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Education is Going Digital. Security Needs to Keep Up

Connected Technology –Transforming K-12 Education

A digital transformation is underway in K-12 schools across the country, as connected technology is disrupting old education models and enabling entirely new approaches. Devices are giving teachers innovative new ways to increase student engagement while improving educational outcomes. And for students, connected technology provides new ways for them to access and consume educational materials, while also preparing them for the tech-driven workplace.

While adoption may have taken longer in academia than in other sectors, connected technology has arrived in the K-12 classroom, and it’s here to stay. Some of the drivers of this adoption came from within schools, such as the 1:1 initiatives that put laptops or tablets in every student’s hands. Other momentum was spurred by outside sources, such as funding from the federal E-Rate program that makes telecommunications equipment and services affordable for schools.

Recent data points from reports on the state of this ‘EdTech’ market underscore the extent to which technology has become a key enabling resource in many parts of K-12 education. However, as is the case whenever a new or different element is introduced into a well-established model or process, there are some adjustments that schools, teachers and students need to make.

Tech in K-12: A Snapshot

Technology spending in K-12 is estimated to exceed $14 billion in 2018.

42% of K-12 teachers now use a digital device in class every day.

Over 75% of U.S. students have high- speed internet access.

75% of teachers see digital materials replacing all textbooks within 10 years.

90% of students now use digital learning materials at home.

Top Technology-Driven Issues in K-12 Education

By leveraging mobile devices and digital content, teachers are expanding their course offerings, improving the learning experience both inside and outside the classroom.But technology’s benefits don’t come without risks and challenges—many of which can be very difficult for schools to address.

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Top K-12 Tech Issues CIPA Compliance and Related Mandates

1-to-1 Initiatives

Learning Enablement

Digital Testing

Protection Against Cyberattacks

CIPA Compliance and Related Mandates

Since the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) took effect in late 2000 – followed by additional rules from the FTC implemented in early 2001 – schools have been required to protect students from harmful online content if they wanted to qualify for federal funding through the E-Rate program. That program enables schools to acquire high-speed Internet and other telecommunications services and equipment at discounted rates.

More specifically, schools must adopt and enforce an Internet safety policy, and implement a technology solution that enables them to:

Block or filter students’ access to obscene content, child pornography, and other content harmful to minors

Monitor their students’ online activities

Educate students about appropriate online behavior, responsible social network use, cyberbullying awareness, etc. (per the related Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act).

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CIPA Compliance and Related Mandates (Continued...)

CIPA compliance used to be a whole lot simpler and easier for schools. But that was before the students’ use of smartphones and mobile devices approached saturation levels.

To meet this challenge, and avoid having CIPA compliance become the full-time job for one or more staff members, schools need a streamlined process for handling this mandate.

Districts need a smart and flexible system that gives them efficient, mostly automated ways to create and enforce CIPA compliant policies for all the devices used – and for all the various groups that use them – within their extended school community. And managing the IT and networking requirements of the resulting system is often cumbersome and difficult.

Network traffic from off-campus devices that access school data often require backhaul networks to drive traffic back to the central data store. Backhauling can become expensive, especially given how much average network traffic levels are increasing.

1-to-1 Initiatives

In 1-to-1 initiatives, a major focus for many districts today, schools issue a mobile device – usually a tablet or laptop – to every enrolled student. These programs are intended to level the educational playing field, ensuring that all students have equal access to the internet, digital textbooks, and other digital learning materials.

Proponents of 1:1 initiatives point to the fact these devices increase student interactivity and creativity, and improve their standardized test scores. They also cite the fact that they can hold hundreds of digital textbooks, eliminating the need for students to carry around backpacks loaded with heavy books.

This can be a boon for K-12 budgets, too, as digital learning materials are less expensive than printed versions.

There are, however, several challenges that arise with 1:1 initiatives. First, provisioning devices to students means that schools need to extend CIPA compliance not only to the devices and internet access within their four walls, but also to wherever students use these devices. Schools must ensure that their web content filtering capabilities can ‘go remote’ and handle wireless access.

Many solutions are not optimized for this requirement, which makes customizing 1:1 implementations to handle offsite use a complicated and time-consuming process.

Then there’s the decision schools need to make about which device they will provision in the 1:1 initiatives. One device that has become a very popular choice over the past several years is the Google Chromebook.

Despite their popularity, however, Chromebooks create unique challenges for schools. Because they are browser-based, schools cannot install agent software on Chromebooks like they can on standard laptops.

That means that for the content filtering required by CIPA, and for other security measures, schools must handle Chromebooks a different way. Many schools go the proxy route, which can create several issues, including access and authentication complications.

The bottom line is that 1:1 initiatives can change the K-12 education experience for the better and improve student outcomes. But to reap these benefits—and avoid pitfalls— schools need easy and automated ways to apply the necessary content filtering for whatever mobile device they choose for their 1:1 initiatives, whether it’s a Chromebook, a Windows or OSX computer, or an iOS- or Android-based device.

As for securing these devices, and reducing the costs and vulnerabilities associated with backhauling data, many schools are opting for flexible and cost-effective cloud-based security options.

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1-to-1 Initiatives (Continued...)

Research shows that Chromebooks have 58% share of the 1:1 market.

Learning Enablement

As connected technology continues to permeate K-12, academic leaders and curriculum specialists are increasingly being called upon to figure out how to strike the right balance between differing— and even opposing—goals. One example is in learning enablement, in which educators put together the best structures, processes, and resources they can to create a quality learning environment.

The reality, however, is that learning enablement decisions often require trade-offs.

For example, providing broad information access is key to a good education. CIPA requirements and other mandates make it clear that schools must prevent students from accessing harmful online content.

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Learning Enablement (Continued...)

Digital Testing

Today’s K-12 students are ‘digital natives.’ From birth, they have been surrounded by technology, including smartphones, the internet, video games, and connectivity everywhere. It therefore makes sense, proponents argue, to let students demonstrate what they have learned in a familiar environment.

But to go the digital testing route, states, school districts, individual schools, and the school IT teams that support these efforts all must ensure that it’s done right. In other words, there can’t be any problems with network access or bandwidth availability during testing times and at testing locations.

Several states and many school districts have dropped paper-based testing in favor of a digital approach whereby student testing is conducted using computers, laptops or tablets, and schools’ network environments.

That said, good teachers want to push students to open their minds to new ideas, and they don’t want their students’ access to those ideas inhibited by heavy-handed content filtering.

The issue here is that content filtering is rarely a black-and-white matter. Policies intended to block harmful, CIPA-violating content can inadvertently wind up blocking students from accessing material that has legitimate educational value. This is frustrating for students and teachers alike.

YouTube is a good example. There are thousands of high-quality educational videos available for free on YouTube, but there’s also plenty of objectionable content.

Simply blocking YouTube would prevent student access to harmful content, but also preclude them using its valuable and engaging educational video content.

What schools need are content filtering controls that have the granularity that educators require to help them navigate content gray areas, ensuring that inappropriate content is blocked, while educationally useful content is not. With such tools, curriculum specialists could, for example, ‘unlock’ certain online material for an AP English class full of seniors, while keeping access blocked for younger students.

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Given the state of technology in K-12 schools, digital testing seems like a good idea and a reasonable approach, which is why it is gaining traction in more states and school districts every year.

But as they say, the devil’s in the details. And the K-12 segment has seen several episodes in which the details of digital testing programs were not worked out as well as they should have been. This has resulted in several high-profile failures of digital testing programs. In one high-profile example, a problem with a fiber optic network disrupted access to an assessment provider’s website, which in turn caused testing delays in 16 states, and forced officials in Alaska to cancel that state’s student assessments entirely in 2016.

But they set up high-stakes scenarios for all parties involved – especially for schools’ IT teams. So, when it comes to digital testing, schools need to be certain that they can get it right. Bandwidth shaping tools, for instance, can help schools do that by giving them the ability to direct and prioritize bandwidth availability for users.

Successful digital testing programs, however, can be very effective and therefore valuable to both students and schools.

Protecting Against Cyberattacks

Digital Testing (Continued...)

With all the challenges that K-12 academic and IT leaders face – including budget shortfalls, tight staffing, and evolving testing and compliance requirements – another category is now on their perennial problems list: cyberattacks.

In fact, many studies show that the academia is one of the more popular targets for attackers. Cyber criminals know that schools store large amounts of valuable data, including personal information such as Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and address information for students, parents, teachers and staff. They also know that most schools do not have the sophisticated and expensive security solutions that are commonly found in commercial enterprises. Combined, these two factors make schools prime targets for cyber criminals.

As a result, relentless and ever-changing attacks by cyber criminals, including malvertising, ransomware, phishing attacks, and other network breaches, are a major problem for school systems and their IT staff.

To combat these threats, K-12 IT leaders need to start with a good plan and maintain lots of diligence. But to effectively protect their schools’ community members and facilities, they also need a high-quality cybersecurity solution. Simply put, that means a solution with a full set of effective web content filtering and advanced malware capabilities in a flexible, manageable, and cost-effective package.

iboss partners with some of the nation’s largest school districts to deliver security that is adept and keeps up with the evolving threat landscape. To learn more, download our latest whitepaper, “Why K-12 Cybersecurity Involves More Than Just CIPA Compliance.”

iboss, Inc.· U.S. HQ 101 Federal Street, 23rd Floor, Boston, MA 02110© 2018 All rights reserved. iboss, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. WHITEPAPER / Education Is Going Digital / PAGE 7

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To learn more, visit www.iboss.com or contact iboss at sales@iboss.com

The iboss Distributed Gateway PlatformContent Filtering and Advanced Security Your School’s Way

iboss offers the first and only web gateway-as-a-service, delivering scalable and flexible network security built on an innovative, cloud-first platform. By cloud-first, we mean a solution that takes maximum advantage of the power and flexibility of distributed cloud resources, but that recognizes that some organizations have the need for—or simply prefer—on-prem cybersecurity resources.

The iboss Distributed Gateway Platform delivers flexible, entirely non-shared, infinitely scalable, and seamlessly managed security for schools, their networks, and all of the computing devices—mobile and otherwise—wherever they are used by students and staff.

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For K-12 IT professionals who need to ensure the security of their distributed school facilities and their critical data, the iboss Distributed Gateway Platform provides all the functionality they need, including:

CIPA-compliant content filtering

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