On April 4 & 5, 2017, the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) hosted the Spring Network Designs and TSS Workshop at the High Technology Foundation in Fairmont, WV. The agenda for the event covered some great topics from Blended Learning, Office 365, wireless network innovations, URCast, Azure & Windows Security, Meraki, Apple, and ethics & data privacy.
Edgenuity/Compass Learning
Microsoft
Cisco/Meraki
WVNET/URCast
- Homework Gap
- 50% of all students said they have been unable to complete their homework because they didn’t have access to the Internet or a computer
- 42% of all students said they received a lower grade on an assignment because they didn’t have Internet access
- 50% of teachers in low-income areas said their students’ lack of online access at home presents major challenges to working technology into their teaching
- 92% of these teachers say the Internet has a “major impact” on their ability to access content, resources, and materials for their teaching
- 68% say the Internet has a “major impact” on their ability to share ideas with other teachers
- 67% say the Internet has a “major impact” on their ability to interact with parents
- 57% say is has had such an impact on enabling their interaction with students
- West Virginia Broadband
- 57% of West Virginia’s population have access to wired broadband
- 28% of West Virginia’s population have access to less than two wired providers
URCast enables content to be delivered through caching servers at local sites. This negates the need for the students to need an internet connection at home to access the content, materials, and assignments. When the student returns back to the school, their work syncs automatically back to the caching server for the teacher to access. The big goal is to diminish the digital divide that exists for many students due to their lack of access to the internet or the ability to afford that access.
Apple
Ethics/Mandatory Reporting
Ethics/Data Privacy