EdTech Acronyms Explained!

Preramble:?Hands up who knows what an SIS is. Okay smarty pants put your hand down. I had no bleeding clue what an SIS was when I was teaching though I used one everyday. And honestly this is the case for 99% of the acronyms that gets thrown around in EdTech. The thing is though that most of the jargon is actually pretty simple. We just haven't needed to know them. If you learn what these are though you can start reaching out to the apps you're using and demand they get some of them in place. Trust me a few of these will make your life as a teacher/middle leader/senior leader/student infinitely easier.

SIS - Student Information system = Management Information System - MIS

Most Popular I work with: iSAMS/SIMS/Engage/PowerSchool

So just with the acronym expanded, and examples given, most in the Education field who haven't heard of SIS will still know exactly what it is.

This is the bedrock with which all your other EdTech will be built upon. It's key for a school to get very familiar with the SIS they use. A lot of schools and individual teachers make the mistake of neglecting to learn them properly. Trust me these aren't just annoying places you have to upload markbooks or write reports. They are usually massive and can do way more than you'd expect. But they can also be clunky. Whatever EdTech you can get integrated to them will inevitably save you time. SIS's are your ultimate source of truth for student information.

LMS - Learning Management System = Virtual Learning Environment - VLE

Most Popular I work with: Google Classroom/MicroSoft Teams/Managebac

I personally prefer VLE though I hear LMS get used more often here in Asia and Australasia. I feel VLE lends itself to the extended realities we'll eventually inhabit in education down the road.

So if SIS's are your bedrock, VLE's are your foundations. Ideally you should not have multiple VLE's if you can help it. Everything you do should come through here to ease the burden of learning management from both students and teachers. I've already mentioned integrations previously, and it'll be the key word in this article because it is the most important concept behind the 'Tech' of EdTech in my opinion. Teachers don't usually need encouragement to learn the ins and outs here. VLE's are so obviously an awesome upside of embedding Tech compared to how we used to manage learning in the analog world.

API - Application Programming Interface

Application refers to any software you use for a purpose. Interface can be thought of as how the two communicate with each other using requests and responses. So basically, they're like translators that allow your apps to talk to one another.

I consider API's as my colleagues and so should you. Honestly, I have no idea how they work. We have a super clever Tech team in our company that organise these integrations. However, they are made simple for apps and schools by third party companies and they are well worth it. Ever had an app that will automatically update all of your classes when students leave/move/join your school? If you integrate your SIS to an app you really like you'll never have to manage a class on that app again. Caveat: Your SIS has to be managed well for this to be effective. But if it's not, that's a real issue anyway as there can be safeguarding implications to that.

PII - Personally Identifiable Information

All the important info that differentiates you from others and thus makes you easier to hack, phish and sell. For example: full name, maiden names, street address, email address, mobile number, passport number, credit card number etc.

Nowadays we are sharing our PII so much it's a little unnerving. The key is knowing the organisations you are doing this with. It's almost impossible to get by now without sharing these details. So know who you're sharing with or even better, ensure you're alerted when your PII has been exposed. And when I say know who you're sharing with. In an educational sense, ask for their security policies and documents. Lot's of schools based in China now are leaning into DTA's (Data Transfer Agreements) with their apps. Yes it's not convenient, but the security is likely worth it.

SSO - Single Sign On

A tech integration that allows teachers and students to login with a single click as opposed to using usernames and passwords.

Okay, now we get into what I call 'aggregate thinking'. This is when you invest time into skimming time off relative minor tasks that are conducted by many people many times. Thus the aggregate time and frustration you can save here over a longer time period becomes significant.

I remember when SSO's were first taking off Facebook was heavily into them, but I was already weary of connecting more of my PII to Facebook and with the whole Cambridge Analytica fiasco it would appear my suspicions weren't unfounded. You can still get these quick SSO's like Google for example (which I am less weary of), but Apps are also able to use SAML to set you up even if you don't use Google. It is well worth reaching out to the apps you currently use to get this set up for you and your students. Reach out to them and connect them with your school tech team. It's super easy for both parties to do!

SAML - Security Assertion Markup Language

This is definitely more tech now than education so I won't go into details here.

LTI - Learning Tools Interoperability

Oh baby you thought API's were good. Wait till you hear this! So if API's allow your apps to talk to one another, LTI's straight up plug them into your VLE. So instead of logging into a separate site to access the app you love so much, it can now be embedd into your VLE, where the data can be captured in your VLE too and students can use your app right there in the place they should spend most of their time digitally speaking.

LTI's get me excited like you wouldn't believe.

WTF - What The Fridge

Do we really need more acronyms?! Honestly? Yes. The new capabilities out there really can't be summed up easily without them. I know they can feel like jargon and as such can be really off putting, but if you take your time to learn what they make possible it can shock you just how much further along we are with EdTech.