Thought Leadership

As with all things related to technology, change and evolution are inevitable.  End of Life (EOL) is part of a typical technology lifecycle and means an application, platform, or hardware will no longer be supported by its manufacturer. No more patching or security, no more updated versions. Choosing to continue to use an application, platform, or hardware once it has reached its end of life can result in compliance issues, increased operational costs, and, as mentioned above, security [...]

June has been quite a month for Azure Virtual Desktop. Microsoft remains committed to actively reading user’s suggestions and implementing real and substantial change. Some of those changes will be rolling out soon, so we have taken the liberty of preparing a list summarizing the biggest changes announced this month for AVD.   The Name Change  Probably the most noticeable change to AVD is the fact it is now [...]

Artificial Intelligence has the promise to be the next step change in technology’s impact on human life. What should school leaders know and do? This post walks through the basics of what AI is, why it’s important for student life and learning, and five practical steps leaders can take to prepare their communities to succeed. So, what AI is and why is it important to our kids? Here’s a 5-minute primer: What is AI? Pierce and Hathaway from T.H.E. Journal offer this conci [...]

Is your school innovative in your uses of technology? Do you rejoice at pockets of teachers employing the latest web apps effectively, igniting student learning and making a difference in their classrooms? Have you asked how many of those applications are actively sharing your students’ information?  At the Midwest Education Technology Community (METC) Conference this past week, ISTE Board President Bill Bass shared this cautionary tweet: In our approach to techn [...]

Today I had the privilege to discuss this compelling question with school leaders from academic and technology departments across our network of schools. The topic was of the group's making, and the range of perspectives and mix of environments made for a lively talk and great shared materials. The challenges and benefits of BYOD Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is one solution to the issue of access to computing resources, and certainly a fiscally and operationally desirable solution for [...]

This past January, GadellNet was pleased to host a number of technology, operations, and academic leaders from schools that we know and work with for a round-table discussion about security principles that are of the most importance to schools.   Given the increasing rate of school-focused cyberattacks, schools must take steps to ... Educate their workforce and the children in their care Make policy decisions that begin to funnel the adoption of technologies through a vetting process [...]

Student data is increasingly valuable to criminals, some of whom have recently extorted thousands of dollars in ransom from US schools unwilling to see student and parent data released. Over the next couple weeks, I’ll be outlining six artifacts I hope to see in place for our schools, and their alignment to indicators of the Trusted Learning Environment Seal. For each artifact, I'll include a description of the challenges I see ahead of us and a few of the steps we’ll be taki [...]

10 years ago, there was a perception among school leaders that the technology department was largely a branch of school operations that had little intersection with the actual “business” of education. The work of teaching and learning could largely progress without academic leaders cultivating a close relationship with technology personnel. Technology was largely seen as a utility in the school environment: we think about email like we think about water. Everyone is happy and unmotivated t [...]

A few weeks ago, I was asked to outline my thoughts on evaluating and measuring the effectiveness of an instructional technology program. Measuring the impact of professional development, as a whole, is a knotty problem, but with more and more districts investing in dedicated FTE positions for job-embedded, just-in-time coaching, the question is relevant. Sooner or later, the school board will be asking questions like, "Have we met our goals? Is the program still relevant? Is there still an enve [...]

What does technology integration look like for the 21st Century learner? How can you begin to use technology to bring your classroom to life?  Are students participating as an observer, designer, presenter, or creator? Today in education, students are becoming more at the center of learning. May educators are moving away from a day that contains all lecture-based instruction and teacher-led activities. Students are being asked to actively participate in a different way than 20-30 years ago. St [...]