Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Education needs to go back to school for cybersecurity

The education sector has not been immune to the digital revolution transforming businesses and organizations across the world. The year before the pandemic saw sky-high growth and adoption in education technology, with global edtech investments reaching €15.87 billion in 2019.

Many education institutions have their own bring your own device (BYOD) policies, while downloads of educational apps have risen by 130 percent over the past year.

Everything from laptops and mobile devices to interactive touchscreens and even virtual reality are becoming commonplace in schools districts, colleges, and universities.…Read More

Richardson Independent School District – Texas, USA

BARCO SOLUTION

  • wePresent

KEY BENEFITS

  • Improves student learning & drives engagement
  • Ease of use for teachers & stimulates interactive teaching
  • Supports different BYOD operating systems & perfectly integrates in the network

The Richardson Independent School District in Texas, USA, was not looking for just any wireless solution. They wanted one that would accommodate all users. This is a must in an age when Bring Your Own Device practices reign supreme and every classroom is inhabited by a mix of Google, Apple, Android and Microsoft devices. For Technology Project Manager, Terry Balch, finding such a solution was far more difficult than it should have been:…Read More

3 districts that battled malware–and won–with endpoint security

It’s not exactly a secret that most educational institutions are vulnerable to data breaches and security hacks. All it takes is one attack to freeze school operations and disrupt learning, to say nothing of putting sensitive data and private information at risk.

Being proactive is better than being reactive, and one of the biggest proactive steps districts are taking today involves targeting endpoint security and beefing up endpoint resilience.

Endpoint security, essentially, involves protecting the endpoints, or the devices and tools, connected to school and district networks. As BYOD and mobile initiatives expand, endpoints multiply, underscoring the importance of this security strategy. Endpoint resilience combines protection and response in a way that allows a district to recover quickly from an attack.…Read More

How we turned around our ability to support BYOD for now and for the future

Demographics:

Rio Rancho (NM) Public Schools is the state’s third-largest school district; it has 18,000 students and more than 2,000 employees across 19 schools.

Biggest challenge:

With reliance on mobility for K-12 curriculum increasing, the demand for wireless in our district has also increased. We not only have encouraged our faculty and staff to embrace BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), but we have also provided Chromebooks to all of our 18,000 students.

Due to these changes, we realized we needed to increase the number of access points (APs) we were deploying to one AP per classroom. That solved the device density challenge, but by multiplying our AP count from about 400 to nearly 1,700, we now needed to find a way to centralize and simplify our wireless configurations.…Read More

Here’s how 4 schools are supporting wireless internet needs

As wireless internet needs become more important for students and instructors, many schools are bolstering their connectivity to ensure smooth learning experiences.

Schools and campuses must support 1:1 online learning initiatives, artificial intelligence/virtual reality (AI/VR) use, BYOD, shared resources, and on-campus surveillance–these efforts require reliable and cost-effective wireless connections that support collaborative digital-learning environments.

And at a time when internet access is of the utmost importance for effective teaching and learning, IT leaders must ensure consistent access and reliable connectivity.…Read More

Case Study: Read How Skaggs Schools Embrace BYOD with Google Apps

Skaggs Catholic Center in Utah comprises of a high school, middle school, elementary school, day center and church, all requiring fast, reliable and secure Wi-Fi to keep up with growing device density.

“We decided to embrace BYOD rather than resisting it”, explains Jim Duane, Director of Educational Resources.

Xirrus Wi-Fi empowers them to adopt Google Apps for Education. The Xirrus EasyPass solution enables their two-person IT team to simply and quickly enable single-sign-on (SSO) via Google login.…Read More

Vernier app offers hands-on learning about thermal energy

Accompanying physics, chemistry and biology investigations have students analyze images and videos captured with the FLIR ONE Thermal Camera

Vernier Software & Technology developed a new free app to allow students to study thermal energy concepts by analyzing images and video captured with the FLIR ONE Thermal Camera for iOS.

Using the Thermal Analysis for FLIR ONE app, which is available for download in the App Store, as well as new investigations created by Vernier, students can measure temperature changes on the skin, illustrate convection, track heating due to friction, compare heat conduction in different materials, analyze the transparency of materials in infrared versus visible light, and more.

“The new app provides students with an engaging way to study and to visualize thermal energy,” said John Wheeler, CEO of Vernier Software & Technology. “Ideal for BYOD and mobile learning environments, the app matched with our innovative investigations lets students easily collect and analyze thermal data, make scientific connections, and participate in hands-on learning.”…Read More

The best BYOD tech tools for the Common Core classroom

With just 4 categories and less than a dozen tools, educators can hit a lot of Common Core standards

I recently had the pleasure of spending a few hours in a friend’s classroom where I introduced her students to technology applications that would engage them in “showing what they know” at different points in their learning. Having worked with this teacher for many years, I had always considered her a technology pioneer.

So it came as something of a surprise when, planning for our time together, she confided in me that she no longer felt empowered by technology so much as overwhelmed by it. Looking back, it’s easy to see how this could have happened.

When our new wireless network went live early last year, the choice of which applications and technologies to use was no longer limited by bandwidth issues. Our Board of Education then announced we were now a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) district, but did not provide the professional development time to support this initiative. My friend was overwhelmed by the plethora of tools available. She needed guidance on selection and advice in where the potholes were in introducing these tools to her students. She knew enough to know there are always “snags” when technology gets introduced, but no longer felt confident in navigating those snags.…Read More

Why cellphones belong in our classrooms

As NYC lifts its infamous cellphone ban, one local principal sees nothing but possibilities

cellphone-learningAs the principal of Hudson High School of Learning Technologies in Manhattan, I know firsthand how cellphones can both help students stay in touch in today’s world and how they can be a valuable teaching and learning tool in the school setting. The New York City Department of Education’s recent decision to lift the cellphone ban in schools—a decision I support—acknowledges and affirms this notion.

At Hudson HSLT, we strive to create an academically rigorous and personalized environment that prepares all of our students to be college- and career-ready. We want our students to be critical thinkers, ones who practice the art of questioning and are able to deconstruct, reconstruct, and communicate information in today’s society.

We believe that the use of technology, including cellphones, when implemented purposefully to support classroom instruction, can help foster these skills.…Read More