METAA CTO Clinic 2020 V2

In 2019, Boston Public Schools enlisted the help of an outside firm to conduct a penetration test on their network in order to evaluate the readiness of their people, processes, and technologies. This allowed our teams to identify gaps in our security and evaluated the maturity of our organization's cyber security plan. This session will provide an overview of penetration testing, discuss the problems you are likely to uncover within your organization, and give you strategies for how to proactively develop a cyber security plan for your district.

In this session we’ll discuss Technology Budgeting.  We’ll talk about strategies for planning and tracking your budget needs for both the short and long term.  School Committees, Superintendents, and Business Managers have varying understanding of technology lifecycles and ultimately look to you for prudent and reasonable budget requests.  How do you do it?  

Through the implementation of affordable and effective Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies, the Fitchburg Public Schools has been able to engage in meaningful and impactful transforming of educational technology. Beginning in 2015, the school district purchased 30 unlocked cell phones, along with 30 collapsible headsets, charging equipment and storage solution and began deployment of their whole-class VR system. The kit was later dispersed into smaller 5-unit kits to be distributed among all schools. Since then, the amount of devices has increased, as the usage and demand has become greater. In 2016, the school district procured 3 Oculus Rift VR headsets and assembled 3 gaming PCs to begin experimentation of high-end, powerful virtual reality simulations. In 2017, an Augmented Reality sandbox was designed, developed, and implemented to enable students to physically craft mountains, valleys, rivers, and other bodies of water while a projector and camera work in tandem to produce a myriad of colors and relief lines, simulating geographic land forms. Lastly, in 2019, Google Expeditions AR became next foray that the Fitchburg Public Schools has engaged students with, in efforts to bring digital representations of physical objects into each classroom. As a result of leveraging affordable technologies, along with collaborating among IT staff, district-wide and school-based administrators, coaches, and teachers, immersive technologies can be effectively utilized, while affordably sourced.

Professional learning is essential for current and aspiring technology directors. The first part of this session will familiarize you with the essential skills you should aspire to possess as an effective technology director. This is especially important in 2020 since the CoSN skill areas have just been updated. You will also be introduced to a skills self-inventory that you can use to assess your skills relative to the skill areas. METAA and CoSN resource links will also be provided to assist you in becoming competent in these recommended skill areas.   In the second portion of this session, you will be introduced to a new METAA initiative: a mentoring program specifically for K-12 technology directors. Ideas to be incorporated into the program will be presented. METAA wants to hear your thoughts on this initiative. This is your opportunity to brainstorm any suggestions you might have before METAA launches this program later this year.