Blog

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these [teachers] from the swift completion of their [PD]. You may be thinking of mail couriers, but this motto is also one used by an innovative technology and instructional coach in Iowa, who sees bad weather as a great opportunity to learn in a fun way.

Though teachers are often expected to make learning fun and engaging for their students, too often these same teachers are not given the same exciting opportunities for PD.

But Rachel Langenhorst, K-12 Technology Integrationist and Instructional Coach in Rock Valley, IA, is setting out to change that. Langenhorst, who was interviewed on Education Talk Radio for edWeb.net‘s monthly show by Program Host Larry Jacobs, talked about how her district recently held a PJ PD Day during an unexpected snow storm.

Talking to both Jacobs and Lisa Schmucki, edWeb founder, Langenhorst said the teacher-leadership team in Rock Valley had already planned for a full day of professional development, but had to quickly rethink their plans when the forecast called for a snowstorm. “Our days are very valuable…we didn’t want that to go to waste. We wanted to make sure we could use our time wisely,” she said.

According to Langenhorst, her district team meets frequently to discuss PD plans, and during a past meeting the idea of a pajama PD day was brought up. However, this was something that required just the right opportunity to implement.

The day before the storm, the idea was reintroduced. With approval from the superintendent and a lot of re-working the next day’s plans, the pajama PD day was quickly put together.

(Next page: How Rock Valley managed to pull off their PJ PD day)

How did Rock Valley pull this off with such little time? The idea was introduced early in the morning, leaving enough time to get approval quickly from the superintendent. The teachers were then immediately notified of the plans for the pajama PD day and told that instructions with links would come to them via email.

The district used the app and website, Nearpod, which allowed them to upload slides with audio, video, and website links. They also used Google Docs and the district’s community on edWeb.net to answer questions and collaborate with each other.

According to Langenhorst, “You don’t want delivery methods (of PD) that are constant every time; otherwise, you will get teachers that are sick of it.” This new delivery method of PD was refreshing and fun, said the teachers—and with Snapchats, social media posts, texts, and phone calls, the response to the pajama PD day was overwhelmingly positive.

As for pajama PD in the future, the teachers said are already looking forward to the next snow day.

About the Guest

Rachel Langenhorst is a K-12 technology integrationist and instructional coach in Rock Valley, IA and she also serves as an adjunct professor for Northwestern College. A 20+ year teaching veteran, Rachel presents throughout the Midwest, focusing on technology integration strategies and best practices. She serves as a contributor for Mackin Educational Resources, edWeb.net, and Education Talk Radio. Find Rachel on Twitter @rlangenhorst and on her blog at Tech from the Trenches.

For more ideas on personalized PD, watch “Implementing a Personalized PD Program in Your District.”

[Editor’s note: This piece is original content produced by edWeb.net. View more edWeb.net events here.]

The former Editorial Director for both eSchool News and eCampus News, and was formerly the Managing Editor of eCampus News. Before working at eSchool Media, Meris worked as an assistant editor for The World and I, an online curriculum publication. She graduated from Kenyon College in 2006 with a BA in English, and enjoys spending way too much time either reading or cooking.

Latest posts by Meris Stansbury (see all)

Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all education. Today, forward-thinking school leaders know that leveraging powerful learning technology can help all students excel and learn to work collaboratively with peers–even if that student is homebound due to chronic illness.

In Maryland’s Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS), a team of educators worked to secure telepresence robots for sick and homebound students after seeing the robots demonstrated at a conference. By turning to virtual inclusion, they hoped homebound students would feel more engaged in both their learning and their social relationships at school.

Traditionally, sick and homebound students in AACPS learn independently with the help of a home and hospital teacher, who meets with them approximately six hours a week. But this can be lonely and isolating, because students don’t have the opportunity to talk and collaborate with their classmates. They also can’t participate in extracurricular activities such as clubs.

This is where the Double robot from Double Robotics became invaluable for a high school student battling cancer, AACPS educators said.

“Using the robot allows a student to interact with their classmates and be included in activities that learning in isolation at home cannot provide,” said Stephanie Kelly, the district’s senior manager for instructional technology.

And because the robot helps students interact with peers, it benefits their mental and emotional well-being and makes the healing process less isolated.

“Not being able to come to class, going through treatment, and having to be in quarantine is a challenging and lonely process,” Kelly said. “With the help of a robot, the student can engage with their class through their computer. Whether they are at home or in the hospital, they can participate with their teacher and classmates and feel a part of the school environment.”

Piloting the robot

Along with Mary Tillar, the district’s assistant superintendent for Advanced Studies and Programs Kelly attended a state-level meeting for assistant superintendents and watched as robotics company Double Robotics demonstrated how the company’s telepresence robot was piloted to help homebound students have a more personalized distance learning experience.

(Next page: Ensuring everything was in place for the pilot’s success)

“I think this conference is unique in that all the sessions are educator-led, rather than vendor-led. It’s a conference for teachers by teachers. Think of it like education’s version of a Star Wars convention. That’s the level of passion and engagement we see,” said PR Specialist Beth Cherry for CUE.

As national conferences grow and fade, like stars in an ever-evolving educational cosmos, it’s been interesting watching the rock star-esque growth in popularity of the CUE conference, billed as a conference specifically dedicated to teacher and administrator professional development.

According to CUE, the aim of the PD-packed conference—held this year March 15-18—is to provide edtech professional development to schools, districts, and local educators on the infusion of emerging technologies to better prepare students for college and careers ahead. And the best way to provide PD is to encourage educators to learn from the best experts: their peers.

“When you come to CUE, it’s like jumping into an educator’s playground, and all around are your peers waiting to play with you,” explained Cherry…and it doesn’t hurt that this playground is located in California’s Palm Springs.

And the playground, it seems, is going to be packed this year: with an annual average of six thousand attendees, registrants for this year’s CUE conference is already at seven thousand—and that’s just teachers and administrators.

Content to Experience This Year

This year’s lineup of dynamic Keynote Presenters includes:

Taylor Mali, poet, former teacher and author of What Teachers Make. Mali is considered the most successful poetry slam strategist of all time, having led six of his eight national poetry slam teams to the finals stage and winning the championship a record four times before anyone had even tied him at three. A native of New York City, Taylor was one of the original poets to appear on the HBO series Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry. He is a vocal advocate of teachers, having performed and lectured for education professionals all over the world. Mali will share stories and poems from the classroom including “The Impotence of Proofreading,” “Miracle Workers,” and “What Teachers Make.” Be reminded why you chose to do what you do by one who has been there and survived. For more information, visit www.taylormali.com.

Mali’s TED talk on What Teachers Make 

(Next page: 3 other rock star keynoters at the CUE conference)

Dr. Jo Boaler, Mathematics Education professor at Stanford University and co-founder of youcubed, which aims to give teachers, parents and students the resources and ideas they need to inspire and get excited about math. Boaler is also an analyst for PISA testing in the OECD, and author of the first MOOC on mathematics teaching and learning. Her latest book is Mathematical Mindsets: Unleashing Students’ Potential through Creative Math, Inspiring Messages and Innovative Teaching (2016). She serves as an advisor to several Silicon Valley companies and was a White House presenter on girls and STEM. She was recently named one of the eight educators “changing the face of education” by the BBC. Boaler will discuss how new knowledge from brain science is showing a clear path for mathematics learning that is both exciting and inspiring for teachers. She will share recent and important research on the brain and mathematics learning that has profound implications for students’ mathematics achievement.

George Couros, educator in the area of innovative leadership, teaching, and learning and author of The Innovator’s Mindset, has worked with all levels of school, from K-12 as a teacher, technology facilitator, and school and district administrator. Couros is also the creator of Connected Principals.com, an initiative that brings educators and leaders together from around the world to create powerful learning opportunities for students. Couros will discuss how educators will need to go beyond the ideas of “fixed” and “growth” mindsets to create the learning opportunities that students and school deserve. You can connect with George on his blog, The Principal of Change or through Twitter @gcouros.

Cathy Hunt, an advocate for the creative integration of technology in education, and probably best known for her work on iPadArtRoom. Hunt has developed ground-breaking programs for students around the world that combine hands-on, tactile, and collaborative ways of working with mobile devices. As an award-winning educational consultant, presenter, author, and experienced Arts Educator at St Hilda’s School on Australia’s Gold Coast, she has worked with tens of thousands of teachers globally to connect creative technology and cutting-edge pedagogical approaches with diverse learners. Hunt will provide educators with a new perspective on creative technology integration. According to her, “A redefinition of creativity is required for the contemporary student in the context of an unpredictable future, a world of fast-paced development and complex problems. But when we look beyond the buzzwords and catch phrases, what does ‘being creative’ really mean? Have you considered that every moment in teaching is a creative act? Or that to be creative is to be ‘fully human’?” Cathy can be reached on her website at www.ipadartroom.com or through Twitter @art_cathyhunt.

CUE Conference Information

Keynote presentations will be live streamed at www.cue.org/live. The Welcome Keynote from Taylor Mali on Wednesday, March 15^th at 6:00pm is free and open to the public.

Even among the 300+ educator-led sessions and special events happening within the Conference Program, there are crowd pleasers that have become instant classics, such as LeRoy’s Big Idea Contest. The contest returns this year for its second running. Presenting before a panel of edu-rock stars at the CUE National Conference, each of the six finalists will present an even bigger version of their “Big Idea” that first nabbed them a spot in the finale.  By a combined vote of the edu-rock star panel and the audience, one educator will be named the next “LeRoy Finkel Fellow” and receive a $2,500 fellowship to help bring their big idea to and the event is free and open to the public. The Showcase reflects today’s focus on STEAM, the Maker Movement, and Common Core.

Other notable events on the educator playground include the CUE STEAMpunk Playground that brings together top STEAM teachers who will lead on-going, hands-on sessions featuring tools like: robots and flying drones, Minecraft, 3d printing, coding, and programming; and the CUE Student-Powered Showcase: student technology-integrated curriculum projects – and the students that power them – present their projects live on Saturday morning.

To register or for more information, visit www.cue.org/national  | #cue17

The former Editorial Director for both eSchool News and eCampus News, and was formerly the Managing Editor of eCampus News. Before working at eSchool Media, Meris worked as an assistant editor for The World and I, an online curriculum publication. She graduated from Kenyon College in 2006 with a BA in English, and enjoys spending way too much time either reading or cooking.

Latest posts by Meris Stansbury (see all)

On March 14, it was reported in CSO (a leading cybersecurity outlet) that 110 organizations experiences successful phishing attacks targeting their W-2 records. This put more than 120,000 taxpayers at risk for identity fraud.  Despite warnings from the IRS in early February, employees continue to fall victim to the bad guys’ ploys.

This wildly successful phishing scheme works like this: malicious actors spoof (or pretend to be) the CEO or President of a company and email a CFO or similarly positioned employee to request copies of all employees’ W-2 forms. The employee falls victim to the fake email, shares confidential information and the damage is immediately done.

W-2 Fraud attacks are particularly dangerous because of the ongoing fall out. In fact, IRS Commissioner, John Koskinen wrote in a statement, “This is one of the most dangerous email phishing scams we’ve seen in a long time. It can result in the large-scale theft of sensitive data that criminals can use to commit various crimes, including filing fraudulent tax returns.”

Fraud in Education

So why should education care? While once a problem isolated only in the corporate world, cybercriminals have extended their target base to target a wider range of organizations than ever before. Among the 110 victim organizations, many were schools: Northwestern College, The College of Southern Idaho, Daytona State, Groton School District in Connecticut, Redmond School District in Oregon, Yukon Public Schools in Oklahoma. This is only a sampling, but underscores that no entity is off-limits and that educational institutions need to take precautions to protect themselves.

Regardless of size, geographical region, level of education (secondary and higher ed), we’re seeing school employees across the board fall victim.

(Next page: How institutions and schools can protect against W-2 fraud)

What to do about W-2 Fraud

As noted, the problem is not exclusive to educational organizations—organizations of all sizes and verticals are at risk. However, the precautions are the same for everyone. The good news is that it’s not exactly rocket science.

Here are some basics to better protect your organization, and all its employees:

• Spread the Word:Before anything else, warn your Accounting and HR teams NOW that there is a strain of CEO Fraud asking for W-2’s. Tell them to watch out for fraudulent emails asking for W-2 information, and to always verify requests of this nature using something other than email (phone, text, an in-person conversation). Warning these teams immediately may prevent a host of problems.
• Stay Alert:When you get any email about your taxes, or your W-2 from literally anybody, whether you know them or not, pick up the phone and verify with your known, trusted tax professional that it was he or she that sent the email. If you send tax information via email, triple-check that the email address you are sending to is correct, and type it in yourself in the “To” field.
  • NEVER click on “reply” and attach your tax information, because that reply email address might be spoofed. Want to be 100 percent safe? Hand-carry your tax info to your tax professional and do the tax return in person with him or her.
  • If you are unable to hand-carry your information, make sure it is encrypted before sending. Many accountants have such encryption programs in place that allow for a safer relay of confidential information.
• Educate:Read and circulate this link to the IRS site with more tax scams organizations need to watch for: https://www.irs.gov/uac/tax-scams-consumer-alerts.
• Sound the Alarms: If you receive a scam, report it. The IRS says organizations receiving a W-2 scam email should forward it to [email protected] and place “W2 Scam” in the subject line.

While W-2 fraud is in full swing during tax season, similar phishing and social engineering techniques happen all year round. Always ensure you and your colleagues keep a high-level of vigilance by remembering a few basic things: No matter the time of year, if you receive an email that has mis-spellings, grammar mistakes or just sets off your internal alarm, DO NOT respond, forward, or click any link inside the email. Call to confirm who sent it to you, and if this person cannot confirm, immediately engage your IT department.

[Ed. note: Common Sense Education’s Edtech Eleven is chosen by Common Sense Education every month and helps educators find the best edtech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.]

Things move fast in the edtech world, and we hear all the time from teachers how hard it can be to keep up. This is why we’ve created the EdTech Eleven: our monthly list of noteworthy tools generating buzz in the edtech world. While these aren’t recommendations or ratings (you have to check out our Top Picks for that), what you’ll find on the EdTech Eleven is a quick and current list of trending tools you might want to check out.

March 2017 Updates

What left the list? GoNoodle,  Space by Tinybop, TinyTap

What’s new? Adobe Spark, Recap, Smithsonian Earth

Adobe Spark  

Apps that help people create beautiful, web-first designs are on the rise. From Canva to Sway and now Adobe Spark, consumers and educators have lots of options. Spark, however, stands out due to sheer versatility. It combines the functionality of former Adobe apps Slate, Post, and Voice, offering students and teachers lots of options to make visual presentations and stories.

Bitmoji 

Bitmoji — an app that lets users create their own personalized emoji — is the second most popular free app on the Apple store, and was bought by Snap in 2016. There’s no doubt it’s trending, but why did it make an edtech list? Because like Bitstrips before it, Bitmoji has caught fire with educators who we’ve seen use their Bitmojis to engage students as well as their PLNs.

BreakoutEDU

In edtech right now, there’s nothing more novel — or generating more buzz — than BreakoutEDU. It brings the popular puzzle-room phenomenon to classrooms through purchasable physical kits or a DIY guide to building your own. What has really set them apart thus far, though, is their vibrant community of educators sharing stories and collaborating on new scenarios.

checkology Virtual Classroom

Created by the News Literacy Project — a nonpartisan nonprofit focused on building students’ digital literacy — checkology virtual classroom offers students a blended learning experience that helps them practice skills of separating fact from fiction using real-world stories and examples. We’ve heard some buzz around this tool recently and for good reason: it seems perfectly positioned to help teachers tackle the challenging media circumstances students now face.

Explain Everything

Explain Everything Classic has long been one of the most popular tools in the crowded interactive whiteboard and lesson genre. While we rated Explain Everything Classic highly, we noted the detailed but complex design vis a vis competitors like Educreations. With this brand new revision, titled simply Explain Everything, the app has undergone a total visual overhaul that seems to offer a more elegant, intuitive experience, and adds new features like collaboration on projects.

(Next page: Edtech tools for March 6-11)

Google Earth VR

VR hasn’t quite taken off the way many thought it would, but it might have its first “killer app” in Google Earth VR. While we haven’t gotten our hands on it, those that have seem to be in agreement: it’s an extraordinary, perspective-altering experience that realizes the full potential of the Google Earth platform. It’s a surefire hit for classrooms that can manage to afford the costly HTC Vive platform.

Recap

Video rules the web, and, for students, it’s increasingly how they consume and communicate. Recap hopes to capitalize on this, offering a means for students to record video reflections to teacher prompts that help document and assess learning. Teachers can then share these reflections with other students, educators or parents to facilitate dialogue and build connections.

Remind

A major innovator and early success (in the latest edtech boom), Remind is still making headlines. Most recently, they’ve added “Activities,” a way for parents to pay teachers and schools for field trips, fundraisers, and more through the apps using their credit cards. It’s a smart way to build revenue while also providing a useful, timesaving service to schools.

Seesaw

In edtech, some tools just click, and Seesaw is one of those tools. They’ve had a meteoric rise over the past year, thanks in large part to filling a real need for teachers: helping students share work and progress with parents. It seems like each month Seesaw adds new functionality that cements their position as the portfolio tool of choice.

Smithsonian Earth

We’ve been long wondering when an educationally-focused streaming video service would take off. As far as earth and life science classrooms are concerned, Smithsonian Earth might be it. For $3.99/month educators get unlimited access to ultra HD documentaries, nature scenes, and series with new videos being added monthly. It seems like the right combination of price and quality (although we can’t speak to breadth) to gain some traction.

Toontastic 3D

The first Toontastic was one of our earliest 5-star rated apps, and garnered wide acclaim and a coveted Google buy-out for the developer, Launchpad Toys. This revised version is the developer’s first release as part of Google. The easy-to-create animation (via touchscreen drawing and photo taking) and whimsical puppet-style storytelling from the original Toontastic remains; however, this version adds a slick new 3D look that gives the app depth in more ways than one.

Did we miss anything? Let us know!

Nowadays, one-to-one initiatives aren’t anything new. Even I, a journalist with no experience as an educator, have successfully deployed and maintained a one-to-one iPad Mini initiative for my two children.

But rolling out a school- or district-wide one-to-one program takes a lot more than choosing a device. It’s a fairly massive undertaking if done correctly, because before school leaders and educators even choose a device, they have to outline teaching and learning goals and find the right digital content to support those goals.

One of the first steps is to figure out what you want teaching and learning in your district to look like. Logical next steps are to determine the tools and actions to get you to that place, as well as involving all stakeholder groups along the way.

Here, educators from different school districts discuss how they successfully deployed one-to-one learning initiatives.

(Next page: Technology directors from two districts share their experiences)

Spring time is invigorating, especially in my home town of Gastonia, North Carolina. Gastonia is very southern; its roots are in the textile business, and in many ways, it is a very conservative traditional southern town. After a particularly hard Winter that included almost three inches of snow and several days with highs only in the 40s, the town is in full bloom. The flowers. The trees. The birds. Everything comes alive here in the Spring, and it reminds me that anything is possible.

For those of you in the North, you are probably laughing at my description of our hard Winter. My friend Larry Jacobs, who is the host of Education Talk Radio, lives in Maine. When we talked last week, he was still getting snow. Maybe Winter is relative. If you don’t know Larry, he is one of the many strong voices in the education space. From his home studio, Larry interviews many of the most interesting people in education. His show has really caught on, and gets more than 50,000 downloads a month, mostly from superintendents, CAOs, principals and other admin types in the education biz. I’ve known Larry for years now, and have appeared on his show many times. He is a genuine character, and about as northern as I am southern. It’s pretty amusing when I am on his show. My southern draw is so thick and I speak so slowly that it is all Larry can do to let me speak. His “northernosity” gets the best of him and he jumps in.

Prisons, Schools and VR for Inmates

Because it’s Spring and all things are possible, let’s tackle some big issues. I remember reading that since 1979, we have spent three times more on prisons than schools. That’s a pretty telling statistic. As educators, we should be alarmed. As a nation, we should be ashamed. But that’s where we are. The real question now is, what is the way forward? With three million of our sons, daughters, brothers and sisters incarcerated and one in five people in this country having some type of arrest, we need strong voices and real solutions. One of our brightest and best in that arena, and someone you should know, is Dr. Turner Nashe. I called Turner in his Nashville office a couple days ago to get a bead on this issue. He was his usual passionate self, and a whirlwind of activity. Turner is a force of nature. He was among the first to dream of putting tablets with education programs in the hands of inmates – way before we were talking about 1:1 schools – and he made it a reality.

Now, Turner is working on virtual reality to teach inmates trades and technical careers. They don’t have access to training facilities or equipment to learn on. So Turner is working to bring equipment and training facilities to inmates through virtual reality. These are real-world, sophisticated programs that will prepare inmates for real-world careers.

Tradition Gives Way to Progress

Even in my small town of Gastonia, tradition is giving way to real-world learning. I am constantly surprised at how progressive the learning is here. Our 15-year-old, Stone, is a freshman at Forestview High School. I watched as he completed an assignment to research a point of view, form an argument and craft a speech to deliver his argument. His speech was cogent, well-formed and thoughtful. In the 9th grade, he is learning how to research with discernment and document his work using Google tools. In his future, documenting work and proving skill sets will be infinitely more important than presenting a transcript of letter grades. He’ll have to display competencies. The fact that he earned all A’s will have little meaning. He’ll have to work in groups, solve problems and document the process.

One of my Canadian friends, Chris Besse, is a strong voice in that area. If you don’t know Chris, he lives Toronto and is, hands down, one of the smartest people I know. For the last four years, Chris has been on a mission to improve learning. His company, FreshGrade, documents and shows the learning process every step of the way – involving parents, teachers and students. I am probably not doing FreshGrade justice here, but the nation of Canada has gone gonzo for it. They have whole districts that have eliminated letter grades and even report cards in favor of this type of assessment. Chris is doing a good bit of work in the US as well, and from what I understand his company is improving not only the way we assess learning, but how that assessment translates into action. It’s real-world and it’s working.

The co-founder of FreshGrade, Lane Merrifield, tells a funny story about why he started the company, and it’s one every parent can relate to. He used to sit at the kitchen table and ask his son, “What did you do at school today?” The answer was always the same, “Nothing.” He got so frustrated that he started FreshGrade, and now he and Chris are helping millions of learners.

Pretty cool stuff, huh? Chris, Turner, Larry. Just three of the many strong voices out there in education today. Like springtime in my home town of Gastonia, the education world is coming alive with ideas and strong voices that refuse to take no for an answer. So, what did you do in your district today?

A new tool helps district leaders plan and create online assessments in the wake of their growing popularity.

The Online Assessment Planning Tool, supported by the Learning First Alliance, is accompanied by a report summarizing the best practices in online assessments.

The new report, which comes from CoSN, provides an update on the state of online assessments. It explains the different approaches taken by the national assessment consortia, Smarter Balanced and PARCC, and also discusses the impact of the Every Student Succeeds Act on technology and online assessments.

Online assessments offer a number of direct benefits to different stakeholder groups, according to the report.

(Next page: Benefits to stakeholders; steps to best practices)

Beginning this Saturday, May 6, Microsoft Store locations across the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, and Australia will host STEM Saturdays throughout May in all full-line locations in addition to the range of free programs year-round that empower students and educators. STEM Saturdays brings pop-up classrooms to Microsoft Store and offers hands-on experiences like building a sensor that measures the flexion and extension of a finger to learn about the anatomy of a human hand.

Microsoft also introduced new offerings for education, representing its biggest investment ever in education, designed to empower the students of today to create the world of tomorrow.

New offerings include:

• Windows 10 S – this new Windows experience, inspired by students and teachers, is streamlined for security and superior performance. When partnered with Intune for Education, Windows 10 S will enable schools to ramp up and manage computers in the classroom cost-effectively and quickly.
• Surface Laptop, powered by Windows 10 S – Perfect for college students, Surface Laptop is incredibly thin and light, striking the right balance of performance, portability and beautiful design for a truly personal laptop. Starting at $999 USD, the Surface Laptop is available for pre-order now and will be generally available starting on June 15^th.
• New Windows 10 S partner devices – Our partners, including Acer, ASUS, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Samsung and Toshiba already offer a range of new Windows 10 PCs for Education today – starting at $189. These partners will also offer a range of PCs with Windows 10 S – from beautiful, premium devices to highly affordable devices starting at $229 – starting this summer.
• Microsoft Teams in the classroom – Adding to Office 365 for Education, Microsoft Teams is a digital hub that encourages active learning while helping students develop the communication and collaboration skills they’ll need to be successful in the future.
• Code Builder for Minecraft: Education Edition – A new in-game feature for “Minecraft: Education Edition” that inspires educators and students to learn to write code to explore, create and play in the full 3D Minecraft world.

For more details from today’s announcement, read this blog post from Terry Myerson, EVP of the Windows & Devices Group.

See also the BBC announcement here.

Material from a press release was used in this report.

eSchool Media staff cover education technology in all its aspects–from legislation and litigation, to best practices, to lessons learned and new products. First published in March of 1998 as a monthly print and digital newspaper, eSchool Media provides the news and information necessary to help K-20 decision-makers successfully use technology and innovation to transform schools and colleges and achieve their educational goals.

Latest posts by eSchool News Staff (see all)

When I first came on board as the CFO in Pueblo, Colorado, I asked my finance manager to compile a complete financial report of all of our budgets. As a new CFO, I thought I was taking a smart, proactive approach and could hit the ground running. Instead, my jaw hit the ground when she brought me back a 500-page report in a PDF format! I couldn’t believe it. Wasn’t there a better way?

Excel is a great program, but for finance staff managing millions of dollars of district spending over the course of many years, it has its limitations. Since our district financial system was so tied up in spreadsheets buried in the back end, it could easily take a day (or up to a few weeks) to pull a request for financial data. Often, when the report was pulled, it was too old or the data set was incorrect. We juggled managing the district-wide long-term forecast and the day-to-day budget management because, without accurate and up-to-date information, the efforts become fruitless.

Understanding Finance Systems

This process was even worse at the school level. Not many district administrators have a background in finance. I brought a unique level of financial knowledge and an accounting degree to my work in the district when I started as a teacher/coach. As I moved up to assistant principal/athletic director, principal, and eventually CFO, I saw many of our school administrative staff and program managers struggle with understanding how financial systems work. How do the financial codes connect back to individual programs and funding sources? Why is it important to correctly code transactions?

Initially, No Connection to Outcomes

In our district, we have 19 standard schools and two charter schools. The workload for school administrators is heavy and concentrated on staff supervision and instructional leadership.

Could school administrators and program directors connect spending to student outcomes? No. If they wanted to assess student outcomes, they’d look at the programs and their curriculum at the schools. When it came to spending, each school or program would spend the money allocated in their budget from year to year, but little was done to plan holistically across the district.

(Next page: Solving how to tie spending to student outcomes)

Issue: Poor Tracking

Even though we realized we had a problem with both the access to real-time financial data and the financial acumen of our district administrators, we didn’t yet have a solution. The most pressing issue was that district administrators were not tracking their dollars well, or weren’t doing it in conjunction with the latest budget figures at their fingertips. Because the financial data they had was often weeks old, when they spent money, they would often go over budget.

Think about your own household budget. Can you imagine spending money without knowing if you had money in the account or access to a system that allowed for tracking up-to-date transactions?

Last year, our district realized we were missing a lot by not looking in real-time at how funding impacts student outcomes, so we resolved to do something.

A Peer-Recommended Solution

I attended a seminar on the subject and asked other districts what they did. A lot of them were in the same boat as us, but we also heard a lot about advances in software that can organize financial data in a coherent way, making it not only searchable but actionable. For a district such as ours, still trying to get our financial data into Excel spreadsheets, this was a revelation.

As we set out to search for a solution, we identified that we wanted to have:

1. Real-time access to financial data;
2. A way to analyze our spending by location; and
3. A way to connect spending to student outcomes.

Since 2015, we have been working with a company called Allovue to implement a solution called Balance | Manage to solve the issues of access and analysis. We also engaged with Allovue to help train our administrators to think more strategically about their budgets.

I won’t lie: it’s an involved process, and will continue well into the next year, but our hope is that our principals will begin to plan, allocate, and spend strategically. Now, every dollar they spend will be tied to back to staff, programs, technology, and other uses that directly impact student outcomes.

My financial staff are always searching for different financial data to answer questions from program leaders, school administrators, the Board of Education, and the Superintendent. I love that I can search for financial information and find it fast.

We are finally moving away from the days of outdated financial data and 500-page reports. Data holds so much promise for us, our principals, and, most of all, our students. I believe we owe it to our students to not just have data sit in a spreadsheet, but to have the access, skills, and dedication to make data work for them.