Program Executive for Education Solutions: The Top 10 Education Events in 2025

Posted on by Tim Boltz

Education technology expands and transforms every year. With new and evolving solutions, students, faculty and administration can cultivate diverse learning experiences, make strides in cyber and physical security for their school systems and explore new opportunities with tools like AI. Carahsoft Technology Corp., The Trusted Education IT Solutions Provider®, features a robust EdTech portfolio for K-12 and Higher Education solutions to help our customers bridge the digital divide and meet the demands of modern education. Check out the top education events to attend this year and join us in discovering EdTech’s latest innovations.

CoSN’s Annual Conference

March 31-April 2 | Seattle, WA | In-Person Event

Each year, CoSN’s Annual Conference aims to lead in education innovation, advancing the knowledge and skills of K-12 school leaders. Diving into topics like cybersecurity, student data privacy and the implementation of generative AI in schools. Attendees will gain a variety of perspectives from EdTech experts and deepen their understanding of these critical issues while exploring new strategies for addressing them. This year’s theme, Human Leadership in a World of AI, will analyze the many roles and responsibilities of IT teams within the K-12 space, foster community around the complex tool and examine best practices surrounding AI within schools.

For the last several years, Carahsoft has been a proud sponsor of CoSN and holds an annual membership to ensure we are staying up to date on the best this event has to offer. We will be retuning this year at booth #5, so be sure to stop by! Stay connected with Carahsoft as we prepare for another great presence at this year’s event.

NAEP EPIC

May 4-7 | New Orleans, LA | In-Person Event

The National Association of Educational Procurement EPIC event sets the stage for visionaries, educators, Government experts and thought leaders to discover new ways for innovation and education procurement to converge. This year, the event formerly known as the “Annual Meeting” is getting a brand new name: Educational Procurement Innovation Conference or “EPIC.”

At this K-12 focused event, attendees will have the opportunity to listen to inspirational keynotes, participate in interactive workshops, network with peers, explore cutting-edge technologies and join in on thought-provoking discussions.

Here are the potential focus tracks you can expect this year (subject to change):

Contracting and Risk Management

Supplier Relationship Management

Team Development and Structure

Emerging Trends and Technologies

Spend Management and Category Optimization

Carahsoft has 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. At this year’s event, we will be featured as an Exhibitor Sponsor. Join us at the Hyatt Regency in New Orleans and stay tuned for more on our involvement in this event!

Educause Cybersecurity and Privacy Professionals Conference

May 19-21 | Baltimore, MD | In-Person Event

Student safety and security are consistently at the forefront of educators’ minds and discovering innovative and modern ways to ensure those basic requirements are met is imperative. With tailored focus on higher education, this premier Educause forum connects attendees with information security and privacy professionals to do just that. Network and discuss the latest cybersecurity trends and current events with peers and solution providers to make a meaningful impact on your community as well as the entire education sector.

Program tracks to look out for: 

Privacy

Risk, Compliance and Policy

Awareness and Education

Technologies and Operations

Leadership and Professional Development

Carahsoft is committed to bringing you the latest tech and most powerful cybersecurity tools within the education space today. We hope you will join us at Educause CPPC for three full days of learning, networking and preparing for the future of higher education. Carahsoft will be sponsoring at this year’s event, so stay connected with us to learn more about the partners our partners who will be co-sponsoring with us. Also, join us at our reception during the event (more to come)!

Internet2 Community Exchange

April 28-May 1 | Anaheim, CA | In-Person Event

Learn, explore and connect at the 2025 Internet2 Community Exchange—an event where the industry and education sector connect to share knowledge on the leading challenges and solutions driving higher education today. Together, the global Research and Education (R&E) community and Internet2 empower teams, building meaningful collaborations and relationships within education to elevate the success of students, faculty and administrators everywhere. When attending Community Exchange, guests will be helping transform higher education through peer learning, sharing experiences and discussing topics like policy, current trends and best practices.

The focus of program tracks this year will be:

Leveraging Advanced Networking

Cloud Services and Solutions

Security Concerns, Collaborations and Solutions

Challenges and Opportunities with Emerging Technologies

Carahsoft is a proud sponsor of this year’s Internet2 Community Exchange. As a sponsor, we are dedicated to collaborating with attendees, vendor partners and event officials to contribute our expertise to the global discussion surrounding today’s EdTech. Stay tuned to learn more about the silver package co-sponsoring partners we will be featuring along with us!

Carahsoft’s EdTech Talks Summit

October 1-3 | Virtual

The 5th annual EdTech Talks Summit is Carahsoft’s premier event for K-12 and higher education professionals of all grade levels to hear from the industry’s leading EdTech vendors. Over the span of multiple days, attendees will join classroom panels, keynote assemblies and “Before the Bell” breakout sessions with interactive, audience participation in Q&As. During this event, we explore the most pressing topics within the education community such as AI, cybersecurity, data and student mental health.

Take a look at last year’s various hard-hitting programs to get a sense of what to expect from EdTech Talks 2025:

Security in Education Today: Protecting Privacy, Providing Safety, Promoting Innovation

Enhance Network Security Posture with Nutanix through the E-Rate Program

Professional Development and Workforce Readiness for a Lifetime of Learning

Preparing the Workforce for Challenges in IoT Security

Funding Digital and Physical Security

How AI and Observability Solve Key IT Challenges in K-12 Education

The Intersections of AI and Cybersecurity

Looking to learn more about EdTech Talks? View our content hub to explore everything you need to know about last year’s event and how Carahsoft can support your education missions. Our team is currently gearing up to share the details with you soon, so stay tuned for more information about our great 2025 event!

ISTELive25

June 29-July 2 | San Antonio, TX | Hybrid Event

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The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is a nonprofit organization that works with the global education community to accelerate the use of technology to solve tough problems in education and inspire innovation. ISTELive is one of the most comprehensive EdTech events, where education leaders, teachers, coaches, librarians, media specialists and more can convene on the latest trends and transformations within the K-12 space. Dive into solutions that will bring positive change to the EdTech world and return to your school empowered with knowledge to meet the needs of your students and staff.

Carahsoft is excited to be returning to ISTELive with a large booth space to help you learn everything you need to know about us and our partner’s EdTech solutions. Be sure to visit us at booth #855 to chat with a specialist about how we can support your education ecosystem.

NJSBA Annual Workshop

October 20-23 | Atlantic City, NJ | In-Person

Co-sponsored by the New Jersey Association of School Administrators and the New Jersey Association of School Business Officials, the New Jersey School Boards Association plans to welcome over 6,000 school leaders from across the Garden State to the year’s most important training event. NJSBA’s Annual Workshop will feature tailored K-12 education insights, strategies and collaborative opportunities to transform and evolve their communities. Engage in professional development, illuminate dialogue, encourage interactive sessions and discover new products and solutions to share with your peers. Join Carahsoft at this great event as we celebrate public education!

Stay tuned for event announcements and additional information on our participation in this event. We look forward to joining you at this year’s event! Curious about what else to expect? Check out highlights from NJSBA’s 2024 Workshop. Additionally, learn more about our long-standing contract with NJSBA, supporting to advance public education and promote the achievement of all students through effective governance.

Educause Annual Conference

October 27-30 | Nashville, TN | Hybrid Event

Higher education technology transforms year over year. At the Educause Annual Conference, education professionals and technology providers come together to embrace this change, strive for improvement and make it a reality. Bring your ideas to share with your peers surrounding today’s toughest education challenges and brainstorm ways to solve them! Here, attendees can grow meaningful connections with industry collaborators and community members. Garner experience and knowledge within EdTech trends, innovations and tools within an array of education topics.

Past program tracks and what you can expect at this year’s event include:

Future of Work

Student Experience

Education Leadership

Teaching and Learning

Innovation and Emerging Tech

Cybersecurity, Privacy and Risk Management

Enterprise, Strategy, Data, Infrastructure and Support

Carahsoft looks forward to returning to the Educause Annual Conference at booth #1050 to connect you with our partners’ cutting-edge EdTech solutions and discuss how we can help you shape the future of education for your school. We will be collaborating with Joe Toste to create podcast episodes for his show, “TechTables,”centered around the event. We will also be hosting a co-sponsored coffee corner and do not forget to join us for our happy hour event!

CSBA AEC

December 4-6 | Sacramento, CA | In-Person Event

The Annual Education Conference is the California School Board Association’s premier continuing education program for K-12 that you will not want to miss! Renew your sense of purpose and commitment as an educator, teacher, board member, superintendent or support professional as you engage with peers to dive into critical conversations, compelling sessions and prime EdTech tools and solutions. This unique event offers guests the opportunity to network with leaders who can offer guidance on local-level issues, discussing how trends are impacting individual schools and communities to improve student learning and achievement.

Past program tracks include:

Access for All

Digital Transformation in Education

Fiscal Strategies and Accountability

Student and Community Engagement

Strategies and Practices of Governance

Mental Health, Wellness and Student Safety

Carahsoft is excited to be attending CSBA’s premier event this year. While we are still confirming our presence, learn more about our partnership and contracts with CSBA and how we support the Golden State’s public schools.

Internet2 Technology Exchange

December 8-12 | Denver, CO | In-Person Event

Interested in speaking with technical visionaries? Excited to learn from global technology leaders? Looking for new EdTech tools backed by the education community? I2 TechEx is the event to attend for all these opportunities and more! Meet chief technologists, scientists, engineers, architects, operators and students for community-centric debates, discussions and critical dialogue surrounding topics such as generative AI, cybersecurity posture, Zero Trust, cloud solutions, policy updates, automation and more.

Carahsoft and our reseller partners work with Internet2 to support their member community through the NET+ program, which provides a portfolio of reliable cloud and trust solutions to help higher education and research institutions solve shared technology challenges. We are still determining the specifics of our participation but are excited to confirm that Carahsoft will be present at this year’s conference! Keep an eye out for updates on how to connect with us during this premier event.

Throughout the change and growth within the education sector this year, Carahsoft and our vendor partners are here to help institutions, organizations and Government agencies navigate it all. Join us at one of these great events to learn, experience and embrace the best the industry has to offer for the future of education technology.

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 Education solutions portfolio and Education Events page. 

A Day in the Life of a Higher Education Administrator: Keeping Sanity with Atlassian’s Solutions

Posted on by Cameron Starman

“The early bird catches the worm,” they say. In higher education administration, the early bird catches a hundred emails, two urgent meeting requests, and a desperate plea from a professor who needs a last-minute resource for their lecture. Welcome to my world.

It’s 7:00 AM, and I’m already two cups of coffee deep, facing the never-ending tasks that define higher education administration. On the docket today: oversee the rollout of a new enrollment policy, respond to at least a dozen student inquiries, coordinate with the campus facilities team about the HVAC issue in the science building, and somehow find time to prepare for the budget review meeting scheduled for 4:00 PM. Oh, and there’s the ongoing university-wide initiative on enhancing digital literacy. Just another ordinary day in the life of higher ed.

But here’s the question: How can we manage all of this without burning out? The real challenge is keeping the daily operational chaos under control while staying focused on the bigger goal: providing an exceptional experience for students, faculty, and staff. That’s where solutions designed for higher education administration make all the difference.

Taming Task Overload with Structured Workflows

One of the most common pain points I face is the sheer volume of tasks, projects, and requests flying my way. From managing campus events to responding to student service requests, the workload can feel unmanageable without a structured system. The solution is simple: centralizing task management and creating transparent workflows that make it easier to stay on top of every project.

Atlassian Higher Education Admin Day in the Life Blog Clipboard Image 2024

Today, I’ve set up a project for the new enrollment policy. Tasks are assigned to various departments: administration, student affairs, and IT. In the comments section of one task, I see a suggestion from a department head about potential concerns from faculty members. I quickly tag the dean of the faculty and leave a note: “Let’s discuss this in the 10:00 AM meeting.” With Atlassian’s Jira, I can coordinate with everyone efficiently, ensuring that all communications and updates are within the platform. This level of transparency helps everyone stay informed, preventing issues from falling through the cracks.

Jira’s project management features allow me to manage complex workflows, track dependencies, and ensure that everything is aligned across departments. It’s more than just task management – -it’s a vital tool for higher ed, enabling real-time coordination of the intricate web of administrative tasks.

Managing the Flood of Campus IT Requests

In higher education, the volume of IT requests from students, faculty, and staff can be overwhelming. From system access issues to facility-related technical problems, the demand for quick and efficient IT support is ever-growing. Without a centralized system, it becomes challenging to ensure that all these requests are tracked, prioritized, and resolved in a timely manner.

Next, I switch to Jira Service Management, where all incoming IT requests from students, faculty, and staff are tracked. In a higher education technology landscape where IT services are increasingly critical, having a centralized ITSM system like Jira Service Management allows for quick and efficient resolution of issues.

A ticket from Dr. Thompson, the chemistry professor, indicates that there’s an HVAC issue in the lab. I route this to the facilities management team and assign it a high-priority status. Another ticket involves a student unable to access the online learning platform. With Jira Service Management, I can immediately assign these issues to the appropriate team for resolution. The ability to monitor and track these requests in real-time ensures that nothing falls through the cracks.

Universities often face a never-ending flow of IT service requests, and having a robust system like Jira Service Management is essential for maintaining smooth operations. Whether it’s resolving campus-wide tech issues or individual faculty needs, this ITSM tool ensures everything is logged, tracked, and resolved efficiently.

Breaking Down Silos with Centralized Knowledge Management

In higher education, managing information across various departments can become disjointed, with each team relying on separate systems for storing and accessing important documents. This fragmentation leads to inefficiencies and confusion when it comes to collaboration and decision-making. The need for a unified platform that supports knowledge sharing and cross-departmental collaboration is critical.

Once I’ve handled the immediate fires, I move over to Confluence, Atlassian’s collaboration platform. Confluence acts as a digital encyclopedia, where we store all our policies, procedures, and administrative documents. For a higher education institution, having a unified platform for knowledge management is invaluable. Confluence supports collaboration across departments and ensures that everyone is on the same page.

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Preparing for the afternoon budget meeting, I pull up last year’s budget reports stored in Confluence. I make some quick notes and tag the finance director for their input. Later, I access the page dedicated to our university’s digital literacy initiative, which is a critical part of our ongoing education technology strategy. Here, we have all the necessary documents, timelines, and feedback from faculty neatly organized. Everything I need for tomorrow’s meeting with the IT and academic leadership is at my fingertips.

Confluence enhances productivity by enabling cross-functional teams—be it administrative, academic, or IT—to collaborate seamlessly. For universities looking to scale their digital operations, knowledge management through Confluence is key.

Atlassian to the Rescue: Tackling Higher Ed Chaos One Tool at a Time

The tools I mentioned above—Jira, Jira Service Management, and Confluence—aren’t just general business solutions; I’ve found them to be perfectly suited to the unique challenges we face in higher education. Atlassian provides scalable solutions that adapt to the demands of universities like mine, from managing academic workflows to improving campus facilities management and streamlining student services.

In higher ed technology, the stakes are high, and trust me, the needs are more complex than people might think. Juggling enrollment management, improving IT support for both students and faculty, and coordinating large campus-wide initiatives can be overwhelming without the right tools. That’s why I rely on Atlassian’s suite to keep everything in check. It ensures that all tasks, communications, and resources stay aligned, no matter how chaotic things might seem. Having these tools on hand makes a world of difference in my day-to-day work, and I can confidently say my colleagues feel the same way. Whether it’s a quick request or a major project, we’ve got the systems in place to manage it all, and that gives me a sense of control over the chaos.

For example, learning management systems (LMS) are essential for modern universities. Integrating Atlassian tools with existing LMS platforms enhances the management of online courses, streamlines academic resource sharing, and simplifies the process of handling IT and administrative requests. By connecting Confluence to an LMS, universities can create an integrated environment where both faculty and students can easily access course materials, policies, and updates.

Making Student Services Run Smoothly

In a university setting, one of the most critical aspects of education management is making sure student services run like a well-oiled machine. Whether it’s managing enrollment, handling student requests, or keeping communication between departments smooth, I’ve seen firsthand how Atlassian’s tools transform the way we get things done. It’s no small task, but with these tools, it feels manageable.

Take enrollment management, for example. Every semester, I’m tasked with ensuring hundreds, sometimes thousands, of students are enrolled in the right courses, their records are updated, and they get the support they need. Without the right system in place, this process would drive me up the wall. But with Jira Service Management, handling all these requests becomes second nature. I can log tickets for every enrollment issue, manage course changes, and automatically keep students in the loop with notifications. The best part? I don’t have to waste time manually sending updates or getting lost in email threads. It’s a huge relief for me and my colleagues, as we can focus on helping students rather than getting buried in administrative tasks.

And it doesn’t stop at enrollment. Universities are complex beasts with countless services to manage. Atlassian tools help us streamline other key areas like financial aid management, counseling, and academic advising. I’ve used Confluence to build a shared knowledge base that anyone on the student services team can access. This way, students can find answers to their questions without having to wait on me or anyone else to reply to their emails. Instead of me spending hours fielding the same questions over and over again, students can jump into Confluence and find everything they need. Honestly, it’s a game-changer for everyone involved and makes me feel like I’m really helping students in a more efficient way.

Atlassian Higher Education Admin Day in the Life Blog Alarm Image 2024

Then there’s the challenge of managing campus events. I’ve been part of organizing major events like orientation week, and let me tell you, without the right tools, it’s an absolute nightmare. Coordinating across multiple teams—administration, student services, IT, facilities, and even security—can feel like herding cats. But with Jira’s project management capabilities, I’m able to keep track of every task, assign responsibilities, and set deadlines. When I know every department is clear on what they need to do, I can finally relax a little. From ensuring the auditorium is ready for the keynote speaker to making sure security is in place for the event, Jira keeps everything on track. Project management in higher education can be overwhelming, but with Jira, it’s like having a personal assistant who makes sure nothing gets missed.

At the end of the day, Atlassian’s suite of tools does more than just make my job easier. It makes our entire process more transparent. I love that I can track everything in real-time, and my colleagues can, too. It saves us all time, reduces stress, and keeps us focused on what really matters—helping students succeed. When student services are efficient and transparent, it makes life easier for everyone, from administrators to students. Instead of chasing down loose ends, I’m able to focus on supporting students and making their experience better.

How Atlassian is Shaking Things Up in Higher Ed’s Digital Transformation

As I’ve seen firsthand, higher education is fully diving into digital education technology, and tools like Jira and Confluence are helping institutions, including mine, keep up with the growing demand for online learning, cloud-based management, and remote collaboration. Project management in higher education is evolving quickly, and I can confidently say that Atlassian is right there in the driver’s seat, helping universities like ours navigate this transformation. It’s like having a GPS for campus-wide chaos!

With more universities, including mine, transitioning to cloud-based learning platforms and digital-first approaches, Atlassian tools have become essential for managing the shift. These tools have streamlined our administrative workflows, helped us manage complex projects across departments, and improved communication. Personally, I’ve found that by using Atlassian, I can focus on ensuring students succeed and that academic excellence stays on track. It’s made my job way easier (and a lot less stressful), and I know my colleagues feel the same way as we continue to adapt to this digital transformation.

Wrapping Up—But Never Really Done

By 5:00 PM, I’m ready to call it a day—or at least pretend I’m done. The new enrollment policy is on track, the IT issues are being resolved, and the budget meeting went smoothly thanks to Confluence. Tomorrow’s another day of managing the complex, fast-paced world of higher education, but with Atlassian’s suite of tools at my side, I know I can handle whatever comes my way.

For universities, the challenge of managing diverse departments, large student populations, and ever-growing administrative tasks is daunting. But with Atlassian’s technology solutions for higher education, managing this chaos becomes much more manageable, enabling administrators to focus on their real goal—delivering high-quality education.

Schedule a demonstration with one of our Atlassian experts today to learn more about Atlassian’s technology solutions for higher education.

The Top Upcoming Education IT Events on the Horizon

Posted on by Tim Boltz

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.

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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

Posted on by Tim Boltz

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

Education 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

Posted on by Tim Boltz

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

Generative 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.

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.

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

Applications of Technology in Higher Education at EDUCAUSE

Posted on by Tim Boltz

Technology advancement has resulted in many potential usages for university students and faculty, educational and research institutions and Government agencies. For agencies focused on higher education, taking advantage of new technology can help bolster security and ease student and faculty daily procedures. Industry and education experts joined together at the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference for an immersive experience that facilitated collaboration and discussion to promote the advancement of higher education by using information technology (IT).

Leveraging Security Technology Against Ransomware

With the increasing technology usage in everyday life, many higher education agencies are susceptible to cybersecurity threats like ransomware. The education sector is no exception, with attacks ranging from exploited vulnerabilities, to compromised credentials, malicious emails, phishing attempts, brute force attacks and malicious downloads. As ransomware comes with financial loss, it is important for higher education agencies to invest accordingly in cybersecurity. According to industry statistics, 70% of organizations have successfully recovered data using backup mechanisms. This data recovery is not only much simpler than paying the ransom, but it also removed the attack incentive since paying the ransom encourages bad actors to continue attacks. Higher education institutions own and maintain a significant amount of intellectual property as a source of data wealth and research. To protect this information and ensure the safety and financial success of educational institutions, higher education must focus on creating backups and position IT security staff as trusted advisors, fortify their cybersecurity infrastructure and foster a vigilant culture amongst students and faculty.

Digital Services in Education

With a strong cybersecurity base, universities can reap the benefits of both external and internal digital services. External market data can be used to predict internal performance. Data can help define popular markets, from student demand for majors, future employment opportunities and university competitor information. Educational institutions can utilize technology to analyze data and make millions of calculations in a minimal amount of time. With these predictive analytics, education administrations can make informed decisions when forecasting program sizes, enrollment numbers, scholarships and revenue margins.

Universities can utilize digital applications to offer user-friendly functions to support faculty and students with daily tasks such as helping locate class schedules, campus maps, facility wait times, task notifications and other essential remedies for success. Digital applications with collaboration tools and platforms can connect peers and faculty members in a simple and pragmatic way, facilitating communication on projects and learning objectives. On the administrative side, digital services can reduce time spent by automating functions such as credit transfers and transcript evaluations. Institutions can also utilize digital applications to offer automated aid for student requested services, which reduces call center wait times, manual processing errors and delayed accommodations.

The Varied Applications of AI

In the educational space, AI has a multitude of use cases:

AI can detect cyber threats and vulnerabilities, thus protecting student, faculty and stakeholder sensitive information.
By facilitating the automation of routine security tasks, patches and system updates, AI can free up more time for cybersecurity professionals to focus on more complex initiatives, thus creating a more robust security infrastructure.
Schools can utilize AI’s advanced authentication mechanism to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data and provide seamless account access for students, faculty and staff.
Institutions are currently using AI to understand the best methods for student retention, a common concern in higher education. Methods such as text-based chat apps are designed to send encouraging messages, tutoring or counseling to students who have been identified as needing additional resources. Text applications can also be used to connect students to enrollment services, tutoring or counseling.
AI’s use of data analytics can facilitate customized learning experiences based on each student’s strengths, weaknesses and learning pace. This includes tailored content, question and answer chatbots and virtual assistants.
Adaptive learning platforms powered by AI can assess individual student performance and deliver tailored content, allowing students to grasp complex concepts at their own pace. This personalized approach enhances student engagement and motivation, ultimately leading to improved academic outcomes.

Since AI will always contain human bias, it is important to apply AI as an additional tool, and not a standalone operation. In maintaining the priority for equality and privacy in the educational sphere, each individual institution must find where AI best fits into their respective organization.

Technology can be utilized to enhance cybersecurity infrastructure, detect compromised systems, analyze data to improve common educational institution functions and improve student performance and morale. By partnering with the IT industry, higher education institutions can posture students and faculty to lead the way to success for the next generation of learners.

To learn more about utilizing IT for education initiatives, view Carahsoft’s Education Technology Solutions Resources.

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.

Learn more at http://www.carahsoft.com/education

EdTech Talks: Exploring the Impact of Technology on Student Growth and Development

Posted on by Tim Boltz

Schools and universities strive every day to give their students an effective, fulfilling, successful personal growth and academic learning experience. Harnessing technology innovations can pave the way to achieving those goals. During Carahsoft’s annual EdTech Talks Summit, experts in education and the IT industry discussed how existing and emerging solutions such as observability, the ‘secure by design’ approach and analytics can enhance education to personalize experiences, provide developmental insights on learning approaches and achieve maximum support for all students.

Addressing Post-Pandemic Digital Transformation with Observability

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, there were many education challenges including a rapid shift to remote learning, the need to adapt quickly to new technologies and evolving cybersecurity threats. Schools and universities play a major role in the nation’s critical infrastructure along with the transportation sector, water and pipeline management, utilities and more making them vulnerable to cyberattacks. Bolstering the strength of cybersecurity infrastructure is a key component of the student experience as schools are responsible for safeguarding student’s educational, health and personal identification records.

One step towards achieving cybersecurity is observability. In a time when education leaders are asked to do more with less, observability allows institutions to understand what is happening within their networks and why. Observability should be used to empower education IT teams and in conjunction with active monitoring platforms, which will help them understand the full scope of the data in their network management systems to then apply actionable intelligence to solve issues. When exploring this data, IT staff should consider these questions:

Is the network following the proper compliance rules that are in place? If not, what change was made to take the network out of compliance?
What is the user experience like right now?
What vulnerabilities are there within the network?
Are students able to reliably access what they need and are those systems performing correctly?
Are the internal safeguards working as efficiently as external safeguards?
Do students have proper online safety awareness to aid in avoiding potential risks?

Implementing observability best practices can boost the security and manageability of schools’ network infrastructures, leading to improved experiences for students, faculty and cross-campus communities.

Secure by Design for Education

One of the leading ways manufacturers, developers and education institutions can ensure their products are safe and efficient for students and staff is to create and utilize products that are secure by design. This holistic approach establishes that each product code, solution bundle and packages is tested and validated before an end user receives them, and therefore, contains a built-in cybersecurity insurance policy. In the future, this will save schools time and costs by decreasing the number of cyber threats they face. Students and faculty will experience an increased learning capacity. For example, these solutions help keep students in schools and experiencing less interruption and downtime because of ransomware attacks. This approach empowers faculty to seamlessly adopt and integrate the use of secure solutions into their curriculum and lesson plans. With secure by design solutions, educators and students can rely on the fact that their data will be protected by modernized products tailored with them in mind.

The Importance of Analytics in Higher Education

Data plays a crucial role in educational infrastructure, offering valuable insights into the ever-evolving trends in learning. Most schools have siloed data in multiple areas such as learning management systems, enrollment systems and alumni engagement systems. Some colleges and universities within the Public Sector are only able to perform localized, descriptive analytics such as running spreadsheets and creating dashboards to see enrollment and graduation rates. The key to valuable, actionable and intelligent analytics is being able to discern how data intersects and correlates for more predictive and prescriptive analytics across the various digital spaces where institution data is stored. To do this, schools can leverage the power of automation through artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to augment data and use the insights gained to improve analytic maturity, helping faculty and administrators better serve students and their education missions.

From increased security through observability and intentional technology designs to data-driven insights, the impact of these solutions on student growth is reshaping the educational landscape and creating an environment where students can thrive both academically and personally.

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.

Learn more at http://www.carahsoft.com/education.

Higher Education All-In on Cloud-First

Posted on by Tim Boltz

Is digital transformation in higher education possible without the cloud? Not likely. When that transformation is viewed as a journey, not a destination, the essential role of cloud-based resources as enabling and empowering infrastructure comes sharply into focus. Institutional performance, operational efficiencies, student success — the primary goals of digital transformation in higher education today — are only possible with the agility and scalability of cloud-based computing and resources.

Without a clear strategy in place, digital transformation and cloud migration can start to look like a game of whack-a-mole. As teams weigh where cloud solutions will take them next, understanding and articulating the need to include data-intensive computing, security, reporting, and analysis is imperative. That’s all the more true as students increasingly demand a level of personalization and engagement that can only be delivered through a robust analytics and data infrastructure. Download the guide to learn how to grow beyond today’s analytics programs and to mature them for endemic management and strategy.

Cloud Budgets Keep Growing

“‘As higher education institutions continue to pivot toward continuous modernization practices, the SaaS segment of the cloud is likely to see the most investment,’ noted Damien Eversmann, Chief Architect for Education at Red Hat. ‘Cloud resources provide the agility and flexibility needed to support the culture of change that continuous modernization demands. As long as security practices are properly maintained, cloud adoption is one of the best tools for academic institutions to stay ahead of the curve.’ All cloud categories are expected to see growth in 2023, according to Gartner, with the most significant anticipated growth in Cloud Management and Security Services and Cloud Application Infrastructure Services (PaaS).”

Read more insights from Damien Eversmann, Chief Architect for Education at Red Hat.

Accelerate Agility and Integrate Data

“Today, higher education IT professionals refer to “the new normal” when discussing the many modes of learning, research, and other day-to-day hybrid work now possible thanks to cloud computing. The monumental movement and general acceptance of the cloud within higher education happened nearly overnight, after years of hesitance and reluctance on the part of higher ed leaders who sought greater on-site control over data and operations. That reluctance transformed to trust as cloud-based operations proved their mettle, and institutions by and large today embrace a new way of working through the ongoing and continuous change of digital transformation. “That’s probably the biggest change — that change is the constant,” said Bill Greeves, an industry advisor for SAP who supports the organization’s education customers. As a former CIO and deputy county manager for Wake County, N.C., Greeves saw firsthand the overnight transformation to cloud-based workloads to keep government and citizen services up and running at the onset and throughout the pandemic.”

Read more insights from Bill Greeves, Industry Advisor for SAP.

Essentials for Navigating Cloud Implementations

“While the mission of higher education has never changed, the means of fulfilling that mission continue to swiftly evolve, particularly as a result of cloud computing technology and the migration of workloads, applications, storage — pretty much everything — to the cloud. Higher education research, in particular, enjoys many benefits from the cloud, including rapid provisioning of data and applications, or abstraction, which ensures non-technical users can readily deploy cloud resources and quickly get back to the real task at hand: research. Cloud is at the heart of institutions’ ongoing march to digital transformation, but that’s not all: Prompted by the pandemic, many colleges and universities have also embraced the rapid adoption of cloud capabilities in support of remote work and collaboration.”

Read more insights from Hunter Ely, Security Strategist at Palo Alto Networks, and Mathew Lamb, Manager, Pre-Sales Cloud Native Solutions at Palo Alto Networks.

Download the full report for more insights from these from these higher ed Cloud leaders as well as additional perspectives and industry research.

Supporting the Student Journey Through Digital Transformation

Posted on by Joel Kennedy

What Does it Mean to ‘Go Digital’?

Digital transformation is a critical topic for higher education institutions globally to help them become more innovative, agile and resilient to support their students. Keys to adopting digital can be categorized into four areas—pandemic, prediction, personalization and performance. The pandemic proved the need for reliable digital resilience so that schools can quickly pivot to online learning, meaning more flexibility, scalability and agility. Anticipating touch points for the general student journey from applications to graduation and alumni status allows institutions to better predict unique education tracks, and through data collection, create personalized experiences for students and faculty. With the right tools in place, both students and staff can have automated task management and digital performance throughout their higher education.

Delivering a Seamless Digital Experience

These capabilities and more are aspects of the education experience students have come to know and expect from their campuses. With the understanding of why digital transformation is important, here are three takeaways institutions can explore to deliver improved experiences and increase the overall quality of student engagement.

Adopting Cloud-based Solutions: The pandemic necessitated change across the entire education system to remote and hybrid learning environments. Moving to the cloud allows organizations to become more scalable and agile, ensuring students can access everything they need to be successful within one engagement system.
Utilize Artificial Intelligence Chat and SMS Bots: Whether through a website or mobile app, predictive technology like chat bots can assist students in completing specific touch points of their student journey. By anticipating what students are currently aiming to accomplish, providing helpful information with the click of a button and giving quick and easy direction to what is most relevant for them, an AI chat or SMS function can track and engage each of those touch points for institutions to best support their students daily.
Prioritize Student Digital Security: Before students arrive on campus, they often must create an account for submitting their college applications. Once they are immersed in the university’s various online learning tolls and processes, they typically must make multiple accounts with numerous different passwords. Implementing security measures such as multi-factor authentication and other 2-step security methods ensures only the right student is accessing their personal information and data.

Integrating and Examining Data to Enhance Student Engagement

Implementing new strategies and technologies often comes with a significant amount of transition for any campus’ community, but starting with small integrations and building upon each success can slow the pressures of digital transformation. An institution that understands what capabilities and goals each of its department has allows it to create more successful implementation plans for new solutions. Change management, like valuable training and guidance for staff, plays an integral role in ensuring efficient progression of solution integrations into those individual departments. In addition, institutions must remain engaged with staff after new changes are incorporated to understand their pain points and strategize opportunities for fine-tuning.

No matter what stage students are at in their journey through higher education, securely and efficiently integrating their data into new technologies across campus empowers institutions to better understand individual learning tracks. Institutions should examine a student’s qualities and data from a holistic point of view to best engage with and support them, instead of attempting to piece each departments information together for a less comprehensive perspective.

Analyzing student data and activity also motivates institutions to revisit their digital operations and presence to find areas for improvement. It is imperative that websites, learning tools and accesses are functioning quickly and reliably to best serve the students utilizing them. For example, an institution may consider that lower application rates are due to how many students abandoned their application submission process after factors like an unsuccessful login, inability to create an account, errors when submitting, long wait times for tech support, etc. Understanding these barriers enables institutions to promptly address them and streamline the process for any new applicant.

Empowering Higher Education for Success

Increasing student engagement with a multitude of efficiently integrated solutions gives institutions the opportunity to better understand what their students need to be successful through their educational journey. Though there is much more to digital transformation, these key takeaways allow higher education professionals to strategically plan technology and solution implementations to improve their students’ experiences.

Together, Genesys and GTS are hosting a series of webinars to educate attendees on the most reliable and efficient solutions for their student experience and engagement challenges. Join these cloud, digital and AI technology experts for part 3 of their webinar series and learn how your organization can support the student journey.

EDUCAUSE 2022: Uniting IT and Education

Posted on by Tim Boltz

The education landscape has continued to thrive following the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. While stay-at-home orders have been lifted, education has maintained a digital component through online classes and remote-learning technology. Although online education has many benefits, it brings the concern of security breaches. To continue keeping student information secure, education leaders must adapt alongside the changes in technology. EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association that provides a community for technology, academic, industry and campus leaders to collaborate and build together. The annual EDUCAUSE conference hosted several sessions that showcased ways to keep students engaged and secure in the new age of education.

Educational Institutions as a Hot Target for Cybercriminals

Cybersecurity deserves consistent attention within the education sector. While schools may be compliant with security standards, they can still be vulnerable. Higher education institutions are top targets as they connect thousands of staff, students and faculty members under one system.

There are several strategies IT professionals recommend that can help education systems defend against breaches:

Keep operating systems and software up to date
Employ multi-factor authentication
Maintain robust user training
Implement encryption
Create cloud back-ups for information
Maintain efficient detection and monitoring systems
Implement a quick incident response plan
Utilize external and cloud data storage

By following these steps, institutions can take the initiative toward deploying security measures for staff and students alike.

Robust Cybersecurity on a Budget

Since many academic institutions still face budget constraints due to COVID-19, their cyber posture may not be their first IT priority. To enhance cybersecurity, even on a budget, institutions should:

Know their external footprint: Through the employment of third-party devices that scan the internet for web service protocol solutions, agencies can see how much of their information is public.

Identify external login flaws: Since hackers can circumvent simple tools like automatic lockout policies, agencies should identify all login portals and check major input fields for automated controls.

Identify cloud security flaws: Agencies should switch to a multi-platformed and open-sourced cloud, since it enables security posture assessments and detection of security risks.

Implement phishing education and exercises: Phishing is one of the most common ways organizations are compromised. Institutions should ensure that all employees are educated on anti-phishing policies.

Clean up network share permissions and information: By utilizing credential scans, sensitive information can be restricted to the proper personnel. Implementing a zero trust framework ensures that each user will only gain the information that they are authorized to.

Limit the success of kerberoasting: Kerberoasting leverages the functionality of service principles to encrypt user’s passwords, which can later be retrieved offline for hacking. While it is impossible to completely prevent kerberoasting, agencies that implement detection capabilities limit the exposure and effectiveness of kerberoasting.

Prevent relay attacks: Software should avoid authentication systems that can be relayed or cracked. Responder tools can be used to analyze traffic and point out vulnerabilities.

Identify active directory misconfigurations: As active directory environments mature, built up misconfigurations can cause excessive access privileges. To prevent these being misused by bad actors, institutions should implement tools that check for vulnerable certificates.

Strengthen password security: Agencies should ban easy to guess passwords, enable multi factor authentication and disable old accounts.

Avoid flat networks and lack of network segmentation: Access should be limited to those that need to know; student and faculty accounts should reside on different domains.

Fostering a Sense of Belonging for Online Students

By meeting students where they are comfortable, educational institutions can readily share information. For example, since students are familiar with their phones, when universities utilize phone apps it can help provide a unified, digital experience for higher education students to reduce complexity, fuel career readiness and stoke student success. When creating an app for an institution, some helpful features to include are:

Tailored experiences with custom events depending on the user
Information unique to students, such as a marketplace to buy and sell goods like dormitory furniture or textbooks
IT toolkits
Self-assessment tools for COVID-19 or the flu
Campus features such as desk or study center reservations, transit routes, dining schedule or university maps
In-app messaging that can be directed to groups, such as students or faculty or personal messages
Feedback surveys to inspire improvement

Higher Education’s Top IT Issues for 2023

As students have become accustomed to hybrid and virtual learning, their expectations for new and elevated digital experiences have increased. There are many ways to achieve this modernization, but it requires intentional effort and technology updates from education administrators. Challenges to consider when implementing technology into learning are to:

Ensure IT has a “seat at the table” so they can weigh in on decisions
Ensure privacy and cybersecurity by training students and faculty to avoid scams, shift to data minimization, address cloud migration risks and leverage contracts with cybersecurity experts and investments
Adapt to students’ interests and products familiar to them
Create a seamless and enriching student experience
Utilize student data to update technology to better empower students
Pursue next-generation IT support to expand and reimagine digital campus abilities

Promoting Independence Through IT

A school’s duty is to prepare students for their futures in the workforce. Oftentimes, many careers require extensive knowledge of an array of technologies. Students should show proficiency in these areas to take advantage of more opportunities in various fields. By implementing technology into everyday use, educational institutions can promote confidence in technology, problem-solving skills, time management skills and collaboration between peers.

Diversity, equity and inclusion are also vital to university standards from both a legal and moral lens. IT intersects with diversity to make enrollment and education accessible to all by analyzing existing data to revamp hiring rubrics or utilizing cross-team conferences to create inclusive policies. With these inclusions, schools can emphasize transparency and accountability.

The pandemic revealed the importance of campus communication systems expanding beyond traditional parameters. Education departments had to shift to a remote work environment that a traditional phone system could not easily support. Universities should leverage communications software to reduce costs, provide additional flexible phone capabilities and accommodate all students regardless of where they live.

Through the inclusion of technology, educational institutions can reach new heights in their accessibility and connection with students. By enhancing security and offered digital features, educators can prepare students for an ever-changing workforce.

To learn more about utilizing IT for education initiatives, visit Carahsoft’s EDUCAUSE resource hub to schedule a meeting and speak to a representative today.

*The information contained in this blog has been written based off the thought-leadership discussions presented by speakers at EDUCAUSE 2022.*