HPS Educational Digital Learning
We commit to providing a high quality education centered around dynamic learning and personal well being in a community where everyone can find belonging.
Digital Learning Philosophy
HPS’s approach to the use of digital resources and educational technology begins with the assertion that the learning experiences teachers design are meaningful, age-appropriate and enhance or enrich learning. The district vision statement drives our thought process and reasoning behind each device and software choice. HPS value the exciting role of technology in our lives but we also acknowledge that as we care for our children, technology can provide some challenges keeping our kids safe and healthy. In order to help with this challenge, below are some information and tips for balancing technology. We believe in scaffolding opportunities and allowing students space to learn and grow. While, we don't want students to experience internet blocks at every turn, some controls are in place in order to create a safer digital environment for them. We want to provide students with the tools and knowledge needed to manage their own digital resources, both content and quantity.
What does HPS use for digital learning?
Devices
NOTE: All students and families sign the HPS Lending Agreement before receiving a device.
Grades preK-4 - Students have access to classroom iPads
5th - 7th Grade Students are assigned a school-leased iPad
8th - 12th Grade Students are assigned a school-leased MacBook
Device Accessories
iPads
We don't supply keyboards to the students for home use. If you'd like to purchase one for home use, here are some recommendations.
Here are some options for keyboards for the iPads:
Keyboards for iPads:
Wired:
Kensington Wired iPad Keyboard with Lightning Connector--Approx. $70
Logitech Wired Keyboard for iPad with Lightning Connector --Approx. $50
Bluetooth:
Macally Compact Bluetooth Keyboard --Approx. $30
Macally Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard with Numeric Keypad--Approx. $50
Device Filters and Other Safeguards
When making decisions about digital resources and safety, the HPS Technology Leaders refer to the following policies in addition to our school vision statement.
Our filtering software comes from a company called Family Zone. Family Zone works with our school district to help create safe digital learning environments and educate students and parents about digital wellness. Family Zone is composed of three tiers:
Linewize Monitor - the filtering software our IT department installs on our school-managed devices to protect students both at school and off campus.
Community Digital Wellness
Live Parent Webinars with our Digital Wellness Educator.
HPS Online Safety Hub - a resource for staff and families to learn about apps and games and get age-appropriate advice.
Qustodio - A parental monitoring app integrated with district devices to give parents insight into how student's are managing device usage on school devices.
Classwize - A student monitoring tool for educators to use during class time.
iPads
Apple Classroom - Classroom turns your iPad into a powerful teaching assistant, helping you guide students through a lesson, see their progress and keep them on track. With Classroom, you can easily launch the same app on every student iPad at the same time or launch a different app for each group of students. Classroom helps teachers focus on teaching, so students can focus on learning.
JAMF Parent App - The free Jamf Parent iOS app empowers parents to manage their children's school-issued devices. Through an intuitive interface, restrict which apps children can access on their devices, to allow or restrict certain apps.
Linewize by Family Zone - Content Filtering on School Devices All the Time
Family Zone lives on student's devices to keep them safe and responsible no matter where they go, or what network they connect to.
The Linewize ecosystem is a unique response to the challenge of today’s connected learning environments. The ecosystem aligns a series of products to help districts stay in regulatory compliance, get the most out of their purchased technology, keep kids cyber-safe at school, and impact the parent community by assisting them in raising good digital citizens. For more information, please visit www.linewize.com.
MacBooks
Linewize by Family Zone - Content Filtering on School Devices All the Time
Family Zone lives on student's devices to keep them safe and responsible no matter where they go, or what network they connect to.
The Linewize ecosystem is a unique response to the challenge of today’s connected learning environments. The ecosystem aligns a series of products to help districts stay in regulatory compliance, get the most out of their purchased technology, keep kids cyber-safe at school, and impact the parent community by assisting them in raising good digital citizens. For more information, please visit www.linewize.com.
Google
Harvard Public Schools has Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals subscription through which students have school-managed Google accounts. Student accounts are managed by the school's Google Administrators. Google Admins have created a grade level Google Group and each group is setup. with age-appropriate permissions and restrictions.
Seesaw
Student have different ways to sign in depending on grade level. Clever Sign In is designed for young learners (PreK-2) and shared devices. No usernames/passwords are required. Google Sign In is designed for students who can remember email addresses and passwords.
Teachers can decide if students can see other students’ journals in your class.
Teachers can decide if students and parents can like or comment on posts. Many teachers decide to turn this ON after they have been using Seesaw for a few weeks and have had a direct lesson about appropriate comments.
YouTube
Restricted Mode is an optional setting that you can use on YouTube to help screen out potentially mature content that you may prefer not to see or don’t want others using your device to see. We enforce this mode and students cannot use YouTube unless Restricted mode is set to on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtQat5HNYrI
Clever
Clever is a digital learning platform for K12 schools--one friendly place for single sign-on, messaging, analytics, and more.
Zoom
Zoom meetings require students to log in to zoom with psharvard.org accounts in order to prevent outside intruders or mysterious guests.
Education is Key
Starting in Kindergarten, we have a comprehensive Digital Literacy curriculum. In addition to direct lessons that are taught in library and technology classes, teachers reinforce skills as they come up organically in a lesson. We do our best to follow the recommended MA Digital Literacy and Computer Science Standards.
At different times, for different purposes, we emphasize the 9 elements of Digital Citizenship, well-defined in this post.
We want to provide students with the tools and knowledge needed to manage their own digital resources, both content and quantity. To dig deeper into our curriculum, click here!
What Can I Do At Home?
If you opt for additional safeguard at home, here are some resources.
Our #1 tip is to insist that students do school learning/activities on the school-assigned device.
If you are going to use a personal device, here are some tips:
Browser Restrictions - If you would like to explore additional browser restrictions on a personal devices, this tutorial is helpful.
Home Parental Controls - Most households have an Internet provider, like Spectrum (Charter) or Verizon. The provider either gives you a router or you purchase your own router to connect your wireless home devices to the internet. Most routers come with parental control options to set up restrictions for time limits and content limits.
Here is a list of the Spectrum Routers and Modems. I spoke with Spectrum who assured me that all of their devices have parental controls but I would check first. Here is another list of recommended routers for parental controls.
NetGear
If you have Comcast, here is a resource for adding parental controls.
If you are interested in further controls, here are some additional alternative resources available. We have not used them nor can we recomment them but this list was avai;an;e throgh Common Sense Media.
Ensure you have virus protection and firewall software on all your devices.
Keep your WiFi secure with a complex password.
Teach your children the difference between a private network (like at home) and public networks (like at the library.)
