school technology

  By Felix Zayas As Christian school administrators plan technology for their campuses, it can be overwhelming to review all the technology trends in K-12 education. Based on our expertise and trends in education as a whole, this article provides an overview of the top four current technological trends to focus your planning on in

  By Sam Nord Sometimes a change of scenery really does make a positive difference. During the pandemic, many schools moved lunch periods, classes, and meetings outdoors to provide better ventilation and more space for teachers and students to gather. While administrators’ primary intentions in moving events outside may have been to keep people physically

  By Bari Gersten The pandemic has transformed the way we work and learn. As educators who are committed to preparing students to enter the workforce, it makes sense that the way we teach has also changed since the pandemic. The past 18 months have reinforced the need for every student to have their own

  Independent school administrators consistently report student safety as their top priority, so one could be forgiven for assuming that implementations of digital-based emergency management systems would be underway at a majority of schools across the country. However, after a nationwide survey and interviewing hundreds of private and independent schools, we found only one in

  By Daniel Guermeur Cybersecurity is hard to achieve. Computers are full of holes. Some websites open false security alert popups, tricking users to do something that will compromise their computer. Once it is infected, there are virtually no limits to stealing data with the possibility of impacting users and their organizations. Schools are primary

  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

  By Julie Wenckowski As schools are moving towards a more holistic approach to learning, creating flexible spaces that accommodate a variety of pedagogical learning styles has become a critical design element. Schools are removing sterile and cold spaces like cafeterias and large hallways and transforming them into flexible, functional spaces. Here are a few

  By Eleanor Jacobson It is important to make sure your K-12 facilities are ready for the back to school season – all from a preventative maintenance perspective. And while being proactive in our facilities is important, there’s another benefit to keeping our school buildings in top shape: the well-being of our students. Asset longevity,

  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,

By Julie Kuepers With the recent barrage of school violence around the nation, school leaders have realized that the bar for security standards needs to be raised significantly. To maintain higher security levels in the classroom and within school walls, it’s integral to understand the security options that are available. In addition, when you partner

School security is an increasing concern these days. You hear about it all too often in the news. A shady character makes his or her way onto school grounds and causes horrible tragedies. It happens so often now that most schools have a police resource officer on staff all the time, even elementary schools. However,

Trying to figure out which digital content providers are right for your school is difficult. Though the digital content market is still in its nascent stages, it is already diverse and complex enough to overwhelm many teachers or school leaders who are trying to decide which products to choose. Faced with the prospect of selecting

Have you noticed? While there is little doubt that classrooms have become more sophisticated and digital, the physical classroom setting and furniture don’t seem to have evolved at the same pace. It’s true. The tablets and devices that are transforming the learning process still sit on top of the same style desks from the 1950s.

Is your whiteboard obsolete? The whiteboard has been a staple of the academic environment for decades. Its precursor, the venerable chalkboard, has been a fixture in everywhere from K-12 classrooms to university lecture halls for at least two centuries. Just as the whiteboard’s advantages – ease of manufacture, dust-free use, and lower long-term costs –

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,

The first steps for recording your group should be planning and organizing. The reason some recordings are not good has nothing to do with equipment; it’s poor planning and poor mic placement. You can’t decide an hour before a rehearsal that you’re going to do a recording and put mics up and hit record. You

Our school recognized several years ago that significant changes needed to be made to our classrooms, and better technology needed to be acquired, in order to help our students develop the skills mandated by today’s educational standards including effective communication and collaboration. To that end, we turned our attention to redesigning our classrooms to fit

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

Modern technology is evolving every day. It is a part of most of our daily activities. School time should be no exception. Neither kids nor parents want to see old chalkboards. It is shown that students are a lot more enthusiastic about learning when the experience is interactive. Digital signage can bring that interactive experience

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

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

The Catholic Diocese of Arlington engaged VMDO to lead the planning and design process to relocate Paul VI Catholic High School from its founding location in Fairfax, Virginia, to a new site in Loudoun County. The first and most critical step of the four-year process of design and construction was a three-month programming effort of

By John Kessell More than a decade ago, the buzzwords of collaborative learning, active learning, and video conferencing were not in widespread use in education. But as access to the Internet and computer technology in the classroom became practical, educators were drawn to these methods. In higher education, the technology for presenting images and data

By Jason Meyer A classroom’s presentation display is often the centerpiece of the room and of instruction. So when it comes to choosing the best display technology, schools should think carefully about what they want to accomplish with the technology, and then choose the best product to fit their needs and their budgets. For example,

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

Comfort is important for students of all ages, as deep learning requires concentration and attention. When students are distracted by their pain, they’re far more likely to get frustrated with the task at hand and give up. This could potentially cause disruptions that further distract other students in the classroom. That makes ergonomics in the

By Stevan Vigneaux The search for the new interactive classroom technology can be incredibly daunting. How do you know what’s right for your school? How do you differentiate between the various solutions available? Will it be simple for both teachers and students to use? And how do you find the best solution to fit your

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 Vlada Terenina Over the last 50 years, technological advances have shaped the modern world. As technology gets more accessible, it’s expanding into all areas of life. The student transportation industry of tomorrow is not going to be the same as the student transportation industry of today. Let’s have a closer look at what challenges