eSchool News

As school leaders turn to software companies for help in collecting and storing student data in the cloud, privacy advocates worry about what will happen to the information -- and whether it might be used for marketing purposes.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act governs the use and disclosure of students’ personal information, but it can only penalize schools for non-compliance. The law doesn’t include any direct authority over software providers -- which is one reason many policy makers think it’s time to update FERPA for the digital age.

The E-rate program will provide $5 billion over the next five years to help schools and libraries install Wi-Fi and other technologies needed to deliver broadband within their buildings; here’s how:

The Federal Communications Commission’s Seventh Order changes the description of these services from “Priority 2” to “Category 2.” To spread the Category 2 funding to the broadest number of applicants possible, the FCC has taken two key steps: (1) It has limited the maximum discount on these services at 85 percent, and (2) it has capped the amount of funding that applicants can receive on these services within a five-year period. To ensure that smaller schools can buy the minimum amount of Wi-Fi gear they need, the FCC created a “funding floor” of $9,200 per building.

The FCC’s Seventh Order transforms the E-rate from a telecommunications program into a broadband program that supports the delivery of high-speed Internet service to and within school buildings. Funding for all voice-related services -- including plain old telephone service, toll-free service, and even voice over IP (VoIP) -- will be phased out over five years. Because of this five-year cap, K-12 technology leaders will have to think strategically about their Wi-Fi needs -- and they should look at purchasing equipment with a five-year life cycle in mind.

According to the Software & Information Industry Association’s (SIIA) 2014 Vision K-20 report, 85 percent of secondary, 66 percent of elementary, and 83 percent of K-12 district survey participants said mobile devices will be allowed in schools in the next five years.

Not surprisingly, more than half of respondents said they don’t feel “highly prepared” with enough bandwidth or adequate devices and hardware to support online assessments. Just 41 percent of elementary, 40 percent of secondary, and 42 percent of K-12 district respondents said they feel they have adequate Internet bandwidth. Thirty-two percent of elementary, 36 percent of secondary, and 36 percent of K-12 district respondents said they feel they have adequate devices and hardware for students.

Speak Up 2013, an annual survey lead by Project Tomorrow, focuses on digital learning and college- and career-ready skill development. Survey results reveal that educators, school and district leaders, and parents understand that mobile devices help students access more digital content and digital learning opportunities.

1. School and district administrators say that tablets (41 percent), one-to-one programs (28 percent), mobile apps (22 percent), and bring-your-own-device policies, or BYOD (22 percent) have had a significant impact on transforming teaching and learning.
2. Eighty-six percent of school and district administrators said mobile learning increases student engagement.
3. Mobile learning also helps each student personalize his or her learning (67 percent).
4. School leaders note that mobile learning helps students develop a number of skills that will be necessary in college and the workforce, namely critical thinking and problem solving (51 percent), collaboration and teamwork skills (47 percent), and strong communication skills (37 percent).
5. Thirty-two percent of technology administrators said that allowing students to use their own mobile devices helps schools address budget challenges while still giving students access to technology.
6. The 2014 survey reveals that 41 percent of principals said they were comfortable with such a move. An additional 10 percent said they had already changed school policy to support BYOD.

[Commentary] From sexting to cyberbullying, a momentary lapse in judgment on a smart phone or through social media can have lifelong consequences. Here are five digital trends that every educator should know about.

1. Privacy: Teens cannot assume any of their online or cell phone activity will remain private. One of the most common problems occurs when someone shares a photograph or other private information through texting or social media and expects complete privacy. Too often, either accidentally or on purpose, it spreads beyond the recipient or group of friends.
2. Anonymity: Educators, students and parents should never assume they can remain anonymous online. A large percentage of cases our attorneys handle involve another party harming our client anonymously, without using the party’s name or other identifying information. Almost every time, a person’s true identity can be tracked.
3. Cyberbullying: In the most extreme examples, harassment among students can lead to suicide. In 2008, a student in my hometown of Cincinnati hung herself after her ex-boyfriend shared her nude photos with other students. Sadly, this was not an isolated incident; bullying has led many students to take their own lives.
4. Sexting: The increased popularity and pressure to send racy photos amongst teens has caused many problems -- both for the subject of the photos and, to a lesser extent, the distributor of these photos.
5. Educate Students, Staff and Parents: Teens may be breaking the law using their smart phones without even realizing it. While an arrest for possessing or distributing child pornography is an extreme case, it serves to illustrate that a lapse in judgment -- theoretically as easy as sharing a photo or making a social media post -- can have serious long-term consequences.

[Gibson leads the Vorys Internet defamation group]

[Commentary] The current E-rate policy environment is an unprecedented confluence of events: a Federal Communications Commission Chairman committed to modernizing the program, an FCC commissioner deeply passionate about E-rate, the momentum of President Barack Obama’s ConnectED proposal, the announcement of $2 billion in found funding for the E-rate program, and the ever-increasing demand for connectivity in the nation’s schools and libraries.

The E-rate’s long-term success relies on its ability to be updated to reflect the ever-changing world of connectivity and educational technology, while remaining committed to its focus on equity and program sustainability. Though most schools and libraries are now connected to the Internet, the quality and speed of that connection does not always meet the demand.

We still have school districts that do not have the technological capacity to keep up with online formative assessments and the tracking of massive amounts of data through state longitudinal data systems.

American Association of School Administrators (AASA) strongly supports a two-pronged approach to modernizing the E-rate -- one with both programmatic changes and a permanent increase in the program’s funding cap. An infusion of funding without programmatic restructuring is a poor investment, and programmatic restructuring without permanent, adequate funding sets the program on a path towards instability and failure.

[Domenech is AASA Executive Director]

Barbara Stripling, president of the American Library Association, said students, teachers, and librarians are facing “a silent dilemma.”

Stripling was one of three panelists who spoke at the National Press Club on May 6 about the “second wave of the digital divide.” The first wave is the lack of equal access to computers and the Internet. The second wave comes when those students who lack access grow up without ever learning necessary technology skills. They may be unable to complete homework assignments or tell the difference between a random blog and a reputable source for research papers. They may not know how to search for jobs, or to find information about going to college.

Seventy-five percent of teachers are assigning homework to students that require a “digital environment,” Stripling said, but only 54 percent of teachers say they believe all of their students have access to those tools. “The school library then becomes the most powerful place for them,” she said. “School librarians are in charge of that training, of providing those tools. That is the responsibility of the school librarian.”

But not all school librarians are qualified to do this sort of training, Striping admitted. Too many public schools do not hire state-certified librarians, she said, instead relying on well-intentioned but unqualified members of their community. About one-third of public school libraries don’t have full-time, state-certified librarians, according to a 2013 report authored by Kathy Rosa, director of the ALA’s Office for Research and Statistics.

Fifty-six percent of public charter schools do not employ state-certified librarians. “It’s a national crisis,” Stripling said. “There are entire communities that have absolutely no certified librarians.” Initiatives like ConnectED and the E-Rate program may help, the panelists said, but libraries simply need more funding to make a difference.

Three trends are changing the way education is perceived in the US, and learning outcomes are improving with more modern approaches: The expansion of digital content, mass distribution, and personalized learning.

[Commentary] There is a tidal wave called Google focused on the education market never seen before. Developers at Google are not only giving Google Apps to K-12 schools, they are supporting schools with the new Google Console, through which anyone can serve as the IT Director.

Google for Education has just partnered with Synnex Global, a super-giant Fortune 500 Company that supports IT procurement through valued-added resellers. Google is making IT deployment easy and affordable in schools so that all education professionals can focus on what matters most–student learning. Here are three reasons to use Google Apps:

1. Google’s sharing its 10X thinking in schools! The sharing of in-time data, collaborative tool deployment and the rise of one-to-one learning environments makes Google Apps deployed with the Google Management Console the way to go!
2. There is a NEW role for the IT Director in the education space. With the Google Management Console, Google is ensuring IT can easily set permissions for each of its members, even if you’re running a hybrid of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) mixed with organizational issued devices.
3. Google with Synnex is positioned well for bridging digital divide! With partners like Edmodo, Google Drive now plugs into the free Learning Management System.

[Grillo, PhD, is a Google Certified Teacher and Technology Deployment Specialist in Government and Education at TBD Partners]

[Commentary] Full-time, online public schools originated as alternatives to traditional education approaches and were even bandied about as ways to revolutionize the learning paradigm.

Now, they too are in need of transformation, because the results so far are mixed at best. While there are many issues that would need addressing, I want to center in on three of the key, critical elements required for virtual schools to be transformed.

1. Be a specialist, not a generalist. Virtual schools mirror their brick-and-mortar counterparts too closely by attempting to be all things to all students. Peruse any virtual school web site and you will see they believe they can serve anyone (as long as they live in the state) — gifted, struggling, homebound, etc.
2. Make the human connection. The learning may be online but the experience should not be virtual. Humans are social beings, and they crave interaction, and shared experiences
3. Make retention a culture, not a strategy. Far too many virtual schools spend too much time focused on attracting new students instead of taking care of the ones they already have. They wait until March or April to engage in trying to retain students instead of understanding that retention begins the moment a family first says “Yes.”

[Tucker is owner, founder, and Chief Fig of Figment Consulting]