As COVID-19 continues to spread, educators worldwide are forced to reassess their lesson plans and adapt their curricula to accommodate e-learning.
Within the U.S. alone, statewide school closures will demand remote learning for the final months of the 2019-2020 school year. The implications for e-learning, in a U.S. education culture still dominated by in-person classes (especially at the K-12 level), cannot be overstated.
Related content: COVID-19 and cyberattacks
With a world of new challenges ahead of educators and families, it’s important to keep in mind the implications tied specifically to internet and technology usage in e-learning.
Heightened cyber risks
All 21st century U.S. educators must demonstrate some understanding of technology’s role in the classroom, even if their specific responsibilities with it are more indirect. They are doing a large percentage of their weekly work onsite – at the specific school(s) where they are employed. This was the standard before COVID-19.
Now, by re-routing lessons to e-learning, educators are also, to an extent, re-routing the infrastructure of school networks and the staff-to-student communication that these lessons depend upon. Yes, most teachers are fortunate that a high percentage of their schools’ educational content was likely already housed in some form of cloud-based network, and some e-learning may have taken place before COVID-19. The difference; however, is that the end-points (devices) that operate on these networks are now going largely unsupervised for the entirety of the school day AND the evening hours that follow.
With greater overall e-learning time, some of the cyber risks already present will increase, while others will arise for the first time.
Phishing emails and malware attacks
These tend to be more frequent during periods of emergency. The COVID-19-type phishing emails may appear in inboxes as:
• Emails promoting “urgent” or “breakthrough” COVID-19 cures, and other sensational news.
• Messages that urge payment for utilities like electricity and threaten to shut off these essential services if the consumer doesn’t take immediate action.
• Fake alerts from the CDC that are written and formatted to look like official messages.
These emails may act as malware, capable of infecting both individual computers and entire school networks.
Chatroom imposters
The abrupt rise of video conferencing in education has brought new opportunity to the landscape of e-learning, but also new risk. Educators across the U.S. who are joining and deploying this alternative communication medium are finding greater flexibility in certain aspects of their teaching, but also increased risk of unintended audiences, or “imposters.” These participants can retrieve an access code or other links to the chatroom and, in doing so, compromise the safety, well-being, or privacy of individuals in the chat, or the school at large.
Inappropriate web browsing
This activity poses both social and technological risk. Many schools have already implemented advanced firewall protection and other safeguards to help limit this activity. When daily lessons are taking place remotely; however, the risk of ill-advised web searches and page viewings increases. When left to their own devices (literally and figuratively), students may also face attention issues. This hinders a teacher’s ability to monitor their students’ level of engagement and address potential issues.
How to mitigate risk
The risk for harm to school networks and harm to the individuals logged onto the network is very real. At the same time, there are a wide range of practices that educators can implement and advise parents and students to implement. Here are some best practices to consider.
Guidelines for teachers
As remote employees now, educators are forced to use either their own or borrowed devices to access school data and intellectual property. Working with a variety of industries through this COVID-19 transition, some of the security safeguards recommended for educators will be similar to other U.S. businesses. These include:
• Implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) – two types of identification that limit the chances of bad actors accessing at-home networks.
• Encouraging employees to avoid public wi-fi networks, especially during work times.
• Deploying monitoring tools to pinpoint suspicious activity, such as an alert when a user follows a link to a suspected bad site.
• Using a safe search platform that offers a shield from malicious sites and a secure chat group for educators to communicate with their colleagues, parents and students.
In addition, schools will need to manage variables such as lost or damaged devices, sick employees, employee dismissal, and students or staff relocating. When these circumstances occur, a school’s IT department or acting IT person should be called upon to remotely wipe access to school data.
Guidelines for families
While teachers are more limited in their ability to monitor activity when students are remote, they can advise parents by offering guidelines and recommended tools to ensure safe and effective learning. Some of these tools and resources, available online, can:
• Block inappropriate domains on students’ home network
• Track social media usage and manage screen time remotely
• Add controls to detect what kids are typing, what photos they are sending, and their location.
Guidelines for administrators
Virtual communication is inherently a two-way street, and as such education administrators need to implement technology measures that work for both teachers and their students. Areas to pay close attention to include:
• Safe and secure chat room and email platforms – not a one-size-fits-all market. Tech should be carefully vetted before implementation.
• Safe and secure “cloud systems” – the foundation for the entire school network. IT teams should also be looped in frequently during e-learning periods, about any issues.
• Easy file storage and transferring – should be both user-friendly and secure.
Despite initial setbacks in adoption, the rising prevalence of e-learning brings new opportunity to the education field at large, with a variety of primary and ancillary technologies expanding or even coming into existence for the first time.
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