Q&A: Tech Tools Continue to Support Schools’ Mental Health Efforts

Districts with antiquated network infrastructure won’t be able to support the volume of devices trying to connect this school year. Most schools have moved to a one-to-one model, with 90 percent of district leaders reporting a device for every middle and high school student and 84 percent reporting the same for elementary students, according to an Education Week survey.
However, student and educator devices aren’t the only ed tech gear clambering for bandwidth. Internet of Things technologies, from cloud-enabled displays to classroom assistants, also connect to the school’s network. Likewise…

With mental health in students continuing to decline, according to Forbes, K–12 schools and educators are looking for the best ways to support those who are struggling without sacrificing learning. A renewed focus on social-emotional learning in K–12 classrooms is one way districts are trying to help students overcome the increased levels of stress and trauma many have experienced during the past two and a half years. However, providing social-emotional learning lessons alone may not be enough to equip students with the non-cognitive skills they need to effectively process their emotions.…

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google announces Chrome will get a Memory Saver mode, which promises to cut memory usage by up to 30%, and an Energy Saver mode, rolling out in the coming weeks  —  Google today announced two new performance settings in its Chrome browser: Memory Saver and Energy Saver.

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google announces Chrome will get a Memory Saver mode, which promises to cut memory usage by up to 30%, and an Energy Saver mode, rolling out in the coming weeks  —  Google today announced two new performance settings in its Chrome browser: Memory Saver and Energy Saver.

Despite more government interest in K–12 organizations’ cybersecurity infrastructure, not to mention higher thresholds for cyber insurance, an Emsisoft report found a 15 percent increase in attacks against educational institutions in which data was exfiltrated.
“Data was exfiltrated in at least 58 incidents (65 percent) compared to in 44 incidents the previous year (50 percent),” the report noted. Ransomware potentially impacted 1,981 schools in 2022, compared with 1,043 schools that were potentially impacted the previous year.
Even with K–12 IT teams working hard to protect their districts’…