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Empowering Education with Microsoft’s “Shape the Future” Program 

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Technology has revolutionized how we live, work, and learn in today’s rapidly evolving world. Education technology has the power to enhance collaboration, improve engagement, and provide personalized learning experiences to students like never before. Unfortunately, financial limitations often hinder schools from fully embracing edtech in the classroom. Microsoft’s “Shape the Future” program is a commendable initiative to empower education by providing access to affordable technology solutions for K-12 communities. 

The Benefits of an Esports Program

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The Benefits of an Esports Program

Esports are a hot topic right now, and for good reason. Research suggests that the value of the global esports market was valued at $970 million in revenue in 2020, with projections that this value will more than double by 2025 and reach a total market value of $2.89 billion. Clearly there’s a growing appetite for esports in mainstream circles. […]

Maximizing School Budgets: Warranties

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Maximizing School Budgets: Warranties

Budget maximization is a necessity for every school district. Most K-12 districts deal with some level of complication around purchasing new technology—whether they don’t have the budget for it or are simply unaware of the technology and financing options available to them. The districts that invest in new technology in a proactive and competitive manner often cover the costs strategically […]

Solving Classroom Challenges with EdTech Tools

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Standardization is a common strategy in modern K-12 environments—from common study programs to age-based grading to uniform testing policies. But it’s no secret that many students struggle to learn in these standardized learning environments, and a growing body of research suggests that the one-size-fits-all approach of modern education holds some students back. Through increased virtual instruction and a growing number […]

Cybersecurity for K-12 Schools

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With an enormous increase in phishing scams, malware attacks, ransomware schemes, and serious data breaches, the past two years have demonstrated that a strong cybersecurity system is essential for K-12 schools just as much as it is for corporations. The lack of adequate protection can be extremely disruptive and costly: from completely shutting down school operations to exposing students’ personal records, to costing millions of taxpayer dollars to pay ransoms. 

Personalized Learning Solutions: Lifecycle Management

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Lifecycle Management

In any environment, a broken device can be a big disruption to workflow. For K-12 schools where it is less common to have the budget to keep backup laptops or tablets on-hand and ready to go, broken devices can cause wasted time and learning distractions. Proactively managing the lifecycle of classroom devices—from purchase, to maintenance, to disposal—can seem pricey or time consuming up-front but offers significant benefits in the long run. Administrators should invest in a well-defined plan to deploy and manage devices across their schools and districts so that they are not surprised with unexpected delays, expenses, or security breaches down the road.

Online Learning After COVID?

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Flexibility for students and educators is going to be critical for the next school year Students and teachers alike learned a lot through the COVID pandemic about the dos and don’ts of eLearning. To overcome the distractions, the distance, and the one-sided nature of interacting online, many teachers got creative: teaching math through a Virtual Reality computer game for example, […]

Cybersecurity in the Classroom

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Cyberattacks on schools and academia in general are on the rise again. According to Checkpoint Software, weekly attacks against education organizations increased 30% quarter over quarter last year compared to a 6.5% increase across other US sectors.  Hackers are homing in on soft targets, and some of the hackers are coming from inside. In September 2020, a Florida teen launched “a series of DDoS attacks that helped shut down one of the nation’s largest school districts for its first three days of virtual […]

Embracing Esports in the Covid-19 Era

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Before the pandemic, esports was becoming more than just a buzzword amongst K-12 decision makers. Many schools were implementing programs or beginning the necessary research in order to move forward with a program. As with most things, talk of esports halted in February as Covid-19 took precedence and remote and distance learning took center stage. However, esports is still a […]

Four Tips District Leaders Can Follow to Effectively Incorporate Remote Learning This Fall

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The Fall semester for K-12 schools is upon us and many schools are implementing new strategies for remote learning heading into the school year. Virtucom shares a common goal with many school districts, and that is to effectively use technology to positively impact the student learning environment. This endeavor, under typical circumstances, entails considerable planning, strategy, and more often than […]