With over 120,000 schools in the United States, it is easy to think that your district can hide safely in the noise or that among the pack, your schools are safe. While this mindset that cyber criminals have “bigger fish to fry” may give you some peace of mind, the facts instead point to a rise in cyber attacks targeting organizations exactly like yours.

As learning environments steadily move toward digital curriculum, protecting student data privacy becomes more and more critical.

Recently, we headed to the quaint town of Georgetown, Texas for the annual TX CTO Summer Clinic 2019, a two-day conference hosted by the Texas K12 CTO Council chapter. Created in 2003 by Texas school district Chief Technology Officers (CTOs), the Texas K12 CTO Council was the first chapter of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), a leading professional association for technology leaders in school districts. 

*Disclaimer: This article originally appeared in EmergingEdTech, Administrative Solutions posts. 

School districts throughout the country rely on technology today more than ever before. At many districts, laptops and tablets are standard-issue equipment for students as young as second grade-level, and they must be compatible with campus networks as well as in the home.

Last month, Identity Automation’s top K12 education experts traveled to Portland, Oregon for the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) 2019 Annual Conference. CoSN, a member-based association and advocacy group, spotlights emerging technologies to K12 EdTech leaders.

Last week, we released our top IAM blog posts of 2018. This week, we’re narrowing our focus to the education space. K12 and higher education face unique identity and access management (IAM) challenges that we’ve covered in a number of posts this year. We’ve sifted through these posts and pull a sampling of this year’s best education-focused IAM content.

Another successful IAM technology conference on the books! Identity Automation’s top K12 education experts attended the CETPA 2018 Annual Conference last month in Sacramento, California.

Remember the three Rs (reading, writing, and arithmetic)? They’ve been joined by the four Cs: collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and communication, thanks to growing usage of technology in the classroom.

In part one of our series on EdTech trends, we looked at the top three trends in 2018 and what they mean for schools. These trends—data-driven instruction, using technology to equip students with 21st century skills, and Google’s dominance in the classroom—all have the power to transform the way today’s students learn and perform.

Step into a classroom today, and you’ll see the familiar bulletin boards, desks, and chairs that you remember from your childhood. You’ll also see some newer additions—tablets, Chromebooks, and big touch screens. The use of technology in the classroom is rising, and there are distinct trends emerging as a result.