Advancing K-12 Technology Infrastructure to Elevate Student Engagement and Learning

Purpose & objective

The purpose of the session is to provide an informative session on school infrastructure requirements to meet the needs of progressive educational trends. The objective will be to enable attendees to develop an actionable technology model that can be implemented, measured, and serve as a strategic compass for their schools. This model will:

• Provide an engaging, supportive, and safe educational environment for teachers and students. 

• Ensure physical security and nurture social and emotional well-being.  

• Operate equitably as one district to accomplish the school’s mission while meeting every student’s unique and individual needs to enable them to seek their potential in a secure, safe, and nurturing educational environment.

As a result of participation in the session attendees will be able to identify the infrastructure needs of their schools or districts in order to provide the most up to date and secure networks and hardware to their diverse populations. Attendees will also gain a deeper understanding of the value of technology audits and how they can create safe and secure learning environments, along with success stories from other school districts.

Outline

I. Overview of challenges and innovative trends in K-12 education (10 min).
A. [Interactive surveys of audience to capture ideas on trends and challenges – Smartphone required]
B. Results Discussion
C. Challenges to K-12 Infrastructure security (2022 Incidents)
II. What is a Technology Assessment? (5 min)
III. Why perform a technology assessment? (5 min)
A. Objectives - Continuity, Security, Policies/Procedures (ISASA)
B. Anticipated Outcomes
C. Inclusive Innovation - Leveraging tools that will adapt to individual student needs and skills (Game-based learning, Mobile Devices, Student Response Systems, etc.)
IV. Management Standards and Key assessment areas based on ISO:IEC 27001 (5 min)

V. Developing a K-12 Technology Vision/Model (Digital Handout via QR Code) (5 min)
VI. Preparing for your technology assessment (5 min)
VII. Funding Opportunities and Success Stories (3 min)
VIII. Q&A (7 min)

Supporting research

• Information Systems Audit and Control Association, ISACA
• ISO:IEC 27001
https://www.iso.org/isoiec-27001-information-security.html
• K-12 Ransomware Attacks
o https://thejournal.com/articles/2022/08/03/it-practitioners-invited-to-hear-ransomware-victims-describe-lessons-learned-in-aug-16-webinar.aspx?s=the_nu_040822&oly_enc_id=6722E9655690A3A
o https://thejournal.com/articles/2022/03/10/growing-frequency-and-costs-of-ransomware-attacks-on-schools-highlight-new-report.aspx
• National Educational Technology Plan - Office of Educational Technology
• https://tech.ed.gov/netp/
• https://tech.ed.gov/files/2017/01/NETP17.pdf
• https://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-guide-description
• https://www.iste.org/explore/topic/technology-planning-infrastructure
• https://cdn.iste.org/www-root/Libraries/Documents%20%26%20Files/Advocacy%20Resources/MS_ISTE%20Standards%20for%20Students%20(statewide-educational-technology-guide-8-25-2016).pdf