Improving e-learning experiences, one secure endpoint at a time

Conclusion: Defining the perfect blend of cloud applications, platforms, and secure endpoints to create compelling online learning experiences that are customizable based on student learning strengths is how schools are responding to the challenge of learning. virtual education.

There is more of 56 million students in the United States alone that rely on distance learning applications, platforms and standalone endpoint security to protect them throughout their studies. School districts, online educators and teachers quickly realized that a move to 100% online courses could spell the end of outdated mechanized approaches to teaching. Eager to teach using technologies that tailor individual learning programs to each student’s unique learning strengths, schools combine cloud, e-learning and endpoint security with solid results. The combination of technologies gives every student, regardless of their socio-economic background, a chance to excel. The goal is to provide unique personalized instruction on a large scale using a teaching technique called scaffolding. Scaffolding emphasizes creating an individual learning plan for each student, with reinforcement for each lesson.

Why cybersecurity is the cornerstone of online learning

Adapting the latest technology to the diverse needs of online learners is the easy part of creating an online learning program. Much more difficult is choosing the right endpoint security strategies to protect their identities, each of their videoconferencing sessions with peers and teachers, and thwart breach attempts. Parents, teachers, students, and administrators all need to trust an online learning platform to make it work. The bottom line is that an online learning platform should build and develop trust while being adaptable enough to meet the unique learning needs of students.

Interested in learning more about how leading online educators bring together the latest cloud security technologies and autonomous endpoints to help students learn online, I recently interviewed Eric Ramos Chief Technology Officer at Duarte Unified School District and Dean Phillips, Senior CTO, David Atkins, Director of Marketing and Communications and Jennifer Shoaf, Assistant Director of Studies at PA Cyber. Duarte Unified School District (USD) serves the educational needs of 3,400 elementary, primary and secondary school students. The Pennsylvania Cyber ​​Charter School (PA Cyber) in Midland, PA is one of the nation’s most experienced and successful online K-12 public schools, serving over 12,000 students. Together, the group of education professionals provided valuable insight into how educators can combine cloud, collaboration, and cybersecurity applications to create more personalized and effective learning experiences for students. PA Cyber’s David Atkins says their approach to online learning is successful because they take a totally holistic view of the student, their family and their situation.. “Our collaboration with the student starts when there is an interest in having some kind of e-education. And we go to enrollment in any issues that the students might have, or that the families of the students might have and take them. all the way to graduation ‘ David said. “We take the time to listen and see the student as a whole person.”

Here is the main information based on our conversations:

• Choosing to make cybersecurity the top priority treats students like customers, protecting their unique online learning experiences while providing excellent access at all socio-economic levels. This is when the online learning experiences excel. What is impressive is the commitment of the team of educators I spoke with in making technology work as a catalyst to help every student achieve their educational goals at all socio-economic levels. They are also the most advanced in adapting complex technologies to deliver personalized online learning experiences with PA Cyber ​​serving 12,000 distance students at a time. “Each of our students is different and they seek to accomplish different things and they learn in different ways. We have different class options for them to choose from. And we have implemented many different scaffolding options when it comes to our teaching platform, “said Jennifer Shoaf, associate academic director of PA Cyber. Eric Ramos, CTO at USD says he and his staff “Reach out to teachers and staff and provide them with the latest cybersecurity alerts and make sure they are aware of how their standalone endpoint security platform secures every laptop and makes their jobs easier to stay in compliance with security protocols. ” Eric went on to say that, “Having an indelible digital tether gives my staff, senior educators and myself peace of mind, especially with summer here and the need to keep track of Chromebooks with students and families. “
• The more resilient the security of stand-alone endpoints on the laptop, the easier it is to secure, upgrade, and locate each one in the event of loss or theft. Duarte Unified School District provides Chromebooks to students for year-round use, often also providing an internet hotspot as many student families do not have internet access. PA Cyber ​​provides students with a Dell laptop and a complete technology kit that also includes printers and peripherals. Having an indelible digital tether to every laptop helps keep every system up to date on security and system patches. Dean Phillips, Senior CTO at PA Cyber, says it has been so helpful knowing that every laptop has active standalone endpoint security working at all times. Dean says terminal management is a must for PA Cyber ​​”We are using The persistence of the absolute at Ensure a permanent two-way connection with our IT management solution, Kaseya®, which we use to remotely distribute security patches, new applications and scripts. This has been great for the student laptops as we can keep updates and know where the system is. Without a terminal management solution on student laptops, it is very difficult to manage terminals without this agent. So Absolute absolutely helps us with that too. It’s a big plus. ” Eric Ramos, CTO, states that “Absolute was great, especially when a student calls and says they can’t find their laptop. I do not know where it is. It is lost or maybe stolen. We are able to retrieve that, determine the last time it was pinged, and we can generally locate it. Nine times out of 10, the student finds it the next day by simply having this information. So it was crucial. It’s always been something we love to have. “
• Standardize on a secure cloud platform flexible enough to support scaffolding or one-on-one learning, but tough enough to protect every laptop connected to it via an indelible digital tether. A major challenge that both online schools face is keeping their cloud platforms adaptive enough to support different student skills while still being secure enough to protect every online student. Dean Phillips, senior chief technology officer at PA Cyber, says it’s best to “Keep the technology as easy as possible for students and families. Standardization is the key, I think, with everything you do from a technological standpoint. Make sure you are building from the inside towards the heart. Your apps and your networks and make sure it’s consistent right through to the end, I think that’s extremely important. “ The lessons learned from PA Cyber ​​in creating a secure and adaptive online learning platform aim to provide personalized instruction for each student achievable at scale. Jennifer Shoaf, Associate Academic Director of PA Cyber, explains how the school personalizes online education for each student. “It all starts when the student comes to PA Cyber ​​for the first time and we try to figure out where they are and where they should be and where they want to see themselves, whether it’s in a month or a few years, or when he graduated from our school. So one of the things that we are proud of here at this school is to enable multiple modes of teaching for our students, ” Jennifer said.
• By capitalizing on the excellent asset management report that standalone endpoint security solutions have, CTOs and CIOs gain new insight into how to improve learning efficiency.. Having resilient and persistent connections to every endpoint with a digital permanent tie-down also provides invaluable asset management data. Eric Ramos of Duarte USD and Dean Phillips of PA Cyber ​​are leaders in this field of online learning today. Eric Ramos says the asset management and activity reporting made possible by the stand-alone endpoint platform he uses from Absolute facilitates the preparation of senior management meetings. “In the main meetings I’m able to pull out these reports and say, listen, those were the goals at the start of the year to use these four products at this time. And here’s where you are at. a little Or you can look at it over time and say, this has been an increase here, it’s a decrease here, these sites work great with that, these sites may not. But now let’s talk about this that works for you What do your teachers like about the particular program? Or, outside of the program, how are your results achieved?“said Eric Ramos, Technical Director.

Conclusion

Delivering a great online learning experience must start with a cybersecurity strategy that includes standalone endpoint security. Duarte USD and PA Cyber ​​are leaders in this field, being among the first to see how to combine core technologies while having an indelible digital tether to every laptop is a must. Earning and increasing the trust of parents, students, teachers, and school administrators begins with an endpoint security strategy that can adapt and grow like an e-learning program does.