As the current cycle of E-rate funding comes to a close, it’s time for school districts to turn an eye toward what’s coming next.

Fortunately, we now have some clarity on what the next few years will look like. Until December 2019, districts were a bit in the dark, left to wonder what rules the federal government would adopt to govern discounts and budgets going forward. But now that the regulations are clear, school districts can use them to guide their next five years of networking investments.

Here are three steps that school districts should take now to get ready for the next round of E-rate funding.

Winston Churchill once said, “We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.”

I always keep this quote in mind when working with school districts on modern learning environments that bring together devices, audiovisual tools and flexible furniture to foster collaboration and student-centered learning. Through our Blueprint to Design™ program, CDW helps schools with each step of a modern technology implementation, and I’m on many consultation calls with educators. They bring great passion and ideas to these conversations, but it occurred to me that the process would be even more effective if educators asked themselves a few key questions first.

While security might not present itself as an immediate emergency, school leaders should consult regularly with their IT teams about this significant technology risk. One of the major barriers to these conversations is the lack of a common vocabulary. The world of cybersecurity is full of technical terms that may be bewildering to school leaders who find themselves more familiar with the world of education. Let’s take a look at six questions that you can use to start an informed conversation at your school.

Through a mix of devices, flexible furniture and audiovisual solutions, today’s classroom environment puts students at the center of their own learning. But if a school’s back-end infrastructure, culture and budget can’t support the addition of new technologies, these improvements will have limited impact.

In this blog post, we explore five common obstacles to deploying modern learning environments, and discuss how your school can move past them.

Today’s educators realize that devices are just one component of a modern learning environment, which also incorporates flexible furniture, audiovisual solutions and — most importantly — instruction tailored to take advantage of these tools. Here’s how modern learning environments help students develop life and career skills and excel in the areas of learning and innovation, as well as information, media and technology.

Only a few years ago, it seemed most educators still needed convincing that video games had any role to play at academic institutions. By now, many educators have come to understand the benefits of esports, but they lack staff with experience in implementing esports programs.

To make matters more complicated, there’s no one “right” way to design an esports initiative. After all, needs vary by size and goals. Find out how other K–12 schools, colleges and universities rolled out their programs, and get inspired to start your own.