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.

Your district’s cyber safety needs help–here’s how to fix it

Key points:

There is no question that cybersecurity threats such as ransomware continue to pummel the education system, with the White House estimating that at least eight K-12 school districts faced “significant cyberattacks” during the last school year alone, resulting in loss of learning time and even full school shutdowns. With open networks, tight budgets, and a lack of proper cybersecurity training for teachers and students, there are many factors that lead schools to become prime targets for attacks. 

On the heels of the White House’s multi-pronged plan to help bolster K-12 schools’ cybersecurity, it is crucial that schools recognize the importance of strong cyber posture within the education system and take the steps necessary to bolster their digital security, despite limited resources and an increasing number of complex cyberattacks.…Read More

Discovery Education Launches New Digital Citizenship Resources in Partnership with Norton 

Charlotte, NC – Discovery Education, in partnership with Norton, a leading Cyber Safety brand of Gen™, recently launched a new digital citizenship resource center – My Digital Life – on the award-winning Discovery Education K-12 platform. The My Digital Life resource center offers standards-aligned resources designed to empower students and educators with activities about digital citizenship. Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. 

Digital citizenship refers to the responsible use of technology by anyone who uses computers, the internet, and digital devices to engage with society on any level. By developing digital citizenship skills, students will become inclusive, informed, engaged, balanced, and alert while in digital spaces. 

“Equipping educators and families with digital citizenship tools helps students develop the critical skills to stay safe online early,” said Kim Allman, head of corporate responsibility for Gen and its family of consumer brands including Norton. “With the Norton resources created in partnership with Discovery Education, students will learn how to best conduct themselves in the digital environment.” …Read More

Cybersecurity to Be Taught to K-8 students across North America for Free

London, ON – Cyber Legends, the fun, free game that empowers kids to learn online safety through play, today announced the launch of the Cyber Legends Gaming platform and its availability to schools across North America. There is currently no standardized cyber safety curriculum being taught in primary, elementary or intermediate schools. Cyber Legends intends to change that with engaging, curriculum-aligned lessons, masked as a fun video game. The game teaches kids about passwords, identity theft, scams, phishing, cyber bullying, sexting, social media issues and much more.

Cyber Legends has reached out to teachers, schools, school boards, cybersecurity experts, and online safety professionals to collect data over the past 2 years to learn about their challenges.  The company has gathered all the complexities of internet safety and distilled them into engaging, well-tested, curriculum-aligned, and beautifully structured lesson plans (created by teachers) for grades K–8. Cyber Legends also comes with tons of free resources to help teachers, parents, and children.

As critical as it is that children learn about cyber safety early on, teachers often lack the resources to help their students. They aren’t cybersecurity specialists and the vast majority have never received any cybersecurity training themselves. This provides a simple way to give each child the basics on how to stay safe online.  This has become more critical as students use laptops, mobile devices, and home computers routinely.…Read More

Linewize Acquires Online Safety Provider Smoothwall, Hires Digital Wellness Expert Teodora Pavkovic

SAN DIEGO, September 10, 2021 – Linewize, a division of FamilyZone (ASX: FZO), a rapidly growing education technology company now serving more than 9 million K-12 students across the globe, today announced:

  • The acquisition of U.K-based software company Smoothwall, one of the world’s largest online student safety providers.
  • A strategic hire with the addition of psychologist Teodora Pavkovic as Lead Cyber Safety & Digital Wellness Expert.

Both moves increase Linewize’s presence and foothold in the K-12 cyber safety space during a critical time, positioning them to deliver a more comprehensive portfolio of online safety and parental control products and further enabling Linewize to deliver on their goal of protecting every child’s digital journey, from the classroom to the home.

Linewize Acquires Smoothwall…Read More

ManagedMethods Launches Industry-leading Student Cyber Safety Monitoring Powered by Artificial Intelligence

ManagedMethods, the leading Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 cybersecurity, student safety, and compliance platform for K-12 school districts, today announced the launch of its Signals student safety monitoring feature.

Signals by ManagedMethods is an AI-powered student safety monitoring feature that helps administrators detect when a student is in crisis and in danger of potentially harming themselves. It does this by monitoring district Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 accounts for distress signals, and hidden cries for help. Upon detection, Signals sends alerts to designated school administrators in real-time. These alerts include the information needed to understand the incident, allowing for quick response to a student in need.

“We have put a tremendous amount of effort into developing the K-12 education industry’s leading AI technology for student safety monitoring over this past year,” said Charlie Sander, Chief Executive Officer at ManagedMethods. “Student safety is such an important focal point in making—and keeping—schools safe. We’re proud to see Signals already making a positive impact on students and staff in schools today.”…Read More

Linewize and Gaggle Announce Strategic Partnership 

Linewize, a growing education technology company, today announced its partnership with Gaggle as a part of its expanding cyber safety offering. Gaggle is the pioneer in helping K-12 districts manage student safety on school-provided technology.

“We’re thrilled to partner with the Gaggle team,” said Linewize VP, North America, Ross Young. “They dominate the ‘hands-on’ student safety market and have saved countless lives. Together, our technologies will work seamlessly to uncover more valuable data for school districts for an iron-clad cyber safety solution.”

The Linewize solution provides school districts with a web filtering system and classroom management tool equipped with red flag safety alerts, teacher/student screen sharing, and cyber safety education for the community. When Linewize flags a student internet search for terms that may signal potentially dangerous or harmful behavior, an alert will be sent to the Gaggle Safety Team, who will include Linewize alerts in their analysis to determine if the school or district needs to be notified.…Read More

Frontier Internet Cyber Safety Grant

The internet provides students a vast resource for research and learning. Yet, navigating the beneficial and dangerous places online has been an ever-evolving battle. What have you as a teacher and your classes learned when it comes to cyber safety? Tell us, and you could win a $1,000 grant to buy technological equipment or supplies for your room.

 

…Read More

Survey reveals disconnect in online safety education

Nearly all administrators said schools should help students learn basic technology skills that incorporate safety and security, but many teachers say they're not prepared to teach these subjects.

A new report suggests that many schools are not adequately preparing students to be safe in today’s digitally connected age, and it cites basic online safety and ethics as two areas in which students need more education.

The report, “State of K-12 Cyberethics, Cybersafety, and Cybersecurity Curriculum in the United States,” was published by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and sponsored by Microsoft.…Read More

Study: Too few schools are teaching cyber safety

Teaching about safe and responsible internet use is increasingly important for today's digital natives.
Teaching about safe and responsible internet use is increasingly important for today's digital natives.

Students aren’t getting enough instruction in school on how to use technology and the internet in a safe and responsible manner, a new poll suggests.

Released by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and supported by Microsoft Corp., the survey found fewer than one-fourth of U.S. teachers have spent more than six hours on any kind of professional development related to cyber ethics, safety, or security within the last 12 months.…Read More

Feds release cyber safety booklet

Teens should know that there are consequences to their actions.
Teens should know that there are consequences to their actions.

A new booklet released by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and other government agencies helps parents and teachers steer kids safely through the online and mobile-phone worlds.

The booklet, titled “Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids About Being Online” was unveiled Dec. 15 at Jefferson Middle School in Washington, D.C., by FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski. At the middle school, which is known for its emphasis on science and technology, the officials met with students and teachers to discuss online safety.…Read More