21st Century Learning and Teaching

By now, most everyone has heard the story: on April 23rd, the AP’s twitter account was “hacked.” The tweet, which was a fairly obviously fake, still managed to send Wall Street into a panic. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 145 points in 2 minutes.

So why is this important? It highlights the reality of the threat landscape.

The point of the story is that mobile security isn’t just about protecting you from viruses. Threats don’t only come in the form of malicious applications that one inadvertently “sideloads” onto his or her device. Mobile security is also about making sure your data is protected.

It doesn’t matter whether the economic climate is good or bad, there is always a market for fraud. The marketplace for carding is growing and will continue to grow. And as the engineers behind these types of attacks get smarter and smarter, we can only expect to see them more and more often.

There are a few snags that can get in the way of implementing BYOD in schools and are worth knowing about before setting out on a BYOD path.

1. Security

2. Safety

3. Affordability

4. Networking and Compatibility

With the growth of BYOD, what security measures can IT take to ensure security of enterprise data – and does MDM have a role?

Unfortunately, the "EdTech vs. IT" mindset is all too prevalent in many organizations.  Operational IT looks down disdainfully on their users from an ivory tower, viewing them as "threats" to be carefully controlled and monitored. 

Teachers view the IT department as a bunch of out of touch control freaks who hinder rather than facilitate their work. As a former teacher, I have seen it from both sides.

This sad situation is wrong on many levels. 

===> The relationship between IT and users should be a partnership, not a boxing match! <===