What Does the National Educational Technology Plan Say About the Digital Divides? mol.doak_fhrr Wed, 03/27/2024 - 11:59 Over the past few years, schools and policymakers were focused on one digital divide in K–12 education: unequal access to technology. However, the Office of Educational Technology, a team within the U.S. Department of Education, recently updated its National Educational Technology Plan, and this year’s NETP goes deeper. It defines not one but three digital divides. The new approach comes out of an earlier call by that office for educators to ensure “more equitable access to ..read more

What Can Wi-Fi 7 Do for K–12 Schools? mol.doak_fhrr Wed, 02/21/2024 - 10:14 Fast, high-quality Wi-Fi is crucial in modern K-12 classrooms, and over the past few years many schools have transitioned to Wi-Fi 6 and 6E. Now, Wi-Fi 7 is on the horizon, bringing with it the promise of even faster speeds. What sets Wi-Fi 7 apart is its ability to reach speeds of up to 46 gigabits per second, compared with a max of 10Gbps on Wi-Fi 6E, the previous standard. Siân Morgan, research director at Dell’Oro Group, calls Wi-Fi 7 “revolutionary” because it operates on the newly available 6-gigahertz frequency ..read more

Eye on Zero Trust: How to Implement Identity and Access Management in K–12 Schools mary.winters Tue, 01/30/2024 - 14:28 Developed in 2009 by former Forrester Research analyst John Kindervag, the zero-trust security model revolves around the motto “never trust, always verify.” It is an evolving methodology in cybersecurity that governs user access to data and networks. “Zero trust really comes down to: Are you who you say you are, and are you where you are supposed to be?” says Gary Lackey, director of cybersecurity at Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District in Baytown, Texas ..read more

Getting to a Single Pane of Glass for K–12 Network Management mol.doak_fhrr Fri, 01/19/2024 - 09:38 Centralized management of every network component is a dream for all network managers. The famous “single pane of glass” (so named back when displays had actual glass in them) for configuration, security, monitoring, troubleshooting and reporting promised to reduce the effort spent on network management, shorten the time to resolve problems and give a global overview of traffic throughout a network. In environments like K–12 schools, where network teams are perennially understaffed and overwork ..read more

Network Upgrades Enhance the Educational Experience, Tech Leaders Say mol.doak_fhrr Tue, 01/16/2024 - 11:52 At Sumner County Schools, in middle Tennessee just north of Nashville, Chris Brown is already seeing the practical benefits of a recent network upgrade for the students, administrators and IT staff. For example, a 1,500-student high school in the district was able to make a vast improvement in the delivery of online testing, says Brown, assistant director of schools for information services. “Prior to this year, that testing might have taken two weeks,” he says. “With those devices work ..read more

CITE 2023: Attendees Reflect on AI Learnings and Other Takeaways Rebecca.torchia_c7Ks Thu, 12/07/2023 - 11:40 Some IT professionals came to CITE 2023 looking for it; others found it inescapable once they arrived, but many attendees agreed it was the prevailing theme of this year’s conference: artificial intelligence. One year after OpenAI released ChatGPT, IT and education leaders are still feeling its effects. AI is touching all aspects of educational technology, from classroom learning to school infrastructure. Levar Burton, actor and CITE 2023 keynote speaker, spoke on the t ..read more

CITE 2023: Emerging Technologies for Modern Classrooms Steal the Spotlight mol.doak_fhrr Thu, 11/30/2023 - 12:18 K–12 IT professionals are always seeking modern technology for their schools’ users, from connections that serve IT departments to gadgets that advance student learning. As the calendar year comes to a close, admins and technology leaders should begin thinking about the solutions they’ll purchase in the spring. CITE 2023 in Sacramento, Calif., has proved to be the perfect location to find new and trending technologies for the K–12 classroom. A showcase of products, services and dem ..read more

Bolster K–12 Districts’ Capacity with Managed IT Services for Education mol.doak_fhrr Tue, 11/21/2023 - 13:22 K–12 IT teams have an ever-growing list of responsibilities and tasks crucial to ensuring that classrooms – not to mention entire school campuses — remain optimally equipped for teaching and learning. On top of that, school districts are notoriously strapped for money. On average, the U.S. puts 12.7 percent of public funding toward education: That’s below the international standard of 15 percent. For public school districts around the nation, such low funding frequently results i ..read more

SD-WAN Connects Schools to Hybrid Cloud Success mol.doak_fhrr Wed, 11/08/2023 - 07:39 Digital transformation initiatives are driving many schools to implement hybrid cloud architectures for their infrastructure and data storage. The cloud has long been a robust option for organizations looking to improve flexibility and scalability, but new digital capabilities are spurring even greater adoption. In fact, 88 percent of organizations view the cloud as the cornerstone of their digital strategy, according to a Deloitte report.  As educational institutions become more strategic in their appr ..read more

Watch & Learn: Schools See Internet Speeds, Reliability Skyrocket After Wi-Fi 6 Upgrades Videoconferencing, esports and screen casting from digital whiteboards are all common parts of the modern K–12 curriculum. However, when educators at Clovis Municipal School District in New Mexico and McAllen Independent School District in Texas attempted to harness these technologies for learning, their aging Wi-Fi 5 networks presented a problem. Inconsistent internet access meant teachers could not plan for lessons that integrated technology until the school districts upgraded to Wi-Fi 6. Both insta ..read more