Digital Transformation

Hernando County School District is using Nintex software to speed up the permitting process for capital projects. Officials say the platform cut the time it took to get projects approved by more than half.

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School are working on an app for teens that would engage them with texts from peers who quit using e-cigarettes and reward them with points, similar to a game.

Qwasar and Cañada College at Menlo Park are offering a nine-month training program for software developers, with help from grant funding to achieve a low enough price point to draw applicants from low-income communities.

Dalton Public Schools will put Kloud-12 OneDevice cameras in about a dozen secondary classrooms, with teacher permission, for purposes of remote teaching, professional development, observation and security.

The international hackathon in Bellevue, Wash. featured 130 high school-age students and 45 inventions designed to improve education, including a posture-correcting app and augmented reality for remote learning.

The education software company’s new Center for Advancing Learning will focus on tech accessibility, community colleges, historically Black colleges and universities, and online program management.

Given a massive influx of state and federal money, school districts are trying to decide which technology initiatives should take priority, and which investments are worthwhile and sustainable in the long run.

Three years after an Ohio district devoted $3.3 million to upgrading digital video cameras in all 27 of its schools, with live feeds and remote access, the district caught intruders in the process of stealing equipment.

A team of 40 female students led by sophomore Zoe Reich spent four months creating Mother’s Touch, an interactive app that aims to reduce maternal and infant mortality by providing users with information and resources.

SRI Education, Columbia University and the nonprofit Achieving the Dream are partnering on a research center to help students learn study skills necessary for success in online learning environments.

Arizona school districts made use of an API system offered by education research nonprofit Ed-Fi Alliance to identify and assist more than 550,000 students in need of free meals during school closures.

Though many students struggled with remote learning, success stories proved it can be a viable model for some. Now K-12 schools have an opportunity to axe the one-size-fits-all approach and build more flexible options.

The IT staff at Colorado’s Boulder Valley School District conducts annual summer inspections of computers, projectors, phones, audio and other classroom technology to make sure it’s ready when kids return in the fall.

The Georgia district approved $53,717 in 21st Century Community Learning Center grant funds to support after-school programs at three of its elementary schools, as well as summer programming.

As the adaptive necessity of telework became a norm for major IT organizations, some found it actually helped productivity. Colleges and universities might take cues from the private sector in how to make the most of it.

In an effort to close the digital divide, the scope of which was revealed when classes moved online during COVID-19, the university is making all new freshman and transfer students eligible for free tablets.

The state is trying to recoup more than $150 million from Indiana Virtual School, Indiana Virtual Pathways Academy and related institutions for allegedly inflating their enrollment numbers and other fraud.

The nonprofit EveryoneOn has helped more than 800,000 Americans find low-cost Internet service and digital resources, and its outreach has only become more important for K-12 students with the advent of remote education.