6 Insights from Ed Tech Leaders Across the U.S.

Leaders in education and technology came from around the country to the Tech & Learning Leadership Summit. There they spoke openly and passionately about current trends, critical problems, and possible solutions. 

Insights

Home use:

It’s a myth that kids aren’t responsible enough to take devices home. There was a consensus among attendees that If schools and districts put the right systems and structures in place, students can not only use devices at home during the school year, but they can also use them during breaks and in the summertime. Doing so benefits students and the feeling of device ownership reduces damage.

Ransomware and phishing: 

These are now emerging as enormous areas of concerns for educational institutions. 

Device diversity: 

Attendees were split on the idea of student choice when it comes to devices. Some districts felt it was important for students to pick the right technology for the task. In other districts it was an equity issue. It would not be okay for some students to have zippy brand new devices while others had older devices that couldn’t perform the same tasks. These districts provide all students with the same device. 

Evolving conversations: 

Joe Kuzo, Director of Technology at Quakertown Community School District in Pennsylvania, shared that it was nice to hear about the emotional, life-changing impact technology had on students' lives. 

Shifting digital citizenship conversations: 

Paul Sanfrancesco, Director of Technology for Owen J. Roberts School District in Pottstown, PA pointed out that the focus used to be on ensuring students are using technology responsibly. These days, the focus is shifting to ensuring the adults, teachers and parents, are responsible users. It is likely that our students will fix some of the mess we are experiencing now with responsible use. 

Student data privacy: 

We keep coming back to the conversation of student data privacy. We need to figure this out and get beyond this so we can get to focusing on the teaching and learning that students need.

Your turn

What do you think? Are these topics ones that come up where you work? What are some of the trends and insights in your school or district?

Digital Equity: Urban, Suburban, Rural Districts Weigh In at #TLTechLive Leadership Summit

Educational Leaders from various US districts gathered at the Tech & Learning Leadership Summit in New Orleans, LA on December 2019 to discuss current trends in education and technology and share how each of us have been working to solve some critical problems. At the top of the list was digital equity.

Leaders from urban, suburban, and rural districts were challenged to consider what digital equity looked like and discuss pain points and solutions. 

Highlights included:

Home access

Access at home was a pain point for several districts, however, this included both ends of the spectrum:  

• Pain point: Home WiFi
• Teachers perceive students DON’T have internet access at home, but they do. 
• Result: They are not integrating work that includes the internet.
• Teachers perceive students DO have internet access at home, but they don’t.
• Result: They are integrating the internet even though many students don’t have access.
• Possible solutions: 
• Survey students so expectations are based on reality rather than presumptions.
• Determine ways to provide home internet for students who need it. 

 

Technology Integration

Across districts, even when there is digital equity, adults often get in the way of student learning because they are not integrating the technology students know and want to use. Ensuring teachers are comfortable using digital content was a challenge for several reasons:

• Challenges
• Time is not allocated to provide professional learning opportunities
• Teachers are not evaluated on tech integration
• Veteran teachers are resistant to change 
• Possible solutions
• School and district leadership must be intentional about providing time for teacher learning
• Work to include tech integration in teacher and leader evaluation
• School and district leadership can model effective tech integration
• Ensure veteran teachers understand real benefits and provide them with in classroom coaching and support
• Include technology leadership in the central and cabinet level

 

Device damage

Another issue for districts is intentional damage to devices. This was most likely to happen in cases where devices are not being used in meaningful ways. When teachers don’t integrate technology or understand it’s value the students respond accordingly and are not respectful or responsible with their devices. 

Access points

In rural communities, access points are a pain point. Ways this is being addressed ranged from hotspots on activity buses to mifi and other hotspots to take home, some points;

• On buses, many start with activity buses and then expand
• Buses can be parked in neighborhoods
• Provide Verizon hotspots
• Should added costs be pushed to families?
• It needs to be metered so you know how it is being used 
• Companies provide grants for this 
• Access must be filtered, otherwise it becomes mom and dad’s device for the household

 

Digital Accessibility for Families

Urban districts discussed the problem of families not understanding anything that is happening in schools because they are unable to access content due to language barriers or disability. This led to a discussion of the importance of ensuring staff understand how to create accessible content written in plain language so it is easily translatable by a machine and can be perceived by those with disabilities. 

Most districts have yet to take on this challenge. However, the Office of Civil Rights is approaching more and more districts requiring them to ensure content adheres to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.  Many website platforms are not up to the challenge. However, companies like eChalk and Edlio do support content accessibility. There is a desire for eRate funding to help cover the cost of using such solutions. 

Resources

• Kajeet provides innovative WiFi solutions.
• Waterford Upstart provides four-year-old children access to the highest form of academic support in their early education at no cost to participants: personalized family education and coaching, a new computer and Internet if needed, and adaptive educational software.

Can PDFs Be Made Accessible?

PDFs are one of the biggest issues for website accessibility. In fact, research from WebAim showed that 75.1% of respondents indicated that PDF documents are very or somewhat likely to pose significant accessibility issues. That's because making PDFs accessible takes work, training, and includes a software purchase.

Common PDF Accessibility Errors

To make PDFs accessible you should have a paid for version of Adobe Acrobat. Using that software you can These are the most common accessibility errors to check for:

• Missing document title
• Missing or illogical reading order
• Images missing ALT text
• Wrong/confusing heading semantics
• Language settings
• Tables with no defined header

What Does it Look Like to Check PDFs for Accessibility

You can visit see how one goes about checking and remediating a PDF with the Adobe Acrobat software in this video from campus suite.

Making PDFs on Websites Accessible Video. Start at 14:00.

PDF Myths

The question to ask, is do you really need a PDF on your website? Sometimes people want a PDF because of Often people have false views on why PDFs are needed such as:

• Myth: The content is secure.
• Reality: All digital content can be manipulated.

• Myth: It can be read more easily across platforms.
• Reality: Content placed directly on your site following WCAG guidelines can be read more easily across platforms.

• Myth: People will want to print my content from my website.
• Reality: Today most people prefer to read via mobile.

• Myth: PDFs should be used for forms.
• Reality: Rather than having visitors print forms out, you can provide them with an accessible digital form they can submit.

The Verdict

The best way to ensure your website is accessible is to place content directly into your website following web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG). If, for some reason, a document absolutely must be provided via PDF, provide the same information on your website in HTML as well.

Accessibility Tip: Provide Materials Before, Not After

The arrows point to the url & QR code provided to participants
before, during, and after the Website Accessibility Summit.

Easy peasy accessibility tip:

Provide participants with handouts before, not after, workshops, learning opportunities, or any type of event.

What do you mean?

Have you ever been to an event where they tell you that you'll get slides and handouts after the event or in a follow up email? This is an example of getting materials after an event. This reduces accessibility. This is because for some people, having a digital copy of the materials makes learning about and understanding the topic easier. This can apply to a variety of learning styles, disabilities, or for those not fluent in the language. 

Why not just provide the material afterwards?

Some people may want to follow along during, not after, an event. They may want to access the material live. 

How does providing digital content before an event help?

Providing access to materials in advance can be helpful in obvious ways as well as ways that may never have occurred to us. Here are some of the more obvious ways having materials in advance can help.

Blind/Low vision

Those needing visual accommodations can access the materials by adjusting size, color contrast, or using a braille or screen reader.

Deaf/Hard of Hearing

Providing materials in advance of an event helps those needing hearing accommodations in a variety of ways. For example, if you have a slide show, ensure the transcript is in the presenter notes, so those who do not hear well can read what you are saying. During the presentation, turn closed captioning on your slides, to provide additional support.

Cognitive Preferences

When participants have the materials, they don’t have to worry as much about missing something. They can go back and reference it. Additionally, for some people it is helpful to have the material that is being presented, in advance so they can interact with it in a variety of ways and focus on the learning. They may want to highlight pieces, take notes on what they are learning, file or store the information in ways that make sense to them, for later access, etc. 

Practical Considerations

An easy way to provide access to all materials is to provide a hyperdoc agenda. This means an agenda with links to all relevant materials, handouts, and presentations. Place a link to this agenda in promotional materials, emails, calendar invites, flyers, etc.

Why isn’t everybody doing this?

Some people may feel that if someone wants an accommodation such as receiving materials in advance, they should just as for it. While this does provide access, it is not inclusive and it singles people out. 

Presenters may be hesitant to provide materials in advance because people may:

• Not to attend if they have the materials in advance
• Not to pay attention to the presenter  
• Steal their proprietary content 

Each of these hesitations can be addressed in the following ways.

• Attendance
• Ensure you make clear the benefits of attending face-to-face i.e. interactive activities, networking opportunities
• Paying attention to the presenter
• Direct participants on where their attention should be focused
• Stealing content
• On slides and handouts indicate the author and sharing permissions

Your turn

Now that you know providing materials in advance, doesn’t take any more effort and it provides a better experience for your participants, how might you change your practice? Do you still hold some fears about sharing content with participants or are you ready to give it a shot?

Wordpress, and Blackboard, and Wix. Oh My! Which School Website Platform Should You Choose?

All public schools must have accessible websites. With so many options, which platform should you choose? To help you figure that out in the alphabetical listing below you can:

• Visit the site
• Check out the accessibility guidance
• Watch a video clip from each platform as they share information about what they provided in a showcase to New York City school webmasters.

The platforms listed below are ones who demonstrated their commitment to school website accessibility by participating in the Website Accessibility Summit on November 5th in New York City.

This is the whole video and after that you can click on the link to go straight to a particular platform vendor.

Blackboard / Schoolwires

Blackboard / Schoolwires Accessibility guidance

Website Accessibility Summit Showcase video for Blackboard Schoolwires
Presentation: Blackboard / Schoolwires Accessibility Showcase

eChalk

eChalk accessibility guidance
Website Accessibility Summit Showcase video for eChalk
Presentation: eChalk Showcase

Edlio

Edlio accessibility guidance
Website Accessibility Summit Showcase Video for Edlio
Presentation: Edlio Showcase

Google Sites

Google Sites accessibility guidance

Website Accessibility Showcase Video for Google Sites
Presentation: Google Showcase

SchoolMessenger

SchoolMessenger accessibility guidance
Website Accessibility Summit Showcase Video for School Messenger

Wix

Wix accessibility guidance
Wix Accessibility Checklist

Website Accessibility Summit Showcase Video for Wix
Presentation: Wix Showcase

WordPress

Make WordPress Accessible

Website Accessibility Summit Showcase Video for WordPress
Presentation: WordPress Showcase

Your turn

What do you think? Are you using a platform that supports digital accessibility?

If so, which one? What have been your successes and challenges?

Website Platforms Share Accessibility Support with Schools at #NYCSchoolsDigIn Summit

All government agencies must have accessible websites. This means all public schools or schools who receive federal funding must have accessible websites. The United States Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights has agreements with various school districts to help ensure institutions provide content that is accessible to everyone including people with disabilities and those who speak languages other than English.  And it’s the right thing to do! 

Pick me! Pick me!

On Tuesday, November 5th, more than 200 school webmasters and content contributors came together from across New York City schools to hear from representatives from a variety of platforms. 

They came from around the globe to be a part of the largest school district accessibility projects in the world. In attendance were the following website platforms:

• Blackboard / Schoolwires
• eChalk
• Edlio
• Google
• Intrado / School Messenger
• Wix
• WordPress. com

Representatives from each company shared:

• What each website provider offers, in terms of: 
• their platform
• how they would ensure all website content—pictures, documents, and text on a page—would be made accessible
• support provided to schools 
• costs 
• What webmasters need to do to make content accessible

Bringing all the website platforms together in one space to speak with staff provided an effective way for schools to make an informed decision. It also enabled these platforms to learn what the other is doing and get ideas how to provide better products for schools.

What people were saying

Participants were abuzz with their learning on social media. In fact the project hashtag trended on Twitter that day. You can see some of what they were saying on social media as follows:

• #NYCSchoolsDigIn on Twitter
• Periscope
• Tech & Learning Magazine Page
• Across Facebook

Your Turn

How is your school or district helping schools create accessible content on their website?