Digital Transformation

Milwaukee Public Schools has partnered with The Art of Education University to provide digital curriculum and professional development tools for visual arts teachers throughout the district.

Instead of setting uniform class schedules under the assumption that all students will learn at the same pace and in the same way, schools might serve kids better by making time the variable and learning the constant.

As schools and government agencies navigate their way out of lockdown orders and into a new normal of remote or hybrid work, there are eight core strategies they might keep in mind to sustain a productive IT environment.

Between January and March at Eau Claire Area School District in Wisconsin, less than 20 percent of middle school students took all-virtual classes instead of hybrid, but they accounted for 39 percent of F letter grades.

After a lawsuit alleged the state of New Mexico failed to provide necessary devices and connectivity for students to participate in remote learning, a judge has ordered the state to assess the cost and get it done.

Though it already had enough devices for each student prior to the pandemic, the East Baton Rouge Parish school district now has 60,000 computers for 40,000 students as newer technologies are integrated into lessons.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed an appropriations bill that will provide $206 million for K-12 and $76 million for colleges and universities for the coming year, including for classroom technology and deferred maintenance.

Officials in Lubbock Independent School District already had a system in place to provide devices to all of its students last year when COVID-19 school closures kicked the program into overdrive.

Few unbiased evaluations have been available for schools purchasing tech-based tools and curricula. That may change, but the challenge remains in getting these resources used effectively in classrooms.

For years, the Dougherty County School System has been staffing classrooms virtually with teachers from other locations through Elevate K-12. Nationwide teacher shortages bode well for the longevity of the program.

The Federal Communications Commission has announced rules for its new Emergency Connectivity Fund, which will distribute $7.17 billion announced earlier this year for school broadband and devices.

Having invested more than $100 million in the online-only community college Calbright, launched in 2019, the state of California found only 12 students had graduated after the first year, with nearly 400 dropping out.

Counting on schools resuming in-person this fall, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal aims to hire teachers and counselors, fund transitional kindergarten and set up a college-savings program for low-income students.

The popularity of educational video games may warrant a committee to grade them for merit and usefulness, like the Entertainment Software Rating Board does for objectionable material like sex and violence.

To stem the loss of students looking for flexible or online learning options, the Vigo County School Corp. in Indiana wants to start a commercial, statewide program that could begin at the elementary level next year.

The rush to embrace new digital reading platforms and educational materials could have consequences for how students learn, as research shows people read faster but comprehend less with digital texts as opposed to print.

Lincoln Public Schools in Nebraska have approved the purchase of more than 600 Chromebooks for its remote learning program, which the district has no plans to continue beyond the 2021-2022 academic year.

As the state legislature begins negotiations over next year’s budget, educators and elected officials are discussing whether to keep remote learning as an option once everyone goes back to school in the fall.