By: Valerie Doherty
In a world that is increasingly digital, passwords protect our valuable information and personal identity online. Every site from banking to social media requires a password for secure access. The problem is, each site has different criteria for an acceptable password. For example, most require both letters and numbers, are case sensitive and must have a certain amount of digits and/or numbers. Technology experts advise that you should never use the same password on multiple sites. With the growing number of accounts we each have, who can remember them all?
As educational resources have begun to migrate into the digital format, students taking online classes are presented with this challenge daily. Not only do they have district assigned accounts, they have classes to access which have numerous resources that may require password protection. These added steps may become barriers that inhibit a student’s ability to learn efficiently and effectively.
Feeling the need to remove this obstacle, Idaho Digital Learning has created digital learning portals. The custom school portals offer students the opportunity to access their online courses, resources, and more in a single easy-to-use location while allowing schools local control over their student’s online experience. Portals can also act as a communication tool, providing links to school internet acceptable use policies and tools that promote digital citizenship.
Initially designed for districts and schools, the portal vision has since grown into other educational opportunities throughout Idaho. For example, Idaho Digital Learning has partnered with the Idaho State Department of Education to create the Educational Resource Library (ERL) which will provide professional development opportunities and resources to all Idaho teachers through the single sign-on portal environment.
Due to the success of these portals, Idaho Digital Learning envisions the Parent Resource Center. A portal that provides one location where parents can access resources (learning tools, information, materials, and a vibrant community) available for them to support their child(ren) as they begin along their educational path and continue toward college and career opportunities.
What started out as a solution for multiple passwords has grown into an awesome tool that provides efficiency thus making everybody’s lives simpler.
