Student privacy and school security are growing concerns in schools that can have consequences from negative media attention to losing parent and student trust. Defining and assessing levels of risk in the school is a crucial part of online security and privacy. Although there is no such thing as zero risk, there are measures we can take to significantly reduce risk. Bill Fitzgerald, Director of the Privacy Evaluation Initiative for Common Sense Media, provided simple ways to assess online privacy and security in “Online Security, Privacy, and Risk: How to Avoid Becoming a Headline.”
Each year, K-12 schools and districts that have leveraged technology to dramatically improve the educational experiences and achievements of their students are honored through SETDA’s Student Voices program. Mountain Heights Academy in Utah, the 2017 Student Voices Award winner, encourages students to participate in the instructional design process using an OER curriculum. In “Students Collaborate with Digital Tools to Support Bee Populations,” four students from Mountain Heights Academy explained how they work together and use technology to collaborate on their project, Operation Bee.
Once your school district makes the commitment to have a digital library, the next step is for people to understand how they can stay engaged. In “Secrets from the Front Lines: How Schools Can Boost Digital Engagement,” Kelly Hladek, Library Media Specialist and Technology Liaison at Morton High School, School City of Hammond, IN, discussed best practices for engaging students, teachers and the community in the district’s eBook and audiobook collection. In just one year of having a digital collection, checkouts from the district’s digital library increased by 184 percent.
Challenging behaviors can be difficult to address in children with autism. After appropriately identifying the behavior, a suitable intervention can be used to proactively or reactively reduce and replace it. Experts reviewed key points and effective ways to address these problem behaviors in the edWebinar, “Effective Approaches to Reduce and Replace Challenging Behaviors Exhibited by Children with Autism.”
How are school leaders managing the pace of change and explosion of technology? The Future of Education Technology Conference in Orlando, FL gathered thousands of educators for a non-stop techfest of keynotes, sessions, and exhibits. Lisa Schmucki, the founder of edWeb.net, attended and was particularly interested in hearing how school leaders are managing the pace… read more →
The Education Technology Industry Network (ETIN) and Empirical Education Inc. have recently released the Guidelines for Conducting and Reporting EdTech Impact Research in U.S. K-12 Schools. These guidelines help clarify how research is conducted and how information is presented to users of edtech products based on the changes brought by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). In “Measuring Edtech Impact in the ESSA Era,” experts delved into the details of the guidelines.
edWeb.net and Learning Without Tears have launched Crayons, Pencils, and Keyboards: Inspiring Learning in Your Elementary School Classroom, a free, professional learning community on edWeb. Through this online community, Learning Without Tears will bring together educators around the world and provide tips and tricks for making Pre-K-5 readiness, handwriting, and keyboarding fun and easy, and create confident communicators. Good handwriting is a crucial skill for student success. It develops the brain, enhancing neural activity and impacting the areas of the brain related to literacy. Students with good handwriting are also more likely to succeed in other subjects.
This site provides free professional development webinars and podcasts for educators on a broad range of topics. There more than 1,400 Professional Learning Communities to join. This is a great resource for academic as well as special subject educators working with students from grades PreK through high school. In addition to free webinars, many communities provide access to downloadable resources and discussion forums. Webinars cover popular topics such as Open Education Resources, STEAM, and Social Emotional Learning. Educational partners and sponsors include familiar names such as Common Sense Education, ISTE, Time for Kids, and Britannica Digital Learning.
Setting up a structure for fundraising to support your students who want to travel is crucial regardless of their family income. Educational travel can be made attainable for all students if you create a plan and stick with it. Carrie A. Olson, PhD, Researcher and Teacher at West Leadership Academy, Denver Public Schools, presented with Carylann Assante, CAE, Executive Director of SYTA and the SYTA Youth Foundation, in “How We Helped 800 Students Participate in Educational Travel: Proven Tools and Tips.” The experts shared tips on planning for educational travel to make it accessible for all students.
Parent engagement in their child’s education is key to successful growth, but consistently engaging parents is at the top of the list of teacher frustration. Teachers must establish communication with parents by figuring out what works best for them and showing that they are a team when it comes to their child. Sarah M. Rich, Lead Teacher Champion at Squiggle Park, presented creative ideas from her own experience building parent engagement in “Finally, A Guide to Parent Engagement That Works Every Time!”