EdTech Magazine

Washington’s Mercer Island High School introduced instruction in the art and science behind podcasting as part of its curriculum about seven years ago, just as the medium started to gain widespread popularity. MIHS Students in the school’s radio and podcasting program have the opportunity to gain firsthand experience operating recording studio equipment and contributing to the district’s FCC-licensed radio station, KMIH 88.9 FM The Bridge. “Students develop skills to formulate an introduction, p

Walk into any school computer lab during a language arts lesson, an online standardized test or a remote learning session, and audio challenges are immediately apparent. Students on adjacent machines bleed sound into each other’s ears. Spoken instructions compete with the hum of the heating and cooling system. Younger learners yank cables, twist boom arms and subject hardware to the kind of punishment that turns most consumer headsets into trash within weeks. The Jabra Biz 1100 EDU was built in

Andy Mann’s model is deceptively simple. Informed by years of experience as a technology teacher, he developed a vision to get $10,000 virtual reality headsets and other sought-after devices in the hands of teachers who wanted to try them in their classrooms without the steep investment of buying them. Using strategic funding, Mann meticulously amassed a collection of STEM items that teachers from the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District in Michigan can check out. At his ISTELive 26 sessio

One of the greatest group project collaborations in K–12 right now has nothing to do with social studies or science projects.  The IT leaders who understand the risk tend to speak in technical language, while the administrators and educators who control the budget speak in outcomes. Finding a shared vocabulary helps them fight — and ultimately fund a defense to — the K–12 cybersecurity crisis.  The school year ended with a historic cybersecurity attack across K–12 and higher education, punctuati

Accessibility has always been a legal obligation. But leaders in the K–12 space are expanding that conversation to include how it could be more than that: a design principle that creates an improved learning experience for every student, not just the ones with IEPs. At ISTELive 26, Tara Nattrass, chief innovation strategist for education at Lenovo, broke down what hybrid AI means at the device level and why it matters for students who rely on accessibility tools. Nattrass helped lead seven sessi

Lynsy Curry gave some students in her class a mission — if they chose to accept it. The elementary media specialist at Timbers Elementary School taught the fifth graders technology tips a couple of years ago when she was their teacher. When they began showing other teachers what they learned in her class, she asked them if they would be interested in forming a technology team and being her student helpers. Challenge accepted. The tech team was born in the Humble Independent School District in Hu

In the post-ESSER era, many schools and school districts are learning how to iterate their resource allocation to do more with less and build durable plans that center planning around the mission instead of the money. During her session “Driving Innovation When Budgets Are Tight” at ISTELive 26, Kirsten Baesler, assistant secretary in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education for the U.S. Department of Education, discussed the importance of having a clear framework for what sustainability

As artificial intelligence’s capabilities continue to make themselves evident in the classroom, the technology is quickly moving from a novelty to a necessity. To that end, at the ISTELive 2026 conference in Orlando, Fla., the organization unveiled its expanded Profile of an AI-Ready Graduate. Joseph South, chief innovation officer for ISTE+ASCD, said that in identifying trends and themes involving AI in teaching and learning, his team noticed a gap. While early frameworks focused on AI literacy

K–12 school districts are packed with digital tools, and it’s up to IT leaders to manage the governance, data and risk associated with them. But no single department can do this alone and without all of the facts they need to make an informed decision.  At ISTELive 2026 in Orlando, Fla., technology experts explained how cybersecurity, data privacy, accessibility and governance work together and why building a safe, intentional, student-centered digital environment depends on breaking down the si

As the debate about screen time and digital tools in the classroom continues in school districts around the country, speakers at ISTELive 26 in Orlando, Fla., presented research noting that a balance between digital tools and foundational learning is the best path to effective learning.  “This is not pro-tech versus anti-tech,” said Amanda Bollinger, associate administrator in the teaching and learning department at Jordan School District and a member of the Utah State Board of Education. “It’s

Wireless presentation tools have become necessity rather than a convenience. Teachers expect to walk into a classroom and share content instantly, without fumbling for adapters or waiting on IT support. The BenQ InstaShow WDC15 4K ultra-high definition (UHD) wireless presentation system is designed to meet that expectation while also addressing security and reliability. At its core, the WDC15 focuses on ease of use. Presenters simply connect a dedicated HDMI or USB-C connected button to their la

When leaders of Huntsville City Schools in Alabama realized the district was outgrowing its career and technical education setup, it opted to build a centralized facility for its students interested in pursuing a workforce development track.  The 81,000-square-foot Huntsville Center for Technology opened in August 2025 and houses a range of technical programs, from culinary arts and cosmetology to welding and precision machining. Technology is at the forefront of the facility, both from a networ

When K–12 school districts implement a new technology, they typically invest significant time planning the technical deployment and far less time preparing the people who will ultimately determine the success of the change. “Most technology implementations do not fail because of the technology itself. They struggle because organizations tend to focus heavily on the technical rollout and underestimate the human side of change,” says Julie Whitten, CEO of Julie Whitten Consulting, a change leaders

The success of today’s modern classrooms relies on a combination of resources, technologies and policies to maximize learning for students. From the funding that brings technology to schools to the rules and regulations that govern how it is used, these factors work cohesively to ensure an optimal experience for teachers and students alike.  At this year’s ISTELive conference, held June 28 to July 1 in Orlando, Fla., expert speakers will present on a range of topics that address the future of mo

Engaging in professional development is never simple for educators, who must juggle classroom learning, curriculum planning, grading assignments and administrative responsibilities. Too often, PD takes a backseat to everything else. With artificial intelligence–related classroom training, it’s even more difficult to accommodate the necessary instruction. “The pace of change with AI is so rapid, it can be daunting for educators to keep pace,” says Jennie Magiera, global head of education impact a

Artificial intelligence has rapidly transformed K–12’s cyberthreat landscape, turning phishing scams into more sophisticated, multichannel attacks that exploit trust, familiarity and the platforms educators and students use every day. Phishing is no longer just an inbox problem — it’s an “everywhere” problem. For many years now, we’ve taught K–12 staff and teams to check an email sender’s address as one way to stay safe. In today’s threat landscape, the advent of AI-powered vishing, deepfake imp

Paper hall passes have been around forever. But they aren’t always the best tool for the job. “A conventional hall pass basically just says that this student has permission to leave the classroom. That’s where the information stops,” says Tyler Shaddix, co-founder and chief innovation officer at GoGuardian. Modernized tools can do a lot more. With digital hall passes, schools can support student safety, track trends around how spaces are used and automate permissions for who can be in the hall,

In a K–12 setting, deepfakes hold a lot of power. These falsified images or videos, virtually impossible to identify with an untrained eye, can be wielded to harm educators’ reputations, cyberbully vulnerable students, and blackmail individuals and schools. With artificial intelligence image generation, the problem is growing rapidly. Super-realistic images can be created quickly and deployed easily, creating a concerning scalability. Faced with the malicious use of AI-generated images — both of

Lately, school-related data breaches seem to keep coming. PowerSchool and Canvas made major headlines this year. Countless smaller incidents may not hit the news, but they disrupt instruction and expose sensitive student data just the same. For K–12 IT leaders, threats to their district are inevitable. The question is whether their teams will be ready when those threats materialize. After years of conducting maturity assessments, working alongside district security teams and witnessing the after