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Unit 1: Classroom Instruction | Unit 2: iPads in the Classroom |Unit 3: Digital Balance
Unit 4: Digital Citizenship | Unit 5: Social Media | Unit 6: When All Else Fails...
District 214 devices are managed by a program called JSS. This program allows the technology department to send apps purchased by the district to our students. We are also able to remove passcodes, if necessary. Many teachers also use a program called Apple Classroom, which allows them to focus the iPad on one app at a time. Also, the District 214 wireless network is filtered according to the guidelines for the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA).
In an effort to address parent and staff feedback on students’ digital readiness, 9th grade students have been enrolled in a Digital Literacy course through Schoology starting with the 2017-2018 school year. Their iPads have been set up with restricted access for their freshman year. Students will work through curriculum that is designed to help them navigate their iPad, digital citizenship, and digital literacy. The goal of this course is to provide a uniform process for the induction of students into District 214’s 1:1 program.
The course is composed of several units and includes activities on District 214 policies and procedures, digital citizenship, balancing technology usage, and digital literacy skills. Units are set up with completion rules so students will need to view and complete each item before the next one becomes available.
Students will have the duration of the entire school year to complete the activities and an end-of-course survey. Students who stay on pace can earn incentives at the end of each quarter:
From time to time we have used restrictions on the iPad for individual students. The decision to use restrictions for junior and senior students is made through a collaborative effort by parents, counselors, Deans and other Student Services personnel. If you feel that restrictions would be appropriate for your student, please start by contacting your student's counselor. It is important for the school to work together with the parents or guardians because students may need access to certain apps that may be restricted at school for educational purposes. When the school works together with parents, we can ensure that the school Helpdesk has the appropriate restriction code to help a student access what is needed for the classroom. If you would like to know more about how restrictions work and what the options are, here is the link to Apple’s support/directions page for restrictions: About Restrictions (parental controls) on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
Parents should also be aware of VPNs. VPN stands for Virtual Private Networks. Virtual private networks can be put on iPads/iPhones to allow users to send private information over a network. While helpful to an end user, the use of VPNs at school can allow students to bypass the filters that are in place. District 214 has a procedure in place to block the use of VPNs while in the building. However, new VPNs are created all the time. As we become aware of these, we add them to our filtering system. You can see if your child has a VPN on their iPad by going into Settings. In Settings, click on General and then scroll all the way to the bottom where you see VPN. If you see a message that says Not Connected next to VPN, then there is no VPN installed. If you see that it is turned on, you can remove the VPN. Click here for a video on finding and removing VPNs:
We all have various rules and guidelines with our students when it comes to behavior. These articles focus on various guidelines and rules parents and guardians have developed with their students around the use of technology both inside and outside of their homes. Please know these are just suggestions and discussion points:
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