Future Ready Learning

eceive E-rate funds, they are required to educate their students about appropriate
online behavior, including on social networking websites and in chat rooms, and to
build cyberbullying awareness. Particularly if a digital learning resource requires
networking among students, schools must comply with CIPA.
IDEA also provides confidentiality protections and often additionally will protect information
for students with disabilities.
Device and Network Management
Many schools underestimate the importance of a plan for staffing and resources for ongoing monitoring,
management, and maintenance of network infrastructure. We must ensure that student
data are maintained in secure systems that meet all applicable federal and state requirements
concerning the protection of personally identifiable information. Key elements of an infrastructure
plan should include the following:
• Network management and monitoring
• User help desk and technical support
• Maintenance and upgrade of devices and equipment
• Insurance for devices
• Estimates of future demand and network capacity planning
• Licensing fees for digital learning content
• Security filtering
• Network redundancy
• Use of open standards to ensure interoperability with other learning networks
Interoperability. As teachers and students go online for more of their teaching and learning
needs, the number of systems they rely on increases. This makes it very difficult for
teachers and students to see a comprehensive picture of their learning progress or to know
where students are struggling so that teachers can give them effective support. There are
some approaches in place to address these challenges. For example, the Guide to EdTech
Procurement from Digital Learning Now! recommends leveraging industry standards for single
sign-on and data interoperability.
Single sign-on. Apps and tools can be built to enable single sign-on—allowing teachers and students
to log in to all their applications with a single password. A teacher teaching six classes of
students a day with multiple apps and tools needs a way to manage learning content, attendance,
student progress, and grades. Students and teachers having to keep track of a different user name
and password to log in to each system wastes time and creates frustration. In addition, if all the
different learning systems do not recognize who a student is, they cannot help schools create
a complete picture of that student’s learning. For all these reasons, solutions involving single
sign-on are needed for teachers and students to access all their applications through a single
log-in credential. Many districts are even moving from preferring single sign-on to requiring it.
Interoperable systems. No one app or tool can provide all the functionality that every teacher,
student, or parent may need. Enabling teachers and students to use more than one app seamlessly
goes beyond just having a common log-in. Basic information, such as student schedules
or courses completed, may need to be shared from one system to another to provide the best
learning experience. For example, if a student demonstrates the mastery of a new concept in an
online learning platform, that might be reflected in an app that the teacher or families use to
track student progress.
OFFICE OF Educational Technology
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