Tag Archives: EdTech Talks

The Top Upcoming Education IT Events on the Horizon

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From K-12 to Higher Education, our nation’s schools have great opportunities to leverage technology to improve the student, teacher and administrator experience. This year, innovative solutions built on AI, machine learning and the cloud are ready to improve learning inside the classroom and protect schools from external challenges, including potential cybersecurity threats.  

Indeed, there is so much happening in the world of EdTech it is very important to keep up with the latest advancements. That is why we are happy to present a list of the top education IT events you need to check out in 2024. These events cover the gamut of technology innovation in the education sector and feature industry-leading experts, peer-led learning sessions and information sharing and ideation. 

EDUCAUSE Annual Conference  

October 21-24, San Antonio, TX | November 13-14, Online 

The EDUCAUSE Annual Conference is where professionals and technology providers from all over the world convene to network and find solutions that will improve higher education. As always, this year’s conference promises to be the year’s largest gathering of education technology leaders. 

In 2023, Carahsoft had 25 partners demoing their solutions over the two exhibiting days at our booth. In 2024, we have obtained the largest pavilion space to display our leading higher education solutions. This year, we will be joined by Joe Toste and his TechTables podcast to discuss the hottest trends and setbacks customers are facing and how Carahsoft and our partners can help. 

NJSBA’s Workshop 2024 

October 21-24 | Atlantic City, NJ 

The New Jersey School Boards Association’s annual workshop brings together a senior-level audience of school leaders, education professionals and influencers for quality professional development, important legal, legislative, policy and funding updates and new products and services.  

Carahsoft Top Education Events Blog Embedded Image 2024

Carahsoft is a proud sponsor of this celebration of public education, but our work with NJSBA goes far beyond the workshop. The NJSBA has partnered with Carahsoft and our reseller ecosystem to help school districts and member charter schools throughout New Jersey better manage and reduce cybersecurity risk. The partnership provides access to a broad range of cybersecurity-related software, hardware, implementation services and training at discounted pricing. Solutions are also available to K-12 academic institutions and School Board Associations nationwide through the contract’s cooperative purchasing clauses. 

Carahsoft’s Fourth Annual EdTech Talk Series 

November 6-8 | Carahsoft Office, Reston VA – Virtual option via Zoom 

Carahsoft’s EdTech Talks summit is designed to educate academic IT decision makers and end users around the performance, security, cost-saving and modernization benefits of today’s leading EdTech solutions. We will host a three-day series featuring “Classroom Panels,” keynote “Assembly Sessions” and “Before the Bell” breakouts on topics ranging from school safety to student experience. We will also discuss ways to leverage AI and machine learning. Presentation recordings and slide decks from all three days will be available on-demand.  

Stay tuned for a detailed agenda for this year’s event, which will be posted soon. In the meantime, check out some of our sessions from the 2023 EdTech Talk Series.  

SC24 

November 17-22 | Atlanta, GA 

The annual Supercomputing 24 conference—SC24—draws more than 13,000 attendees from across the high-performance computing community. The conference features unique technical presentations, workshops, tutorials and “Birds of a Feather” sessions featuring open discussions about topics of interest to the HPC community. SC24 also features a large exhibit floor showcasing the latest innovations from the world’s leading manufacturers, research organizations and universities.  

Carahsoft is excited to host a pavilion at this year’s conference. We are even more excited to be hosting some of our top AI and EdTech vendors, who will showcase the innovative work they are doing to power academic research in 2024 and beyond. 

CITE Annual Conference 

November 19-21 | San Diego, CA 

Attendees of the California IT in Education Annual Conference include CTOs and directors of technology, network managers and engineers, database administrators, support and technicians. Teachers, administrators and district and county superintendents will also join their technology colleagues to share ideas and information and find out the latest tools to help improve teaching, learning and administration.  

Carahsoft will be a proud sponsor of the event and have a booth at this year’s conference. 

Internet2 Tech Exchange 

December 9-13 | Boston, MA 

Internet2 Tech Exchange brings together a community of technical visionaries—including chief technologists, scientists, engineers, architects, operators and students—to debate, discuss and converse. It is a great forum for global technology leaders to align and move forward together. Although not specifically education-focused, the event covers topics that are relevant to the EdTech sector, including networking, the cloud, cybersecurity and more.  

Carahsoft will be a proud sponsor of this year’s Tech Exchange. 


In additional to the above events, these are some of the other pivotal education events that took place in 2024, including:  

CoSN is the premier membership organization designed to meet the needs of K-12 education technology leaders. Representing over 13 million students in school districts/systems nationwide, CoSN continues to grow as a powerful and influential voice in K-12 education and provides opportunities for companies that support the K-12 EdTech community to participate as corporate members. Carahsoft holds an annual membership with CoSN and has been a proud sponsor for the last several years. Carahsoft plans to continue collaboration at CoSN March 31-April 2, 2025, in Seattle, WA. 

Internet2 Community Exchange convened the worldwide research and education community for in-depth strategic discussions on emerging developments in networking, cloud computing, information security and more. Carahsoft and our reseller partners work with Internet2 to support their member community through the NET+ program and Cloud Scorecard program, which provides a portfolio of reliable cloud and trust solutions to help higher education and research institutions solve shared technology challenges. Carahsoft will be back in Anaheim, CA for the Internet2 Community Exchange April 28-May 1, 2025. 

The National Association of Educational Procurement Annual Conference featured more than 600 procurement officials from universities, colleges and K-12 institutions. Carahsoft annually sponsors NAEP’s national EPIC conference, which showed great success with over 600 procurement officials from Universities, Colleges and K-12 institutions nationwide attending. Carahsoft has also supported the NAEP national and regional shows for the past three years, continuing to invest in the brand as we expand our footprint in the education space. Carahsoft will have presence at NAEP’s conference May 4-7, 2025, in New Orleans, LA. 

Carahsoft proudly sponsored The Merit Member Conference, which highlighted “bridging the gap”, addressing obvious (and not-so-obvious) pitfalls, opportunities to grow, and optimization of oft-neglected issues across three essential tracks—Network, Security and Community. Next year, Carahsoft will attend the conference May 13-14. 

EDUCAUSE Cybersecurity and Privacy Professionals Conference is the premier forum for connecting with higher education information security and privacy professionals. Carahsoft was a display table sponsor, joined by our partners onsite to display our solutions for higher education cybersecurity needs. This event gave participants a chance to network and discuss information security and privacy trends and current issues with peers and solution providers. Carahsoft plans to attend EDUCAUSE next year, May 19-21, in Baltimore, MD. 

The International Society for Technology in Education is a nonprofit organization that works with the global education community to accelerate the use of technology to solve tough problems and inspire innovation. ISTE’s worldwide network believes in the potential technology holds to transform teaching and learning. ISTELive is one of the world’s most comprehensive EdTech events, attended by a global contingent of education leaders, teachers, coaches, librarians, media specialists and more. Carahsoft was a proud sponsor of and exhibitor at this year’s conference, and plans to attend again June 29-July 2, 2025, in San Antonio, TX. 


Needless to say, it has been a big year for events—and an even bigger year for technology in education. From AI to the cloud, from cybersecurity to networking, there are more options than ever before for educational institutions interested in using technology to improve learning. We are excited to be a part of it, and we look forward to seeing you as we go out into the EdTech community this year. Join Carahsoft at these upcoming events and explore the role technology will play in education, this year and beyond. We look forward to seeing you! 

To learn more or get involved in any of the above events please contact us at EDUmarketing@carahsoft.com. For more information on Carahsoft and our industry leading Education technology partners’ events, visit our EdTech solutions portfolio. 

EdTech Talks: A Comprehensive Look at Security in Education for Safe Learning Environments

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Emerging technologies today are providing K-12 schools and higher education institutions with the capabilities to support seamless and secure campus efforts, which ensures protection of academic environments as well as students, faculty and staff. Remaining vigilant, versatile and adaptable in the current education landscape, especially when it comes to security and student safety, are the most important considerations for education leadership when deciding what new solutions and integrations to incorporate into their schools.

Carahsoft’s annual EdTech Talks Summit brought together industry and education thought leaders to explore three tactical learning tracks: safety for the learning environment, the impact of technology on student growth and development, and modernizing education with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. During the first day’s discussion, speakers provided insights into building safe learning settings with a comprehensive look at both cyber and physical security in education.

Analyzing Current Security Risks

Carahsoft EdTech Talks Summit Blog Series-Part 1 Security and Safety Blog Embedded Image 2024Education institutions face a myriad of cybersecurity challenges such as ransomware, third-party access to school systems, internal bad actors and stolen credentials. One of the most impactful vulnerabilities is a lack of awareness across school communities regarding security. For example, individuals who are unable to recognize a phishing text message that asks the receiver to click on an unsafe link because an account has been frozen may potentially put their own data and their school’s data at risk of exposure.

While cybersecurity is one of the most important aspects of cultivating a successful learning environment, it is just as important to consider physical security for a safe learning environment. Building and campus surveillance, visitor management monitoring, lock down and fire drills, active shooter and crisis management are among some of the ways schools provide personal security for students and staff. With so many aspects of security to manage, schools also must balance being open, inclusive and engaging with communities and culture to provide more expansive learning opportunities while simultaneously protecting against threats on limited budgets.

Protecting Against Cyber Threats in the Modern World

For improved security, educators and industry leaders must collaborate to take proactive measures to safeguard digital infrastructure, data and physical campuses. The best place to start is by ensuring the fundamental standards of cyber defense are in place, functioning properly and are continuously monitored and modernized. This includes solutions and processes such as:

  • Utilizing multi-factor authentication (MFA) whenever possible
  • Email and phishing security to avoid ransomware
  • Maintaining a high standard of digital hygiene through services such as patching and vulnerability management
  • Creating robust and resilient backup strategies for all data at endpoints and in the cloud
  • Performing recovery testing to ensure backups and other operations are working accordingly
  • Providing resources and trainings to engage with school communities to raise awareness of ways students and teachers can defend themselves against physical and cybersecurity threats
  • Implementing a “see something, say something” mentality across school communities to ensure all potential risks are reported and mitigated
  • Hiring IT staff and educators who are passionate about the security and safety mission set forth by an institution and allow them to provide new ideas and innovation
  • Investing in quality cyber insurance to protect institutions against setback from a ransomware attack
  • Conducting frequent audits to ensure school’s systems are compliant with the latest policy requirements and standards in the case a claim must be made

Security Implementation for Institutions

Industry and education experts alike understand the importance of providing a safe space for all students, whether inside schools or online, and continuously aim to make sure their experience is as productive and valuable as possible. Particularly within higher education, many universities and colleges have individual point solutions that they have integrated into their systems to solve very specific problems, creating a disconnected mixture of security infrastructure. Security must be designed with students in mind and a way that provides optimal learning, collaboration and inclusion—technology can help achieve this imperative goal.

As Government and education sectors continue to move toward cloud environments, managing a multitude of products and solutions can become cumbersome and difficult to regulate security. To combat this, consolidation of products to create increased visibility, automation and agility are key for transforming a current infrastructure to be more successful and produce actionable insights.

Visit the EdTech Talks Conference Resource Center to view panel discussions and other innovative insights surrounding security, AI and student success from Carahsoft and our partners.

 

About Carahsoft in the Education Market  

Carahsoft Technology Corp. is The Trusted Education IT Solutions Provider™.  

Together with our technology manufacturers and reseller partners, we are committed to providing IT products, services and training to support Education organizations.  

Carahsoft is a leading IT distributor and top-performing E&I Cooperative Services, Golden State Technology Solutions, Internet2, NJSBA, OMNIA Partners and The Quilt contract holder, enhancing student learning and enabling faculty to meet the needs of Higher Education institutions.  

To Learn more about Carahsoft’s Education Solutions, please visit us at http://www.carahsoft.com/education

To learn more about Carahsoft’s Cybersecurity Solutions please, visit us at https://www.carahsoft.com/solve/cybersecurity

EdTech Talks: Modernizing Education with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

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Schools must embrace change alongside their growing generations to equip students for the future. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are two evolving, expansive technologies that are creating a monumental impact in the private and Public Sector, with education institutions being no exception. At Carahsoft’s annual EdTech Talks Summit, education leaders explored how AI and ML are changing the way teachers instruct, the way students learn and the way administrators approach technology in schools.

As a baseline, when considering AI for K-12 and higher education, administrators should follow several guiding principles for responsible and trustworthy use of AI.

  • Human-centricity: Promote human well-being, individuality and equity
  • Inclusivity: Ensure accessibility and diverse perspectives
  • Accountability: Proactively identify and mitigate adverse impacts
  • Transparency: Instruct students and teachers on proper usage, including potential risks and how decisions are made
  • Robustness: Operate reliably and safely while enabling mechanisms that assess and manage potential risks
  • Privacy and security: Respect the privacy of data subjects

Generative AI in Education

Carahsoft EdTech Talks Summit Blog Series-Part 3 Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Blog Embedded Image 2024Generative AI is still fairly new to the education space and educators are on both sides of the spectrum of acceptance—some prefer to erase it from their schools while others are open to embracing the up-and-coming technology for use cases not only in the classroom, but also to prepare students for the future workforce.

For example, one of the first technologies educators may be inclined to use when adopting AI in the classroom is detection tools. Dr. Anand Rao, Professor of Communications Chair of the Department of Communications and Digital Studies at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia recommends against this technology implementation because it could negatively affect vulnerable students. AI detection is not 100% correct in every instance. For some students, English may not be their first language and a detection tool could potentially identify their work as AI generated because it may be more formulaic. While detection tools can be utilized in a positive way to ensure honesty is upheld within students’ work, teachers and professors should use their discretion to determine the results of detection tools.

AI literacy is one of the most important principles for instructors to explore, deliberate and establish guidelines for. Since generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT and other tools like detection programs are still modernizing, students and faculty should go through a test period to learn how they work and understand whether they are comfortable utilizing them. As a next step, IT teams must be prepared to begin implementation and consider cybersecurity in that process.

Analytics and Data in AI

Education data grows exponentially with each new school year; however, collecting, evaluating and taking action based on the insights of that data is a long yet vital process. Instructors and administrators must leverage platforms that can help automate and analyze new and archived data to make the most informed decisions for their schools using the AI analytics lifecycle. This includes managing data efficiently, interpreting observations made about data and finally, creating a plan to incorporate constructive action to address needs discovered via the data. Using this strategy, schools can be better prepared to tackle real world questions and scenarios and provide students and teachers with the tools and processes they need to be successful.

This year’s EdTech Talks Summit event aimed to educate academic IT decision makers and end users about the current challenges and solutions surrounding student growth and development, security, AI and ML and cost-saving, modernization benefits of today’s leading EdTech solutions. The Education sector faces new challenges every school year, and it is imperative now more than ever that the IT industry and Government work together to provide the most safe and successful learning environments for all students.

Visit the EdTech Talks Conference Resource Center to view panel discussions and other innovative insights surrounding security, AI and student success from Carahsoft and our partners.

 

About Carahsoft in the Education Market  

Carahsoft Technology Corp. is The Trusted Education IT Solutions Provider™.  

Together with our technology manufacturers and reseller partners, we are committed to providing IT products, services and training to support Education organizations.  

Carahsoft is a leading IT distributor and top-performing E&I Cooperative Services, Golden State Technology Solutions, Internet2, NJSBA, OMNIA Partners and The Quilt contract holder, enhancing student learning and enabling faculty to meet the needs of Higher Education institutions.  

To Learn more about Carahsoft’s Education Solutions, please visit us at http://www.carahsoft.com/education

To learn more about Carahsoft’s AI Solutions, please visit us at https://www.carahsoft.com/solve/ai-machine-learning

EdTech Talks: The Changing Face of IT Security in Education

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Co-contributors:

Tom Dugas, CISO, Duquesne University
Aquilla Hines, Threat Intelligence Specialist, Proofpoint
Doug Thompson, Chief Education Architect, Tanium
Nick DiDonato, Emerging Technology Lead, HashiCorp
David DeVries, SLED CTO and former State/Federal level CIO, Commvault
Randy Watkins, Chief Technology Officer, CriticalStart
Khalil Yazdi, Resident EdTech CIO, Carahsoft
 

The transition to remote and hybrid learning over the past few years has increased the need for digital and physical devices to support K-12 and higher education campus-wide operations. Unfortunately, this has heightened vulnerabilities for security breaches in schools. While online security strategies like a Zero Trust approach can be beneficial for institutions, those same communities often strive to remain an open and collaborative educational ecosystem. Balancing the creation of a secure and fortified digital campus while ensuring personal privacy and data, as well as physical security is challenging; however, there are many opportunities and methodologies for educators to keep their students and staff secure.

Carahsoft’s three-day EdTech Talks series concluded by diving into cybersecurity and what education leaders should know, best practices for meeting compliance requirements, data management strategies and tactics for acing cybersecurity with limited resources.

Cybersecurity: What Education Leaders Should Know Now

Since early 2020, there has been a surge in the need for digital transformation to accommodate emergency educational services due to the pandemic. Higher education institutions saw a meteoric increase in cyber-attacks and the cost of paying out ransomware, and therefore, cyber-insurance fees, have skyrocketed. Now more than ever it is essential for campuses to have a robust cybersecurity strategy in place.

EdTech Talks IT Security Blog Embedded Image 2022Digital Transformation Within Institutions

Many organizations are deep into the process of digital transformation. Schools and universities are looking to achieve MultiCoud hybrid infrastructures to reframe the way they approach cybersecurity, which can be established through containerization, tracking user management, access tokens, hybrid workload models with secure networks and shifting from IP-based security to an identity-based security. These methods ensure trust is being granted on an individual platform and application basis instead of on a general perimeter basis within an institution’s digital environment.

Ransomware and Phishing

Phishing continues to be one of the most common attack vectors for ransomware and is increasing in its sophistication. Since 2020, attackers have leveraged COVID-19 themes, and now are targeting student loan forgiveness, building believable digital communications for users to click and open containing threats. While simple cybersecurity training is a productive start, it is not always the most effective solution to fend off all phishing attempts. With multiple gateways for phishing–email, SMS messaging, QR codes, etc.–trainings should be expanded to include all avenues of danger. Additionally, institutions should take a student-centric approach to trainings, focusing on who is most at risk of falling for these attempts and sending out tests that mimic students’ familiar digital environment.

The Changing Cybersecurity Landscape

Staying ahead of everchanging cybersecurity threats is vital for institutions to protect themselves from ransomware and other dangers. Artificial intelligence (AI), automation and upskilling IT talent are among the most successful solutions to implement in digital environments because they reduce the burden on already strained manpower. Leveraging AI to perform simple patches and reboots that bad actors continuously try to exploit allows IT teams to focus on the higher-level risks at hand and operations that require human intelligence. Additionally, giving IT employees opportunities to upskill their cybersecurity knowledge creates a more advanced team that can better support those higher-level solutions and improve their relationship with an institution for little to no cost with free trainings and programs widely available.

Meeting Compliance Requirements and Managing Data Differently

With an overwhelming amount of data held by educational institutions, data sprawl increases the surface for cyber-attacks. Security solutions alone may be ineffective, so proactive data management is key. On the educational front, many institutions utilize multi-cloud solutions, and it is imperative to understand that data responsibility remains with the owner, not the cloud-provider. Institutions must create a holistic management system by getting to know their data, cleaning it up, backing it up and maintaining healthy data governance.

An effective security strategy begins with critical leadership involvement to make security posture decisions. Organization members should agree on and align with a standard compliance requirement that will benefit them best, then hire and challenge the talent that will support the mission to achieve that compliance. This way, sharing authority, accountability and responsibility with a team and encouraging open communication becomes easier for ensuring progress. Lastly, minimizing the number of tools and automating as much of the process as possible will lead to a simpler and less costly road to compliance.

Acing Cybersecurity with Limited Resources

In the current landscape of cybersecurity expertise, talent can be hard to come by and harder to keep. With limited resources, institutions remain vulnerable to ransomware, phishing and unsecure operations. There are several risks plaguing cybersecurity teams in the education space, but there are solutions that an institution’s entire community can help support.

With the rise of remote learning and mobile communications during the pandemic, significant amounts of personally identifiable information (PII) were compromised during increased targeted attacks on education institutions. Recently, this valuable information is what attackers consider priority when executing a threat. Emails are a main source vector for bad actors to gain access to this data. To combat threats like these, institutions should build and utilize effective solutions.

Your need-to-know cybersecurity checklist:

  • Leverage spam filtering to get rid of risky emails that could be phishing
  • Consider augmentation with targeted digital solutions to further eliminate malice
  • Educate and quiz students and faculty, who are the most susceptible to well-masked phishing attempts
  • Make advancements in user awareness trainings
  • Launch an internal campus-wide campaign to get the community talking about the best user awareness strategies
  • Create a Student Security Operations Center (SOC) to assist IT teams with their daily activity and get students more involved

With many concerns at the top of educators’ minds, institutions must ensure they have the right tools, talent and technology to keep their communities remain safe and secure both on and offline.

 

Contributing experts from Tanium, Proofpoint, HashiCorp, Commvault and CriticalStart can help your organization understand and find the best-fit solutions for its unique needs in cybersecurity. Visit Carahsoft’s EdTech Talks 2022 resource center to view their on-demand recordings and learn more about the featured education technology providers.

*The information contained in this blog has been written based off the thought-leadership discussions presented by speakers at Carahsoft’s EdTech Talk Series 2022.*

EdTech Talks: Putting the Student Experience First

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Co-contributors:
Michael Mast, Business Development Manager, Technology, E&I
Ken Chapman, VP of Learning Innovation Advocacy, D2L
Lisa Neu, Enterprise Account Executive for Higher Education, Talend
Bruce Ottomano, Director of Business Development, Passerelle
Rob Curtin, Director, Higher Education, Microsoft
Jesus Trujillo Gomez, Senior Strategic Business Executive, Google
Kate Parker, Vice President, Higher Ed Content Services, LearningMate
Angela Vann, Learning Design, Strategist, LearningMate
Trevor Kelly, Principal Solution Consultant, Genesys
Khalil Yazdi, Resident EdTech CIO, Carahsoft

 

Today, educators and institutions have the unique challenge of leveraging modern digital technology to enhance and personalize the student experience. To build a student-centric relationship between an institution and its student body, educators must take the student’s view into perspective and question whether they are gaining a cohesive yet diverse experience engaging with their school. At EdTech Talks 2022, speakers provided recommendations to improve the student experience by mitigating these challenges and realizing the importance of integrating, analyzing and using data effectively and responsibly.

What’s Possible in the “New Now”: Why the Student Experience Matters

The 2022 Top 10 IT Issues stated, “Successfully moving along the path from vision to sustainability involves recognizing that no institution can be successful and sustainable without placing students’ success at the center, which includes understanding how and why to equitably incorporate technology into learning and the student experience.” Panelists articulated what this means to them and the role of technology in the student experience through various insights:

  • A one size fits all experience for students does not work. Through technology and data, institutions can shift the approach to education design and delivery at scale to extend the abilities of educators to reach and inspire students.
  • Institutions should have a platform that facilitates identifying a holistic view of the student body to allow staff to create personalized pathways for success with their students. Additionally, utilizing data analytics in a comprehensive view can distill valuable recommendations for students to remain on track.
  • With a plethora of student data collected, the challenge becomes unlocking the value of that data to pinpoint those personalized experiences and increase retention rates. In the higher education space, there is a pattern to collected data that a university can use to improve a student’s education journey and network relationship after graduation.
  • Students currently have higher expectations of their institutions’ technology, lifestyle and learning goals and brand experience. Schools need to continuously let their data guide changes for improved engagement and growth of their community.

EdTech Talks Student Experience Blog Embedded Image 2022Utilizing Core IT Systems to Build a Better Student Experience

Infrastructure platforms such as learning management systems (LMS) should enable students and instructors to have an efficient, organized and interoperable experience. By adopting a single hub space to support connectivity among community members, administrators can ease accessibility issues, learn from instructor best practices, understand the most successful methods for creating consistency and give students the ability to personalize their experience on their pathway to successful learning.

These data observations within educational IT systems promote a better comprehension of how to drive diverse learner engagement. With most assignments, content and homework now migrated to cloud environments and digital workspaces, instructors have practical insights into student engagement and work patterns. For example, teachers and professors can see who students collaborate with, how often they work on a particular document, how many edits are made before final review, etc. Core system data analysis can allow institutions to empower students in their experiences whether in the classroom or a remote learning environment.

Maximizing Quality Data

Finding and comprehending intelligent data regarding all students across a campus is essential to creating a rich learning environment, but this process is also taxing. Institutions should plan to implement these four steps to aid in data progress:

  • Effectively assemble student information and other systems data
  • Master data to ensure trusted results
  • Utilize a third party to enrich the quality of data and gain a broader view of students or alumni
  • Analyze relevant findings and implement actionable steps across campus

When addressing these elements, data overload can also be an issue. Data governance is critical for finding, securing and applying the right data to discover important insights about schools’ communities. Institutions should not allow everyone access to raw data because the sheer quantity of information can create confusion and only knowledgeable users will be able to fully discern relevant data. Instead, data stewards and analysts should present specialized views of the appropriate data to individual audiences, giving that data new quality.

When developing a holistic view of students, data isn’t the only solution. Sometimes the most effective technique to understanding each individual in a data-driven culture is to create spaces to audibly listen to their views, note their academic and personal reflections, create multiple points of calibrating their reactions and feedback, etc. Not only do students feel more heard, but also the educational changes that derive from these interactions create a strong positive outcome.

Addressing Learning Loss, Accessibility and Student Success

Fueled by the pandemic, the U.S. has seen a dramatic increase in learning loss. Math and reading scores have plummeted and students have been severely impacted by the challenges that come with the hybrid learning environment. Additionally, the significant shortage of teaching staff and, therefore, consistent instructional content and operations in the K-12 domain, has negatively impacted engagement and learning success.

Technology solutions should meet the needs of students rather than hinder their ability to learn. Institutions can benefit from an integrated digital platform through which its instructors can proactively analyze data about their students. This way, schools support various types of learners to maximize their achievement in the classroom and help reduce the variability of remote learning. Online learning is here to stay, and it is the responsibility of schools to provide the updated digital infrastructure and accessibility, as well as first-rate IT support and communication needed for this new era of education.

 

Contributing experts from E&I Cooperative Services, Talend, D2L, Passerelle, Microsoft, Google, LearningMate and Genesys can support your student experience initiatives by breaking down barriers to student success and steering digital transformation efforts in the right direction. Visit Carahsoft’s EdTech Talks 2022 resource center to view their on-demand recordings and learn more about the featured education technology providers.

*The information contained in this blog has been written based off the thought-leadership discussions presented by speakers at Carahsoft’s EdTech Talk Series 2022.*

EdTech Talks: A Holistic Approach to Student Safety

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Co-contributors:
Ara Bagdasarian, Founder, ZeroNow | Co-Founder and Former CEO, Omnilert
Guy Grace, Vice Chairman, Partner Alliance for Safer Schools
Jeff Kelly, Director of K-12 Solutions, Mutualink
Jake Stauch, Director of Product, Verkada
Dr. Lance Ford, Zoom Room Educator

 

There are many facets to campus security and safety — COVID precautions, school shootings, student mental health concerns, building access control, emergency communications — but one thread that unites them all is technology. Carahsoft hosted a three-day series exploring the performance, cost-saving and security benefits of today’s leading education technology solutions for K-12 and higher education institutions. Each day, attendees heard from industry-leading experts on the benefits of A Holistic Approach to Student Safety, Putting the Student Experience First and The Changing Face of IT Security in Education. Contributors shared their best practices, innovative approaches and perspectives to help develop and incorporate the latest IT solutions that are modernizing education.

Experts challenged attendees to consider topics focused on student safety and what plans educators can put in place to ensure they are providing a more holistic approach to protection in schools. “How can we prevent bad actors?” “Do we have the ability to detect a threat early?” “Can we respond to an emergency situation in a timely manner?” “If in the case of an unfortunate disaster, what is our recovery plan?” These are all questions schools must be ready to answer and act on in the event of compromised student and faculty safety. Though most schools already have plans in place, there are many instances where technology can be further implemented to better support schools.

Safe and Sound Schools

EdTech Talks Student Safety Blog Embedded Image 2022Where should schools start when they begin to think about safety infrastructure? Panelists suggest building on existing foundational efforts, conducting risk assessments and having a proactive, cohesive plan. After forming a unified team of safety practitioners, such as law enforcement, school security staff and school counselors, members should create an emergency action plan and determine areas of responsibility for mitigating violent situations. These steps can be streamlined by use of automation within a response strategy.

In the event of lock down, four critical actions must take place to ensure safety:

  1. Threat assessment
  2. Mass notification
  3. Situational awareness
  4. Reunification

What holds these operations in place is automation and interoperability within security and technology systems. A cohesive, unified system can reduce manual interference during a high-stress situation and allow technology to play an imperative role in keeping schools safe. Institutions’ IT teams should make sure all security systems are accessible through one platform to those that need it. Technologies such as accessibility controls, video surveillance and analytics work to enhance early detection of bad actors or trespassers, enabling quick response from law enforcement. Security systems should also be tested regularly to ensure they work properly during an emergency. Additionally, any unified security system should have the versatility to work for a wide range of situations and hazards, such as COVID-19 management.

Adopting new security technology can be daunting and prioritizing a holistic approach to manage mental health, behavioral and cultural issues can take time and budget, but student experience and safety must come first. Key factors to reducing some of these challenges are to begin with a quality plan and security strategy, ensuring all elements of it are accessible to those that need it and automating as much as possible for the fastest reaction to any situation.

A Holistic Approach to School Violence Prevention

Typically, school safety is only made a priority after a tragedy has occurred. In the case of gun violence, it automatically becomes a political issue, when instead, schools should continually take a proactive, holistic approach to violence prevention, detection, response and recovery, ensuring their systems are automated and interoperable.

To begin, the education community should pay attention to the current cultural trends surrounding its students and faculty and learn how those can become internalized to impact mental health. Some early signs of distress from a potential perpetrator can surface online or through an in-person leakage of a threat, or expressions of isolation, anxiety or depression. Identifying these behaviors and mitigating them at the start is a critical aspect of prevention.

Because these early signs will not always be caught, detection of the formulated plans to ill-intent is crucial. The most important time to act in an emergency situation is immediately, as incidents may only last a few short moments. Inbound threat reporting systems, for example, such as text alerts and phone applications make it easily accessible for community members to “see something, say something.” Physical security infrastructure should be automated to immediately support multiple tactics of notification like access control systems, emergency notification systems, surveillance cameras, panic buttons, alarm systems and IoT devices. Automation plays the most key role in this environment as an emotional human reaction to the active situation can lead to costly mistakes.

At this point, administrators, faculty, emergency responders, law enforcement and other stakeholders should already have met and discussed their plan of response if violence does occur. Critical steps of response include automated communication to these parties and the public through multimodal notifications to classrooms and smart boards, and tailoring information to the proper audience like notifying parents via Twitter or the school’s website. Strategies like video management, digital signage, alarm systems, automated locking and access mechanisms can create a more controlled area to evacuate students and faculty from buildings safely. Ultimately, technology and physical security in an active school event can significantly minimize the need for recovery.

A Safer Environment for All

In a crisis, automation, interoperable security and efficient notification systems can make all the difference in stopping a violent situation before it escalates. Schools should be fortresses to ensure safety. To achieve that security, creating a detailed preparedness plan and investing in the right technology for institutions is critical not only for students’ protection but also to maintain a productive learning environment.

 

IT leaders from ZeroNow, Omnilert, Mutualink, Verkada, Partner Alliance for Safer Schools and Zoom can help you further explore innovative ways that enhancements in technology, tools and infrastructure can help keep your students safe both in and out of the classroom. Visit Carahsoft’s resource center to view the on-demand sessions from EdTech Talks 2022 and to learn more about our featured education technology providers.

*The information contained in this blog has been written based off the thought-leadership discussions presented by speakers at Carahsoft’s EdTech Talk Series 2022.*