Announcements
SREB COVID-19 Response and Resources
SREB is dedicated to supporting educators and policy leaders as they work through challenges unfolding from the coronavirus pandemic. During this time of uncertainty, we are convening leaders to help them develop strategies, find solutions, and share ideas and resources. The Higher Education Recovery Task Force, K-12 Education Recovery Task Force, K-12 Resources, Postsecondary Resources, CTE Resources, and State Actions sections each contain information to help SREB states navigate issues that have developed as a result of the pandemic.

Data Privacy 
Zoom's Privacy Woes Lead Back to End-to-End Encryption
CIO Dive, April 2, 2020, Samantha Ann Schwartz
Just a few months ago, Zoom was averaging 10 million people per day in usage. In March, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread around the world, the per-day usage skyrocketed to over 200 million people. Privacy was one of the biggest concerns that almost immediately arose as there were numerous reports of ‘zoom-bombing.’ While end-to-end encryption is difficult to achieve in video conferencing platforms, Zoom’s slow response to privacy concerns has caught the attention of law enforcement officials at the state level. According to Zoom’s CEO, the company is “preparing a transparency report to outline requests for data, records or content.”

How to Address Data Privacy During Remote Learning
EdTech Magazine, April 8, 2020, David Andrade
It seems like schools and universities moved almost exclusively to remote learning overnight. As a result, many institutions are taking a closer look at data privacy and remote learning plans. In addition to making sure remote learning tools are in compliance with FERPA and COPPA laws, “school leaders should also consider holding trainings for educators so they know how to best evaluate technology for secure remote teaching and learning.” Further, schools should consider finding products and learning platforms that “apply encryption, strong identity authentication and privacy policies that explain how their use of student data complies with FERPA.”

Bandwidth 
What 'Distance Learning' Looks Like for Students Without Computers or Wi-Fi
HuffPost, March 13, 2020, Rebecca Klein
The current public health crisis almost immediately shifted the world of higher education into an exclusively online platform. While the move makes sense in theory, thousands of students, particularly for community college students may not have the necessary access to technology and broadband to complete their studies. “A 2019 survey of over 10,000 community college students, conducted by Wolff-Eisenberg and other researchers, found that only 78% of students reported having reliable access to a computer or laptop. Eight in 10 students said they would find it helpful to be able to borrow or use Wi-Fi hotspots from their university. Over 70% said they would like to borrow computers.” Only time will tell how these students are able to manage their education.

House Coronavirus Bill Would Direct Billions to Schools, Fund Remote Learning
EdWeek, March 23, 2020, Andrew Ujifusa
The stimulus bill proposed by Congress includes funding to assist students forced into remote learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill would grant $2 billion to the Emergency Connectivity Fund under the federal E-Rate program to help schools and libraries provide the following:

• Off-site Wi-Fi hotspots
• Connected devices to students, staff, and library patrons
• Mobile broadband internet access through the Wi-Fi hotspots or connected devices

Emerging Technologies 
How Microsoft Teams Will Use AI to Filter out Typing, Barking, and Other Noise from Video Calls
Venture Beat, April 9, 2020, Emil Protalinski
Microsoft Teams, Skype, and other similar programs have been using noise suppression technology for years. Most noise suppression software covers things like air conditioning or computer fans. Now, Microsoft Teams will “suppress non-stationary noises like a dog barking or somebody shutting a door” by training new data sets to reduce noise in real-time. Developers took thousands of diverse speakers and more than 100 noise types and then mixed the clean speech with and without the noise in order to train the AI models to recognize stationary and non-stationary noise.

3 Ways Artificial Intelligence Can Improve Campus Cybersecurity
EdTech Magazine, March 30, 2020, Jen Miller
AI based technology can bolster cybersecurity in colleges and universities, particularly those that also have healthcare systems or other systems with highly sensitive data. Institutes of higher education can use AI for cybersecurity to:

1. Leverage security analytics to speed up threat surveillance
2. Use deep learning in cybersecurity to bolster vulnerability management
3. Maximize AI to detect network security cyberattacks

Technology Security 
Cybersecurity Risks spike as COVID-19 Forces City Staff to Go Remote
Smart Cities Dive, April 6, 2020, Chris Teale
Before the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the nation, few local government employees worked remotely as residents depended on face-to-face interactions. Now with most local government employees working from home, there are greater challenges to protect sensitive data as employees need to access data over networks that may not be secure. “But not all hope is lost. Many cloud-based services and products have proven beneficial for cities going virtual due to their built-in security measures.”

How Apple and Google are Tackling One of the Toughest Parts about Tracking COVID-19 Exposures
The Verge, April 11, 2020, Casey Newton
Contact tracing is a method used by public health officials to contact people who have been exposed to infectious diseases. As the world adjusts to life amid the COVID-19 pandemic both health care workers and tech corporations are working to experiment “with apps that attempt to use the widespread adoption of smartphones and the signals they receive to identify new potential cases.” Apple and Google are teaming up to develop a system that will help contact tracking by “sending out Bluetooth signals to nearby phones and recording signals sent to it by other phones. The best part of this system is that it works retroactively.” Once a person downloads a public health app tied into this system, it will share ‘proximity events’ from the past 14 days.

Digital Accessibility 
Would IDEA Waivers Benefit Districts During School Closures?
Education Dive, April 3, 2020, Naaz Modan
As school districts across the nation face extended closures because of the COVID-19 pandemic, states and districts are having to rethink special education delivery. Whether through paper packets or video conferencing, districts are concerned about meeting IDEA requirements. While some states and advocacy organizations are concerned that IDEA waivers could lead to a breakdown of civil rights for students, “the Education Department has urged districts to continue providing as many services for special needs students as possible, while working with parents on a case-by-case basis to extend timeline requirements and continuing remote education for general ed students rather than educate no students out of fear." ​

Solving Remote Learning Struggles for Students with Vision and Hearing Loss
EdTech Magazine, April 27, 2020, Amelia Pang
As institutes of higher ed move almost exclusively to remote learning delivery amid the COVID-19 pandemic, some advocates are concerned that students with disabilities may face more obstacles with online learning. Disability Access Information and Support and the Association on Higher Education and Disability have each published guidelines and best practices to help educators navigate these uncertain times. The guidelines include such things as ensuring proper captioning for students with hearing loss and ensuring website and learning management systems are compatible with screen-reading software.

Policy 
State Policy Flexibilities in Response to COVID-19: Avoid Failing the Next Cohort of New Teachers
SREB, March 31, 2020
With colleges and schools moving online to curb the spread of COVID-19, state leaders will need to act quickly to ensure that policies do not prevent student-teachers from graduating and becoming licensed to teach in the fall. This brief includes immediate and longer-term recommendations to prevent pandemic closures from escalating the teacher shortage crisis.