EdTech Trump In The New Year Start
Education Cybersecurity Weekly is a curated weekly news overview for those who are concerned about the Education industry. It provides brief summaries and links to articles and news across a spectrum of cybersecurity and technology topics that are specific to the industry.
Who are we? - Girls! What do we want? -To defend country against cyber attacks! How old are we? -Twelve!Great start of the year – school districts reinforcing their network security
EdSurge on January 7, 2019
For educational organizations, the last week of 2018 was like a final chapter of the edifying story. The San Diego Unified School District data breach, victimizing about 500,000 current and former students, made network security a primary matter of concern among K-12 and Higher Ed representatives.
All effective improvements should start with a desire, but they are impossible without a suitable budget. A recent research paper shows that this issue has been partially solved – nearly 35% of the responded K-12 organizations spend on the network security at least 10% of their technology budget. The first place in the list of expenses belongs to infrastructure, technology equipment, and professional development.
What is interesting, only 12% of the districts have a network security employee, while the majority of schools outsource security or divide responsibilities across several other positions. Another issue raised in the study is a “homework gap”, showing that less than 10% of districts can report that all their students have access to a shared device at home. Thus, this fact makes the issue of security even more topical.
Girls’ power in cybersecurity
Daily Mail on January 6, 2019
Who are we? – Girls! What do we want? – To defend our country against cyber attacks! How old are we? -Twelve!
Stop. Is it serious?
The answer is affirmative – the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is launching CyberFirst Girls Competition among 12-13 aged girls. GCHQ has asked the UK schools to create teams of up to four girls who will compete in coding, solving crosswords and puzzles. Furthermore, young cybersecurity trainees will face challenges in four main categories: networking, logic and coding, cryptography and cybersecurity.
The top ten teams will get a chance of winning £1,000 for school computer equipment as well as individual prizes. By the way, it is not the first attempt to engage female specialists in a cybersecurity sector – recently the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) ran contest among 12- and 13-year-old girls to investigate the features of the computer science.
“Doctor who” would endorse – 3D printing technology for a veterinary curriculum
eCampus News on January 7, 2019
Although technological progress has two sides of the coin, here is the brightest one. Lincoln Memorial University-College of Veterinary Medicine is implementing a 3D printing technology to create models students will use to practice surgical skills.
The technology is already used by veterinary colleges in a variety of ways, such as creation of educational specimens for teaching, pre-operative and surgical planning, research on prosthetics, bioprinting for tissue and organ production.
Mainly industry experts emphasize following benefits of 3D printer knowledge for students – effective teamwork, which comes from solving medical cases, and compatibility of 3D printing with many degree programs, such as engineering, computer software and design, and biomedical technology.
Hackers, checkmate! Cybersecurity tactics for Higher Ed in 2019
Edtech Magazine on January 7, 2019
Recently we stated that cybersecurity is like the game of chess. Therefore, 2019 is expected to be another interesting game between cybercriminals and security specialists in Higher Ed. If you support the last ones, have a look at useful tactics that may lead to the victory in a fight with hackers.
- Universities should watch out for AI threats. Despite the positive impact of AI on the process automation, malefactors may use it to develop evasion techniques and bypass the security.
- Cloud security is essential as campus migrations continue. Furthermore, 21% of data stored in the cloud is sensitive.
- Be sensitive of the voice-controlled digital assistants. Most of them are closely connected to the IoT devices, so in case of their infection botnets can launch DDoS attacks and steal personal data.
We also would note the importance of following the GDPR in monitoring the internet activity of students, as well as explaining its principals to both students and their parents.
EdTech to boost students social mobility
The Tech Edvocate on January 3, 2019
Everybody wants to be successful. Only a few make all their ambitions come true.
The conventional thinking among economists is that income inequality provides incentives for individuals to invest more in order to achieve a higher income position in society, but … if low-income youth view middle-class life as out of reach, they might decide to invest less in their own economic future.
Brookings Institute
However, we should not give up because nowadays a socioeconomic status is more about human’s education and experience rather than the financial opportunities. Actually, EdTech may become a solution in boosting social mobility in different aspects – from modeling their career pathways in terms of choice a certain degree program to developing social skills in communication with peers via multiple apps.