CSDNR Instructional Tech Weekly

What happened in 2020?

Last year saw a significant increase in ransomware attacks against public schools. Baltimore County Public Schools suffered a cyber attack and it disrupted online learning for over 100,000 students. Public school districts can be easy targets for cyber criminals. In the first half of 2020, 28% of all reported ransomware attacks affected K-12 school districts. However, due to remote learning and an increased online presence, the number grew to to 57% in the months of August and September. Cyber criminals can interfere with online learning. Also these attacks can compromise data. In about a third of reported cases data was stolen from schools and published online. This included personal information belonging to students, staff and faculty.

What Can Schools Do to Reduce Risk?

Schools need to ensure that their networks are secure and that they have plans and procedures in place for backups and restoration of data. Schools also need to vet all third-party software used. All software needs to be inventoried so that schools know where their data is and if vendors are compliant with components of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. Software needs to be updated and training needs to be provided to all employees and students.

To learn more about cyber attacks and online security, take a look at the Spring 2021 issue of the DPSS Digital Digest. The New York State Regional Information Centers publish helpful guides and resources for school districts. Organizations such as Cyber.org, provide a Cyber Safety Series that include videos about common threats when online.

Adobe Spark is a simple platform to use to create videos and tell digital stories. Teachers can create an account using Google Single Sign On. Once you have an account there are a number of things you can do. Making videos is just one. Teachers can create flyers, portfolios or collages to name a few. If you want to know more about creating videos, take a look at this how-to video from Jeannine Shields. Use M6?v@yRi to view.

On May 26th, Discovery Education is hosting a virtual trip to Washington, D.C. Discovery Education and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden welcome students to an engaging Virtual Field Trip to experience six landmarks in our nation’s capital. Designed for students in grades 4-8, the tour features special guests and an inside look at the following places:

• The White House
• The U.S. Capitol Building
• The Supreme Court
• The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
• Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
• The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

To register for the event, click on this link to reserve your space.

Discovery Education has added new features to its platform. Recently they made some significant updates. Check out this newsletter that highlights some of the new features ready to go for the 21-22 school year. They include items like interactive video, quizzes, QR Codes and activity templates.

Nearpod provides teachers with engaging formative assessments. Utilizing formative assessments throughout a summer program provides teachers with information about student understanding. Teachers can then target student needs by using data collected from Nearpod lessons. Students also find Nearpod lessons engaging and enjoyable. The platform provides immediate feedback to students and teachers. With information on students are understanding and interpreting information, teachers can support their students with focused support and instruction.

We now have access to Screencastify Submit. Submit is the student component of Screencastify. Using Submit, students can submit their own screen recordings or webcam recordings. Teachers create assignments in Google Classroom using Screencastify Submit. Students will be able to turn in assignments using their own Screencastify applications. Below are some how-to videos on using Screencastify with students.

• Access the Submit Dashboard
• Create a Submit Assignment
• Submit + Google Classroom
• Viewing Submitted Videos

The District will be moving from Novell to Active Directory this summer. Active Directory provides the methods for storing directory data and making this data available to network users and administrators. The Tech Team is recommending that you back up your network drive. There are many ways to back up your data. You can use a flash drive or an external hard drive to back up and store your files. Another way to back up your stored data is to upload it to your Google Drive. It is very simple and you have unlimited storage in the Google Cloud. Here is a short video on how to move folders into your Google Drive.

The Instructional Technology Team provides ongoing professional learning. Using this new form Request for Professional Learning Form, teachers can ask for training on a variety of applications. Just fill out the form and be sure to include details about specific goals you would like addressed in the training. We will do our best to accommodate your professional learning goals.

Specific applications are listed, but there is also an "Other" category as well. If we cannot provide training, we may be able to contact the vendor to provide professional learning for teachers.

The listing of District applications can be found at this link and includes signed Parent Bill of Rights by vendors as well as other information about the application.

We have also created a guide for current applications that address their uses and similarities to other software titles. Here is Google Slide Deck that provides details on the various CSDNR Applications. In this document, you will get information on how to login, the kind of subscription we have, similar software and resources on how to use the application.

Education Law 2-D provides extra protections for student data and personally identifiable information (PII). Ed Law 2-D calls on educational institutions to limit the amount of PII being utilized and transmitted, especially in unprotected ways. Take a look at this short video on protecting student data.

It is also important to limit the amount of student PII being shared in emails and sending sensitive information via an email is not always secure. Gmail has two security features built into it. Here is a brief video on how to use these Gmail security features.

Teachers can also send a password protected MS Excel file or a password protected MS Word file. This is very simple to do. Take a look at this short video on how to password protect your MS Excel files. Here is a video on how to password protect your MS Word files.

The Instructional Technology Website is always being updated. Recently, the site was overhauled to feature the professional learning resources that are available to all CSDNR faculty and staff. Last spring, the Team began vetting and creating resources to help educators learn how to use software applications. The resources include step-by-step videos as well as Google Slide Decks. There are also Google Docs and PDFs. Over the last year, we have added many resources to this collection.