today announced both compatibility and key feature support for the upcoming Apple releases of iOS, macOS and tvOS.

Jamf Pro, a solution designed for professional Apple administrators, supports the new functionality launched for macOS, iOS and tvOS, including:

[What blockchain could mean for edtech]

• Managed Software Updates: With Jamf Pro and new versions of macOS and iOS, IT can now defer Apple software updates for up to 90 days
• User Approved MDM Support for Mac: Automatically create User Approved enrollments through the new enrollment workflow in Jamf Pro, allowing IT to remotely manage security-sensitive settings
• Apple TV Enhancements: Restrict apps and media content based on age ratings and update an app while a device is in Single App Mode
• Apple Business Manager Support: Take advantage of Apple’s platform which consolidates Apple’s Device Enrollment Program and Apple’s Volume Purchase Program (Apps and Books) into a single web portal for IT

The world of learning has evolved rapidly in the past decade. Mobile devices. Social Media. OER. Data Privacy. All of these can cause curriculum and IT departments to spiral into a Kayne-vs-Taylor-Swift-type feud. In a recent report by Innovative Educator Lisa Nielsen, she writes, “Successful adoption of technology into the curriculum requires a happy marriage between curriculum and technology. There are four key components that can lead to a successful marriage: active engagement, group participation, frequent interaction and feedback, and connection to real-world experts. The key to staying out of divorce court is remembering that it’s not about technology. It’s about learning.” (Read LIsa’s full report HERE.) At Tech & Learning Live in Boston on April 27, Carl Hooker will break out the virtual couch in his interactive keynote, “Becoming a Marriage Counselor for IT & Curriculum,” and discuss how to resolve these issues for the betterment of our students. At Tech & Learning, our hope is that by sharing your stories through our conferences, magazine, and website, we can help your school’s marriage between curriculum and IT not just survive, but thrive. – Christine Weiser, Content Director