The past three months since the last A4L Quarterly Newsletter has been very busy and rewarding…
In August I had the honor of representing A4L/SDPC at the White House Back to School Safely: Cybersecurity for K-12 Schools event. The event took place in the East Room…
Today – Monday, August 7th, 2023 – The US Department of Education Office of Education Technology released three briefs that cover the role of interoperability, cybersecurity, and privacy. These briefs are part of a national effort to create more secure and resilient digital ecosystems.
In a joint announcement, two well established education community standards bodies have agreed to develop a closer partnership with the goal of scaling K-12 and Postsecondary data standards efforts. The Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community and the Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC) are formally coordinating their work to align the adoption of secure, trusted, free and open data standards and methods across the P-20W domain.
Community Review period will be open to members of the A4L Community from Thursday, July 20, 2023 until 5pm ET on Friday, August 11, 2023 (inclusive).
Last month we held our annual Privacy & Interoperability Symposium in Chicago. With nearly 100 attendees, and a very full agenda, it was a great conference. The excitement about both the current work of A4L and the future of the organization was evident throughout. It was great to spend quality time in person with everyone that could attend. Keep an eye out for an announcement about a fall event in the near future.
Since our last newsletter lots has been happening behind the scenes…
The Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community in North America is proud to announce the release of the global SIF Infrastructure Specification 3.6 enhancing quality of service and ease of use for the marketplace.
– The Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community in North America is proud to announce the North American Management and Technical Boards for 2023. The Management Board brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in education, data management, technology and business acumen. The Board will oversee management of the SIF Specification and guide development of the A4L Community in North America as well as contribute to the development of strategies for the global Community.
During the second annual Privacy & Interoperability Symposium, the Student Data Privacy Consortium (SDPC) announced version 1.0 of the first ever international education sector specific data security standard. The Global Education Security Standard (GESS) reflects the combined work and outputs of a multi-national team dedicated to improving the cyber safety of the education sector. The Student Data Privacy Consortium (SDPC), a Special Interest Group of the non-profit Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community, has been successful in bringing the educational technology (EdTech) marketplace players and school districts/states/countries together in addressing student data privacy obligations.
The Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community has continued to have phenomenal leadership over the past year. The leadership, guidance and overall dedication to the Community prove critical to our collective successes… it is hard to believe that it is time for elections again! Nominations for the North American Management Board and At-Large Technical Board will be available from March 30 – April 20, 2023 (inclusive).
For some of us it is spring. For our AU & NZ members it is the end of another summer. For those of us in the US some have had a mild winter and others very stormy. One thing we all have in common is that as a member of the A4L Community we are all entering a period of rebirth, excitement and renewed energy. The future of A4L is very bright.
