MAEDS 2024

Join us for an insightful session on "Ensuring Excellence: Michigan DataHub's Data Verification Tools." In this session, you'll discover the critical role data quality plays in the success of data integrations and legislative reporting. We will showcase MiDataHub’s robust data quality tools through a live demonstration, highlighting key features such as the Benchmark Assessment feature, the At a Glance Report, and Custom Exports. Learn how these tools are designed to ensure your data integrations are accurate and reliable, empowering you to achieve seamless and successful data management across your systems. Don’t miss this opportunity to enhance your data quality practices with Michigan DataHub!

Description:
Ready to geek out and empathize a little while solving big IT problems? This session will present key findings from our feasibility studies on consolidating and expanding shared IT services across Michigan's K-12 landscape to achieve more equitable services. We explored the potential for intermediate school districts (ISDs) to offer centralized services like Service Desk, network engineering, administration, Cloud storage, and more on a regional or statewide basis. Spoiler alert: we’re all about finding solutions that promote digital equity and make IT staff smile (yes, really!).

The studies analyzed current IT services, projected costs, implementation roadmaps, and benefits of a consolidated model. Our guiding principles? Ensuring equitable access, enhancing network reliability and security, leveraging shared services, and—you guessed it—improving staff retention rates and tackling the things that keep you up at night. Who doesn’t want to give their overworked staff a real vacation without having to log in?

We'll share real-world staffing and operational data from multiple ISDs, giving you the inside scoop. The session will cover our "working backwards" approach, starting with a vision for an equitable future state that provides engaging IT career paths, and then offering some nitty-gritty details of possible approaches to implementation.

Attendees will gain insights into:
-Potential for centralized services to provide enriching professional development opportunities (Ever thought about career coaching for IT ninjas?)
-Roadmap for phased implementation prioritizing underserved areas and staff wellbeing (Because who doesn’t love a good roadmap?)
-Identifying the indicators that help you recognize when the timing is right for collaboration efforts and start planning for increased stability (We all need indicators, even if we don’t all use our turn signals)
-Challenges faced and solutions for improving IT staff job satisfaction (Let’s face it, happy IT folks = happy schools)
-Opportunities for skills diversification and reduced burnout in a shared services model (Because variety is the spice of IT life)

Whether your district currently offers shared services or is simply interested in improving IT workforce retention, this session provides valuable data-backed insights. Come learn about collaborating across districts to create rewarding technology roles that attract and retain top talent for the benefit of all our schools and students.

Plus, we promise at least one bad tech joke. (Why do programmers prefer dark mode? Because light attracts bugs!)

See you there!

Need a way to analyze your data in Google Sheets? Let's look at the Google Looker tool to create a data dashboard and how to share data analytics.

Discover how to optimize your organization's helpdesk and asset management processes without breaking the bank. In this session, we'll explore the benefits of adopting osTicket and Snipe-IT, two powerful open-source platforms that offer robust capabilities at no cost. Based on our experience deploying these platforms in a multi-district environment, you can walk away with practical tips and best practices for seamless implementation, customization, and updates. Whether you're already using these products or interested in a change, this session has something for everyone!

This session will provide an overview of what the Michigan DataHub is and how the functionality built into our ecosystem can help ease the effort it takes to safely and securely transfer data between systems.
Michigan DataHub is providing over 10,000 integrations to districts across the state. Join us at this session to learn more about how we can help with your data interoperability.

I've spoken before about the strengths of PowerShell and the ability to create a whole identity management platform to manage your user creation. I'm here now to talk about how my organization stepped away from my custom PowerShell scripts and discuss the benefits we're finding with the Classlink OneSync product. This is not meant to be a sales pitch, but a legit walkthrough from my perspective of what it looks like to go from implementation to production with this product so that you can evaluate if this product or similar products would be right for your organization.

New to E-Rate or not very familiar with how it works and what you can use it for at your district? After this session, you will understand the 2 categories of funding, the yearly process/timeline, review various forms, understand how to calculate and maximize discounts, and tips for working with this program.