School Technology

  The video game industry has surged to historic levels of popularity in recent years, surpassing the overall market share of film and North American sports combined. As gaming continues to dominate pop culture, the impact of this massive enterprise has migrated into other areas as well, specifically within schools. As more students are participating

  Even before the advent of digital learning and the proliferation of technology devices at school, eliminating distractions in K-12 classrooms has always been top of mind for educators. However, today, with 1:1 technology where each student has their own mobile computing device, websites and applications like games, social media sites, and video streaming platforms

  By Mark J. Fletcher Unfortunately, today’s climate, discernably marked by ever-increasing security threats in all environments, implementing comprehensive Emergency Notification Systems (ENS) in our educational institutions and facilities has become a necessity rather than an afterthought or luxury. This urgent need is particularly prevalent in faith-based schools, which face unique challenges due to growing

  Analytics refers to the use of data to visualize trends. Educators use analytics in a variety of ways to help make decisions about program offerings and potential donors, as well as to market those offerings, apply for credit, and meet accreditation requirements.  There are a variety of ways to collect the data used to

  An open and clear line of communication between parents and teachers is vital for supporting children in their learning journey. When both these pillars of support – teachers and parents – come together, children tend to flourish in all areas of development. Educators can grasp what is going on in a child’s home and

  By David Lopez Technology and devices have become part of the DNA of a classroom. Tablets, mobile devices, laptops, smartboards, and digital screens are now the norm. Significant research on the topic also sheds light on technology effectiveness. The research project “Technology and Education Reform,” sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, offers these

  Do you ever feel like your school library could be doing more? Are you tired of spending hours tracking down individual books, then reshelving them when the patrons ended up choosing a different book? If so, it might be time to invest in some school library software. Software designed for school libraries can automate

  By Heather Terry Across the entire school safety spectrum, technology has played a significant role in enhancing school safety, especially in recent years. Coordinating this technology successfully requires looking at the big picture of your school safety and security ecosystem. Getting your existing systems to communicate with each other can better streamline your school

  By Lisa Durel It has never been more important to ensure the safety of educational facilities, their students, and staff from dangers that lurk just outside the campus. In fact, there’s been an ever-growing concern about the dangers that manage to make it inside the school walls without detection. On-campus safety has typically been

  The rise in school deaths and violence is mind-numbing, but states and districts are becoming more proactive in their efforts to stem the continuing rise of school threats and emergencies. One example is the new grant programs for schools to purchase silent panic alert technologies that schools can use to signal a life-threatening situation

  K-12 school facility planning is stressful, complex, and time-consuming. COVID-19 placed an increased emphasis on the need for alterations and renovations in K-12 school buildings. Beyond the typical upkeep and general maintenance, there has been a significant escalation in HVAC work requests, increased complexity in maintaining HVAC facilities, and the need for comprehensive air

  With back to school in full swing, it’s not just new students that aren’t sure where to go or what to do quite yet.  You know what it’s like being new and not knowing what to do and worrying you’re not going to get it right. Parents, too, need some help understanding critical components

  By Andrea Alcala-Vasquez Software has become critical in the modern classroom to support student engagement and teacher effectiveness. The K-12 teaching and learning environment continues to evolve and respond to latest challenges like effective distance learning brought on by public health crises. And, in America, increasing political polarization around critical race theory, student social

  By Paul Shain Mass notification systems to help achieve the speed and reach they need to ensure everyone receives a message as quickly as possible. Mass notification systems offer several benefits that can help schools enhance safety and communication. It all starts by understanding the types of situations a school is likely to encounter

  By Peter Steinfeld Effective communication in schools is more challenging than ever. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact the ability to keep students and staff safe, and schools also face increases in severe weather events, violence, and more. For administrators, staying up to date on each of these threats and notifying a large

  By Gary Falcon So, you’ve decided the time has come to improve your school management system: giving your teachers great tools for parent communications; providing online classrooms to better support students; making it easy to collect attendance and generate report cards. Congrats! This is a big step toward improving your school. The next big

  It has been said that communication is the cornerstone of good parent-school relationships. This statement rings even more true as we move into an era where schools are becoming more accountable for student success. One of the best ways to measure success is through collaborative relationships with parents, teachers, and school administrators. When one

  By Jordan Walker As a professional in a K-12 school, you’re probably familiar with the term “classroom management.” Classroom management is used by teachers to describe the process of ensuring lessons run smoothly without disruption. Since you’re at the forefront of edtech integration, it’s likely you’ve also been tasked with getting your school up

  By Kevin Brown and Alok Jain Albert Einstein once stated that a problem cannot be solved with the same consciousness that created it. This concept is spot-on when it comes to school safety and security – particularly with Christian schools. All too often, public schools approach safety and security with an “insurance policy” mentality;

  By Joe Bakker During the 2017-2018 school year, 82% of public high schools in the United States offered dual credit opportunities for their students. Here in 2021, most secondary students and their parents expect an opportunity to earn college credit while in high school. Christian high schools seeking to meet this expectation have decisions

  There’s no doubt about it: technology is rapidly changing our education systems, affecting both the methods of teaching and the way that students learn. Today, more than 90% of classrooms in the United States use computers, incorporating much more engaging, visual content than previous generations. This transition is certainly effective, especially when you consider

  2020 put the U.S. education system to the test in every way possible. Ask any teacher, student, administrator, or parent of school-aged kids, and they’ll tell you that school is vastly different than it was pre-COVID-19. “The pandemic challenged nearly everything our institutionalized education system knows about how to teach, learn, and empower students,”

  By Caroline Gilchrist “The office of the future.” That’s what the paperless office was dubbed in 1975, the first time it was predicted—long before computers sat on every desktop and lessons in keyboard skills eclipsed lessons in cursive. Yet while some schools have shifted to executing processes electronically, others continue printing off stacks of

  By Ellen Lee With changes happening daily in school systems, being proactive in communicating with parents is more important than ever. You’ve likely increased the frequency of your messaging to get everyone on the same page. So why does it feel like the information isn’t getting through? The reason has a lot to do

  With schools relying on education technology more than ever this year, preparing for a significant surge of online usage and the possible impact this could have on your systems should be on every tech leader’s mind this back-to-school season. Most schools are starting either fully or partially online, which means there’s a potential for

  By Amanda Richards Especially during a time of crisis, there is not a “one size fits all” solution to parent communication during COVID-19. What may be the perfect amount of communication for one parent might be too much communication for another parent. Similarly, what one principal may feel is reasonable for communication may not

  By Jana Rankin Contact tracing has emerged as one of the most recognizable terms of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the actual practice has long been used to unravel complex human interactions and recreate them within specific parameters such as location, duration, or physical proximity. While we are all aware that health officials are applying

  By Sandra Love Educators are going the distance to keep learning moving onward and to build connections while maintaining a high standard of excellence. During this time of planning and delivering a new mode of learning, we must shift our perception to focus on how to best navigate these unusual times. As educators, it

  By Erin Wing When I started teaching 1994, I had no computer in my classroom or at home. No email! Life in a pre-email teaching world definitely had its pros and cons, but teachers and parents today probably agree that technology has made communication easier. Here are just a few handy tech tools to

  Technology is a powerful—and often essential—tool for learning in today’s modern learning environments. With a laptop, tablet, or other Internet-connect­ed device, students can access software and videos that allow them to learn at their own pace, connect with subject matter experts from around the world, collaborate with their peers using shared online platforms, and

  The school lunch process has come a long way from the days of sending kids to school with a few dollars and some change for dessert. Today’s school systems must have the right technology in place in order to maximize efficiency and stay on target for budgets and that simply can’t be done without

1. Engaging Students in Learning Useful features commonly found in ebooks can engage readers more thoroughly than traditional books. Readers can highlight, draw, annotate, write journals, and cite sources using ebook features. Reluctant and struggling readers benefit the most from ebooks that involve the senses. ebooks can give students a full reading experience by emerging

By Jamie Goodwin There are lots of ways to use tablets in the classroom to benefit your students. Try these eight ways to utilize these devices to increase your students’ experience. Watch Video Clips Whenever you can tie videos into a lesson, you can cater to your visual learners. Plus, who doesn’t enjoy watching a

The Challenge In July 2017, the Diocese of Erie launched the Erie Catholic School System as part of Building in Truth and Love, the comprehensive plan for diocesan schools in Erie, Pennsylvania. The new system renewed focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) across the curriculum through new science labs, improved access to technology,

School-to-home communication, a key driver of parent engagement, has dramatically changed over the years. In past decades, schools rarely reached out to families unless there was an emergency or problem with a student. In fact, it was widely accepted that “no news is good news,” which forced parents and schools to act independently to support

When there’s a threat to your school, one of your top priorities is to notify authorities and communicate to students and staff how to stay safe. Every second counts, every communication must be fast and accurate, and every system must perform. Emergency communication platforms provide the foundation upon which your safety protocols are carried out.

For as little as $5 per student per year (in some cases even less), students can get one of the most useful skills they will ever have: the ability to communicate fluently through the keyboard. All educators know that students need keyboarding skill for online testing. Many students will need it for college entrance qualification,

“I didn’t know that event was coming up!” “Oh, the school changed their policy on that?” “How do I sign up for (insert program here)?” Do your school faculty and administration members get comments along these lines from parents? Let me guess…your most common response to these types of questions or statements is, “We sent

You’ve read or even authored every word on your school’s website. It displays carefully selected photos of your campus and students. However, studies show that a first-time visitor is going to give your site a few seconds at most. So, what do you want to give your prospective families in those precious moments? The opportunity

By Julie Wenckowski Deliberation about incorporating tablets into the classroom is prevalent. The drive for this change is much closer than we think. As a parent, teacher or administrator, the benefits are clear. Reasons Why We Need Tablets in the Classroom Schools spend $7 billion on textbooks around the country, and most of the books

By Lauren Gilchrist It’s time to turn the page on the library as we know it. Here are some tips for turning your school library into the heart and soul of your technology initiatives. Envision It What kind of character do you want your library to have? The patterns of behavior and interactions within the

A recent article outlined the importance of making sure that classroom technology continues to get used rather than sit in the corner. Unused education technology, the author stresses, can be chalked up to poor implementation. There is no question that a poorly executed implementation of a new product can lead to technology going unused. But

Educating our youth to embody a lifelong Christian worldview and core Christian values (such as glorifying God, pursuing excellence in everything, and being a servant to others) is a fundamental principle of Christian schools. They can not only mold the environment to model Christ-like behavior but provide parents with the necessary tools to actively engage

By Anne Marie Dunphy Although it seems futuristic, biometrics is not a new technology. The ancient Babylonians used fingerprints on clay tablets for business transactions, and the ancient Egyptians used physical characteristics to identify workers to make sure they didn’t claim more provisions than they were entitled – just like governments today are using biometrics

Teachers are thought to be at higher risk for occupation-related voice disorders than the general population. Teaching is one of the most vocally demanding professions. It demands long periods of speaking. This is a major issue to take into account, especially when more than 3 million teachers in the United States use their voice as

By Dr. R. Mark Beadle Most students still learn using a method that has existed in our schools for over 100 years. In a typical classroom setting, students sit at desks in rows and the teacher “teaches” from the front of the room. The typical student has been trained since childhood for someone to give

How can an educator make an interactive whiteboard even more effective? By pairing it with other classroom technologies and tools! Interactive whiteboards offer a great deal of flexibility with the types of technologies and web-based tools you can pair them with, heightening learning and collaboration. Many educators incorporate iPads and tablets into their lessons, and

When it comes to building an effective learning environment, parents and teachers need to work hand-in-hand to provide the best educational experience for learners. As much as parents work hard to ensure their children get the best education, teachers must also strive to build a sense of community between students’ home and school. This is

A school district that regularly graduates 100% of its students, with 98% continuing onto college, would seemingly have it all together. And while Valley Christian Schools boasted those staggering academic successes, it also struggled with an inefficient grading system, manual, time-consuming processes, inconsistent information for students, and parent frustration due to delayed and inconsistent reporting.

By Ashley Cruz For a generation raised on iPads and smartphones, keeping technology out of K-12 classrooms is simply not an option anymore. Although there is still some debate over the benefits of using electronics in education, more schools are opting to teach the next generation by speaking their language: instruction through technology. Many schools

Across the country, in April, communities celebrated School Library Month, which was themed “Because School Libraries Empower Students.” The 2017 theme couldn’t be more apt. Today, school librarians not only partner with educators to design curricula and teach students to protect their privacy, they also actively engage students in critical thinking and use new technology

By Nickey Pietila From custom-designed solutions to common devices, technology empowers students in special education to reach new heights. Some of the most impactful applications of technology in special education are tailored to specific needs, but ordinary, everyday tech tools also hold great potential. Let’s see how technology, both custom built and commonplace, can be

By Mia Major Are your email open rates down? Do your parents complain they’re getting emails with information that has nothing to do with them? Have you made some grammar mistakes your co-worker won’t let you forget? Don’t worry; we’ve all been there. Email newsletters are one of the most popular types of communication for