NEW YORK, Nov. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2013, the
federal government introduced the ConnectED initiative designed to
help America's K12 education system employ technology to deliver a
more personalized learning experience. As part of this
initiative, 99 percent of American K12 schools are expected to have
access to next-generation broadband by 2018. But better access to
bandwidth is just the first step in a comprehensive plan that opens
the door to a whole new technological world for K12 students: the
world of personalized learning. The idea is to deliver personalized
learning profiles and pathways for each student, evaluations that
are based more on measurable competencies than grades, the
development of a flexible technology-based learning environment,
and the development of a more structured emphasis on college and
career readiness. According to Logicalis US, an international IT
solutions and managed services provider (www.us.logicalis.com), the
stumbling block for many K12 administrators to date has been a lack
of direction about the kinds of technologies to implement and the
best ways to roll them out to deliver the desired end results.
"There is enormous pressure on K12 administrators – and by
extension, on district CIOs – to elevate student test scores, get
more students into college, and really transform the way children
learn," says Adam Petrovsky, GovEd
Practice Leader for Logicalis US. "The key lies in the
successful implementation of personalized learning strategies and
the deployment of technologies that make it possible to deliver
meaningful results across the board that transcend both
demographics and socioeconomic class. Introducing personalized
learning strategies into the K12 curriculum demands time, money,
resources, technology and creative expertise that may require
partnering with an experienced solution provider that knows and
understands personalized learning as well as the educational and
technical requirements for a successful implementation."
Five Steps to K12 Personalized Learning
Implementing
personalized learning is a huge undertaking that requires the
assistance of a multi-disciplinary team of experts who can guide
school officials through the process. It's not just about
bandwidth and devices – it's about the strategy for rolling out the
program, keeping the network and the kids who use it safe from
cyberthreats, and the development of best practices that can be
shared with other districts nationwide. To jumpstart
conversations between school administrators and district IT
personnel, Logicalis' government and education experts have
outlined five important steps along the road to personalized
learning.
- Internet Access is Key: One of the top objectives that
must be met before personalized learning can become a reality is to
deliver next-generation broadband access – either at school or
through the local public library – to every student in America
within the next two years. This requires assessments of
existing infrastructure, strategies for introducing or increasing
bandwidth based on long-term usage plans, and the capability to tap
into both public and private funding to pay for it.
- Infrastructure Can't Be Ignored: Delivering bandwidth to
every classroom is a tall enough order, but this isn't just about
one teacher per classroom accessing the Internet and sharing that
information on an overhead projector anymore. This initiative
is meant to give every student Internet access, which means
there may be as many as 30 notebooks or tablets per
classroom – as well as each student's mobile phone – all
accessing the Internet via wi-fi simultaneously, a change which
places significant demands on the school's network and
infrastructure, not to mention creating a need for significantly
enhanced security, identity and device management, and application
management techniques to protect the students from unwelcome
content and to protect both the school's intellectual property and
each student's personal data from breaches.
- Your Success is Only as Good as Your Strategy: The
Learning Management Systems (LMS) being developed to satisfy this
initiative are significant and powerful toolsets for educators and
students alike, but they are as complex to deploy as any major
business application. K12 CIOs may want to find a consultant
that specializes in LMS solutions and to work with that consultant
and its team of strategists to design and implement a plan that
examines every aspect of personalized learning from content and
student interactions to the most technical details involved in
product selection, Internet usage, security and rollout before
taking their first steps in the direction of personalized learning
initiatives.
- Mobility Matters: Because the devices most schools will
deploy are mobile devices, it's critical for K12 CIOs to engage the
right kinds of specialists at each stage along the way – and that
includes mobility experts that can help them from device
procurement through deployment to students. Together, district IT
experts and mobility specialists can develop a comprehensive
mobility strategy that addresses the best ways to roll out and use
these learning tools while minimizing damage and loss.
- Best Practices Need to Be Shared: While no two schools
are identical in the ways they will choose to implement
personalized learning initiatives, there are some important
similarities that can be shared nationwide to develop a set of best
practices. As a result, this is something everyone from the
superintendent and district CIO to individual school principals and
faculty should be prepared to discuss at regional, state and
national association meetings.
Want to Learn More?
- Read Logicalis' most recent GovEd news, then explore its GovEd
website here: http://ow.ly/SfWY305HFmS.
- Worried you can't afford the kind of telecom and Internet
access your school needs to implement a personalized learning
program? Learn how E-Rate can help: http://ow.ly/jbDi305HEPr.
- See how one high school provided better bandwidth for its
students in this brief case study: http://ow.ly/BrPA305HFfn.
About Logicalis
Logicalis is an international
multi-skilled solution provider providing digital enablement
services to help customers harness digital technology and
innovative services to deliver powerful business outcomes.
Our customers cross industries and geographical regions; our
focus is to engage in the dynamics of our customers' vertical
markets including financial services, TMT (telecommunications,
media and technology), education, healthcare, retail, government,
manufacturing and professional services, and to apply the skills of
our 4,000 employees in modernizing key digital pillars, data center
and cloud services, security and network infrastructure, workspace
communications and collaboration, data and information strategies,
and IT operation modernization.
We are the advocates for our customers for some of the world's
leading technology companies including Cisco, HPE, IBM, NetApp,
Microsoft, VMware and ServiceNow.
The Logicalis Group has annualized revenues of over $1.5 billion from operations in Europe, North
America, Latin America and
Asia Pacific. It is a division of
Datatec Limited, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the
AIM market of the LSE, with revenues of over $6.5 billion.
For more information, visit www.us.logicalis.com.
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Media contacts:
Nickie Peters, Director of
Marketing,
Logicalis US
nickie.peters@us.logicalis.com
920-338-7622
www.us.logicalis.com
Karen Franse,
Communication Strategy Group for Logicalis US
kfranse@gocsg.com
866-997-2424
www.gocsg.com
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SOURCE Logicalis US