APS Digital Learning Environment

The following mission statement was used to develop the way digital resources are managed in our school district:

APS will purposefully maintain a suite of instructional technology that effectively supports teaching and learning across the division.

The purpose of this collaborative work is to provide innovative and appropriate digital resources for all APS staff and students through a more transparent and planful process.

Purposefully Identifying Instructional Technology  

We know that the digital resources educators use to teach is incredibly important. APS has a rigorous process for evaluating new resources and for making changes to those that are already adopted.

Each digital resource request is reviewed for the following components:

• Instructional Rigor
• Student Data Privacy Compliance – click the link for additional information on SDP regulations: https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/
• Duplication of Resources
• Technical Compatibility
• Accessibility
• Sustainable cost
• Equitable Access
• Evidence of Rollout, Training, & Ongoing Support Plan

Information Services is adding all approved digital resources to a live, public-facing list. The community can view the working list at APS Approved Digital Resource List (as of April 2024).

APS tracks and supports an approved resource through its full life cycle. Each educational technology tool has an Instructional Lead responsible for supporting the resource, maintaining a relationship with the vendor, and communicating changes/updates to the Department of Information Services.

Annual APS Deprecation Process – End of Life Cycle for Digital Resources

Deprecated digital resources are technologies which have been replaced by newer technologies. A digital resource that is being deprecated is one that may eventually be phased out but will continue to be used in the meantime so that minimal disruption to instruction occurs. There are some circumstances where the immediate removal of a resource occurs due to changes by the vendor or an identified security risk to staff or students.

There are many reasons why an APS resource could be added to the deprecation list. Some of those reasons include:

• It was not approved by the school district
• It is no longer supported by a content office in the Office of Academics
• It no longer works as originally intended or no longer works with other APS systems (technical compliance)
• The vendor allows advertisement in their student-facing product (violation of FERPA and potential upcoming changes to COPPA)
• It no longer receives updates from the vendor
• It has been deprecated by the vendor and/or no longer exists
• APS has multiple resources with similar functionality (redundancy)
• There is a change in privacy/student data sharing policy or Terms of Service
• There is a change in cost (often free to paid)
• The use of the resource creates an inequitable learning environment for our students where no alternative resource can be made available for all students in the district