K-12 schools experienced a profound transformation in the last 18 months as they pivoted to online learning. As schools and districts evaluate their plans for the coming school year and prepare for a digital future what IT do they need? In this week’s roundup we take a look at howK-12 schools are preparing for their digital futures, including tribal schools balancing maintaining heritage and tradition with new realities.

How Schools Can Create a Digital Strategy with Confidence

At last month’s ITSELive 21 virtual conference, building a digital strategy was front and center resulting in plenty of guidance for K-12 schools looking to consolidate and refine their experiences from the last school year. EdTech leader, Al Kingsley “shared that most school districts have just over 1,000 pieces of ed tech, and added that district leaders should take advantage of existing tech that can track, monitor and manage, from a central point, all IT assets and endpoints across a school district. Knowing what ed tech tools are being used and how often can help teachers and students better maximize these tools with the added benefit of saving time and money and increasing security…”

You can read more here.

Collaborative Tech was Key to Success During Pandemic for Tribal Schools

K-12 schools on tribal lands faced unique challenges during the last school year as students moved online during the worst months of the pandemic. Ensuring students and teachers had access to education and learning materials was particularly challenging because of inadequate infrastructure.

For those learning on tribal lands, access to education and learning materials was extremely challenging because of poor Internet connections or no Internet at all. In this podcast featuring Christie Abeyta, Assistant Principal at the Santa Fe Indian Middle School in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Francis Vigil, Tribal Education Specialist at the National Indian Education Association; and Anita Hart, Client Partner Federal, Tribal Team at Verizon, the panel discussed how tribal schools overcame these challenges and how this experience has set tribal communities up for EdTech success long term.

You can listen to the podcast here.

CoSN Shares Perspectives on How COVID-19 Changed Education

In this article from Heidi J. LaFleche, Consultant to Google documenting teachers’ experiences with online learning during the last school year, including the lessons learned that will have a permanent impact on education. While there were aspects of teaching in the pandemic that the teachers definitely did not want to repeat, there were positive aspects of online learning including better communication with students and more active participation.

As Jamie Rifkowitz, a middle school math teacher in New Jersey reflected: “Technology has shaped the last year of everyone’s life. In the future, technology will allow us to personalize learning, target specific skills, and allow each student to reach his or her greatest potential.”

You can read more here.