Protect Your Network From Hackers

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Protect Your Network From Hackers

Could your school district be next? Here’s how to protect your network from hackers.

Hack jobs are on the rise. Every week, it seems, we hear stories about someone infiltrating a K–12 network. Sure, you do your best to protect your network from hackers. But it’s not so simple.

Among these hackers are crafty scammers, ranging from sophisticated evildoers to casual pranksters.

Cyber criminals are the big villains—they might plant malware, hijack networks, steal identity, or seize a hard drive for ransom. Then ...

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Cybercrime, Security

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The Ultimate Back-to-School EdTech Checklist

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The Ultimate Back-to-School EdTech Checklist

New school year—new headaches? With the ever-changing landscape of K–12 technology (New products! New rules! New needs!), the job of an IT director can be heartburn inducing.

A little bit of planning will go a long way. To help you get organized, we’ve compiled this handy EdTech checklist, so nothing slips through the cracks as you dive into the year ahead.

  • Make sure your budget is up to date and that you’ve accounted for all your school’s needs.
  • Review your school’s ...
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E-Rate, Tools & Resources

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Get Smart About Spending Tech Dollars

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Get Smart About Spending Tech Dollars

Budgeting for next year? Here’s how to get the best bang for your buck.

There’s a lot of pressure on IT directors to find excellent products and stay within (ever-shrinking) school tech budgets. It’s a tough balancing act. But with some careful planning and not-too-painful frugality, that mission can be accomplished. Read on.

Evaluate Your Current Resources

With rapidly changing technology, staff turnover, and everyone getting lost in the daily grind, it’s easy to lose track of what’s being used ...

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Budget

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Everyone Says They Have “Great Customer Service.” Truth? Or Baloney?

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Everyone Says They Have “Great Customer Service.” Truth? Or Baloney?

World’s most-told lie? “We have great customer service.” Your due diligence will uncover the truth. 

So, you just purchased an expensive system for your school. You were wowed by the product and impressed with the promise of “great customer service.”

You may even have paid for an enhanced service plan, which would surely guarantee top-notch support.

When something went wrong (as it inevitably does), you called the tech-support hotline. After punching through a phone tree, you sat on hold for a very ...

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Customer Service

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The Terrible Perils of Cyberbullying

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The Terrible Perils of Cyberbullying

No black eyes involved. But cyberbullying can have bruising, lifelong consequences. Here’s what you need to know. 

Bullying used to take place on the playground or in school hallways: an insult here, a shove there, the occasional black eye. Now there’s a new threat in town: cyberbullying.

This behavior plays out online—in emails and text messages; and on websites, blogs, and social-media platforms, like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Cyberbullying can happen at home or at school. It occurs more ...

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Student Safety

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How Students Bypass School Internet Filters and What You Can Do About It

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How Students Bypass School Internet Filters and What You Can Do About It

Savvy students can bypass school Internet filters to access prohibited info. What can you do? Plenty.

We’ve promoted our SecureSchool Internet filter on Google AdWords, and we’re (perhaps naively) surprised to find that many searchers are looking not for school Internet filters—but for ways to bypass those filters.

Go ahead: Google “how to bypass school Internet filters,” and you’ll find a slew of results devoted to this topic.

With kids so technologically astute nowadays, it’s becoming more and more ...

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Security

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The Pleasures and Perils of BYOD – Part II: The Perils

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The Pleasures and Perils of BYOD – Part II: The Perils

The popularity of “bring your own device” is growing. But have you considered the disadvantages of BYOD?

BYOD (bring your own device) has caught on like wildfire, and K–12 schools throughout the country (and world) are madly adopting it. The benefits are many (see our rundown in Part I of the Pleasures and Perils of BYOD).

However, BYOD is not all a bed of roses. Beware the challenges you may face—and prepare to meet them head on with these ...

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BYOD

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The Pleasures and Perils of BYOD – Part I: The Pleasures

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The Pleasures and Perils of BYOD – Part I: The Pleasures

What are the benefits of BYOD in K–12 Schools? 

Over the past few years, BYOD (bring your own device) has exploded in the K–12 classroom. Most high schools, middle schools, and even elementary schools have hopped on the BYOD bandwagon.

With the proliferation of personal gadgets, downsizing of IT budgets, and sheer impracticality (and expense) of issuing devices to every student, the momentum appears unstoppable.

Where mobile phones, tablets, and the like were once prohibited in schools, they’re now embraced ...

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BYOD

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Tech Support Often Gets a Bad Rap. Is it Deserved?

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Tech Support Often Gets a Bad Rap. Is it Deserved?

These days, lousy tech support is not only accepted, it’s expected. How to find the “good guys.”

A new thread was recently posted on one of the IT forums we follow. The topic was, “How have you resolved a problem when (Big-Name Tech Company) is non-responsive?”

Answers ranged from a suggestion to fib to customer support—pretend you’re interested in buying a product, then subtly ask the rep for help with your issue—to an outright diss: “Industry-worst customer service.”

The one that took ...

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Customer Service

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