Digital Aspirations in Education

The cloud is ubiquitous and its availability and usefulness for education was put to an enormous test during the pandemic. Taking a step back, we look at the efficacy of the cloud for educational institutions and discuss the benefits and approaches that can make for best practices.

Join us for part two of an interesting two-part podcast on The Digital Aspirations in Education Podcast as Christian Chavez, Cloud Data Center Solutions Architect at Aspire Technology Partners, discusses the steps involved in successfully implementing and deploying cloud solutions for an educational institution.

The cloud is ubiquitous and its availability and usefulness for education was put to an enormous test during the pandemic. Taking a step back, we look at the efficacy of the cloud for educational institutions and discuss the benefits and approaches that can make for best practices.

Join us for part one of an interesting two-part podcast on The Digital Aspirations in Education Podcast as Christian Chavez, Cloud Data Center Solutions Architect at Aspire Technology Partners, discusses the benefits of migrating to a cloud solution and the types of applications that can provide the greatest success for an educational institution.

Providing a high level of cybersecurity requires applying the correct tools and technologies using a standards-based approach across an organization based on policies and procedures. Nowhere can this be more difficult than in large school districts that may be managed differently across a state where every school district may be its own locally-run, policy-driven entity. Not every school in every district will have the same level of technology – or security – maturity in place. It requires creating a roadmap to help improve the security posture from where they are today to where they need to be in the future.

Join us for part two of an interesting two-part podcast on The Digital Aspirations in Education Podcast as host Jared Heiner, Director of Education Innovation and Sales at Aspire Technology Partners, discusses cybersecurity in education and the standards and policies schools need to consider to provide a greater of security. Jared’s guests are David Versocki, Chief Technology Officer for NYS Capital Region BOCES, and his colleague, Don Harple, Information Security Manager at the Northeastern Regional Information Center, NYS Capital Region BOCES.

Cybersecurity has been in the news more and more lately. We’ve all heard about ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure and supply chains run by corporations. Educational institutions are also at risk from “bad actors” who are looking for data. “Not because somebody just wants to have fun, they're in it to make money,” says David Versocki, Chief Technology Officer for NYS Capital Region BOCES. He says that protecting student and institutional data requires more than technology, “What we're trying to change is behaviors and the awareness of where the threats are coming from. The tools are just part of the toolkit that can reduce your risk.”

Join us for part one of an interesting two-part podcast on The Digital Aspirations in Education Podcast as host Jared Heiner, Director of Education Innovation and Sales at Aspire Technology Partners, discusses cybersecurity threats to educational institutions and the changing behaviors and awareness necessary to combat them. Jared’s guests are David Versocki and his colleague, Don Harple, Information Security Manager at the Northeastern Regional Information Center, NYS Capital Region BOCES. Together they tackle the identifying threats and vulnerabilities and ways to drive greater organizational security awareness.

At the start of a crisis or emergency the call for help is often, “All Hands On Deck!” But after the crisis passes, or once you are in now dealing with the emergency, you begin to see the shortcomings that exist in your system. This has been the case nationwide for school districts, systems and communities during the pandemic. School districts, colleges and universities have all learned critical lessons about technology – both inside the classroom and remote. Now it’s time to take those “lessons learned” and apply them not only to the current crisis but to the future of educational technology.

Join Aspire Technology Partners on The Digital Aspirations in Education Podcast as host Jared Heiner, Director of Education Innovation and Sales at Aspire Technology Partners, interviews Shelley Rossitto, Focus Group Coordinator at NYSCATE. Jared and Shelley discuss many of the critical challenges faced by school districts, educators, students, parents and the technology teams that have supported them in remote and hybrid learning during the pandemic. As Shelley says about tech planning and the pandemic, “The difference last year was it happened in a split second. And planning was done during a coffee break. And implementation was in a parking lot with masks, with one hand tied behind your back.” Next time it can be different!

While classes at the high-school and college levels remain in a variety of hybrid learning modes, school sports are mostly off the field due to contact concerns. But there is one shining exception: Esports! More than 185 colleges and universities, and many high schools, play host to formal interscholastic Esports teams which are a great channel for communication and competition among different student populations.

Join us on The Digital Aspirations in Education Podcast as host Jared Heiner, Director of Education Innovation and Sales at Aspire Technology Partners, interviews Tyler Schrodt, founder of the Electronic Gaming Federation (EGF), the official governing body for Division-1 Collegiate, High School and Youth Amateur Esports leagues. Jared and Tyler discuss the exciting and innovative ways that electronic gaming is impacting education and how the EGF is providing an infrastructure for interscholastic Esports to leverage the best aspects of traditional sports in online competitions.

Here we are in the middle (still) of a pandemic that continues to dramatically change the way we teach and learn. All the traditional familiarity of in-person learning has changed. Most schools – whether K-12 or higher education – are providing some type of remote- or hybrid-learning experience. In this episode of our podcast, we discuss synchronous and asynchronous remote learning scenarios as well as household technology usage and access to remote learning solutions.

Join us on The Digital Aspirations in Education Podcast as host Jared Heiner, Director of Education Innovation and Sales at Aspire Technology Partners, and his guests Dr. Jason Vickers, Department of Education Theory and Practice and Dr. Alex Kumi, Assistant Professor, Education Theory and Practice, both from the University at Albany, provide context and insight into the impact of remote and hybrid learning on the future of education.

The Capital Region of New York State is home to one of the hottest hands-on STEM learning hubs – Capital Region BOCES.  When considering career readiness during a tumultuous economic environment, Senior Executive Officer at NYS Capital Region BOCES Joseph Dragone says the parallel paths of workforce development and economic development are completely interrelated – which is why he and his team work closely with industry and business partners on workforce development and the next frontier of skilled labor. Join us on The Digital Aspirations in Education Podcast for insight and discussion about new hands-on skilled labor areas like Engineering Technologies, Telecom and 5G, IoT, and Video Game Design.

COVID-19 has caused many educators who may have resisted technology in the past, to find great value in using technology in the classroom. Students require access to technology and the internet – that point is clear. And educational technology access requires specific support ranging from internal technology teams to external providers with knowledge of the K-12 environment. In the second half of our two-part podcast with guest Dr. Amy DelCorvo, CEO and Executive Director of NYSCATE, host Jared Heiner discusses how instructional technology is blending with infrastructure technology and the ways this impacts classroom and remote learning. Join us on The Digital Aspirations in Education Podcast for more insight and discussion.

In the mid-1960s, New York State launched a small association to provide technology coordinators for each school district. Flash forward to 2020 and membership in the New York State Association for Computers and Technologies in Education (NYSCATE) is now 30,000 strong, but that is just a fraction of its potential reach. The organization’s ambitious mission is to enhance education by leveraging the power of the technology to assist every educator and every learner with their diverse needs. Join host Jared Heiner and his guest Dr. Amy DelCorvo, CEO and Executive Director of NYSCATE on The Digital Aspirations in Education Podcast as they discuss several topics, including flipped learning due to , including the recent impact of COVID-19 and the need for remote teaching platforms.