Digital Directions - Summer 2013 - (Page 8)
BITSTRENDSBYTES
&
NEWS AND
DIGITAL-DEVICE SECURITY
ASSESSMENT
School-Issued iPads Are Targets for Thieves
Thieves are targeting children carrying
school-issued iPads to and from school in
the Clark County school district in Nevada,
according to local police.
Although educators praise iPads for
raising student engagement and possibly
academic achievement, local lawenforcement officials are concerned these
$400 pieces of equipment could pose a new
safety hazard for students.
In September, the 311,000-student Clark
County district launched a $2.5 million iPad
program, putting more than 7,000 tablet
computers into the hands of students and
staff members at five low-income middle
schools.
The idea behind the Engage, Empower,
Explore (E3) program is to level the
technological playing field for children from
disadvantaged backgrounds. Students who
otherwise may not have a computer at home
could use the iPad to complete homework
assignments and access technology outside
of school.
“These educational tools keep students
more engaged and working collaboratively,”
says Jhone Ebert, the district’s chief
technology officer. “It’s phenomenal.”
But local police officials say they are now
seeing a troubling trend with this new
technology.
“We have seen a definite rise in incidents
of students—visibly carrying these iPads or
perceived to be carrying iPads—being
targeted by criminals for theft,” says Bill
Cassell, a spokesman for the Las Vegas
Metropolitan Police Department. “So far, we
don’t believe any children have been injured,
but we are very concerned that this situation
could escalate.”
Cassell says he could not comment on the
prevalence of iPad thefts because the police
department doesn’t have a database
tracking the number of Clark County districtissued iPads that have been stolen since the
program started.
However, 83 iPads have been stolen from
students this year, according to school
district officials. This represents a little more
than 1 percent of the 7,235 iPads issued as
part of the E3 program.
Officials in Indiana were forced to
suspend statewide online tests for two
days after technical problems derailed the
system, in the latest mishap to plague
statewide assessments around the country.
The Indiana testing breakdowns
occurred not long after serious
assessment problems emerged in
Minnesota and Oklahoma, raising
concerns about the technological
capacity of schools to administer online
testing.
And the testing woes have emerged
at an inopportune time for backers of
online testing. States and school
districts are already nervous about the
costs and technological challenges of
putting in place online assessments to
match the Common Core State
Standards, and the current round of
testing woes seems likely to only
heighten that anxiety.
—SEAN CAVANAGH
What are your top 3 challenges to planning and implementing
technology-enabled learning environments?
District IT Leaders Cite
Budget Challenges
8 >> www.digitaldirections.org
Problems Emerge
With Online Testing
In Three States
—McCLATCHY-TRIBUNE INFORMATION SERVICE
ED-TECH LEADERSHIP
A recent survey of district technology
leaders by the Washington-based
Consortium for School Networking found
that budget constraints and lack of
resources are the top challenges they are
facing as they try to integrate technology
into schools to improve teaching and
learning. The survey went to 2,500 district
information technology officials, 250 of
whom responded.
>>
67.5
27.7
Lack of
support from
the school
board
Lack of vision
from senior
district
leadership
39.8
28.9
10.8
5.4%
Relevant
training and
professional
development
available
75.9
6
Personalized
Lack of
Changing the
Budget
Breaking down
learning is not support by the
culture of
constraints and sites in the
supported by
community
teaching and
lack of
district
technology or
learning to a
resources
practice
studentcentered
environment
with ubiquitous
computing
SOURCE: COSN’s K-12 IT Leadership Survey 2013
(one-to-one
student to
device or
better)
http://www.digitaldirections.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Directions - Summer 2013
Digital Directions - Summer 2013
Contents
Editor’s Note
DD Site Visit
Bits & Bytes
Test-Driving the Common Core
Flipped PD: Building Blocks to Success
Virtual Learning in the Early Years
Kindergarten the Virtual Way
7 Steps to Picking Your LMS
Cracking the Code
Powering the Crowd
Digital Directions - Summer 2013
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http://dd.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/dd_2012fall
http://dd.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/dd_2012springsummer
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