IETA 2025

Everyone knows that all kinds of good information can be pulled from spreadsheets, but how do you unlock that information? Data comes alive when you can manipulate data to understand it. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll begin with a generic term final grade spreadsheet with thousands of enrollments and grades and we will use the Unique, If, and Vlookup functions in Google Sheets to sort out how individual students did. Gaining an understanding of how to use these 3 simple functions allows users to pull all kinds of information from their spreadsheets and become spreadsheet magicians. Participants will need their laptops, at least a basic knowledge of spreadsheets, and access to Google Sheets. If you are familiar with spreadsheets but would like to have more knowledge of how to manipulate them, this workshop is for you.

What if there was a cheap extension for Excel or GSheets that could allow you to manipulate spreadsheets at a high level? Imagine being able to compare sheets for uniques or duplicates in seconds, to be able to merge and transfer information from one spreadsheet to another without using complex formulas or repeating VLookup scores of times? That add on is called Power Tools by Able Bits. I’m not trying to sell a product here but this extension changed my life and allows me to easily do complex things and unlock information from spreadsheets that I wouldn’t be able to in any other way. This presentation will show you some of ways iSucceed Virtual Schools use Power Tools and how this software can allow you to take your spreadsheets to a new level. The ideal audience for this presentation are people who regularly use and manipulate spreadsheets and who would like to use an affordable tool that makes this easier.

On average, the world experiences 350 to 500 medium-to-large scale natural disasters each year. This rate of occurrence is expected to continue through 2030 and could significantly increase year-over-year. In short, the development of resilience strategies has become part of doing business -- are you confident in your school or district’s ability to respond to [and recover from] these types of events? This presentation, led by a DRII Business Continuity Professionals, walks the audience through a Business Continuity and IT Disaster Recovery Program Lifecycle. As we step through the lifecycle, our presenters will equip attendees with actionable knowledge, share best practices, and explain the principles that underpin each activity. Midway through the session our presenters will switch gears from education to applied learning – effectively leading the audience through a tabletop exercise and simulating the decisions necessary to navigate a real-life disaster. Attendees are encouraged to participate and ask questions as we explore the strategic imperative of safeguarding and ensuring continuity of K-12 education!

Staying current with your technology strategy, infrastructure, data governance, cybersecurity resilience, vendor management and more can feel like a daunting task. Now consider trying to move the needle to future-proof your platform, processes and vendor relationships while perpetually fighting to protect your data from those that don’t rest from relentlessly attacking it.

Join Idaho Digital Learning Alliance (IDLA) and infoVia for an insightful discussion about how we are doing just that. With an eye to the future, we are on a journey to put IDLA on a more solid foundation that enables them to provide a much higher quality of service to their constituents more efficiently while increasing security and governance.

Schools often prioritize speed and accuracy, but true innovation thrives on creativity and divergent thinking. This session will challenge the traditional focus on "correct answers" and explore practical strategies to cultivate a more creative and imaginative learning environment. Through engaging hands-on activities, participants will discover protocols designed to stimulate divergent thinking that can be used in both classroom and professional learning settings. By tapping into our curiosity, combining unrelated ideas, and thinking outside the box, we can empower those whom we work with to become innovative problem-solvers and critical thinkers. Join me as we explore how to foster a culture of creativity and innovation that can help us tackle the challenges and harness the opportunities of today’s world.

Come see how MBA Plugins for PowerSchool will empower your school. MBA is a PowerSchool partner providing robust plugins to make easy reporting with ability to email or archive report cards, transcripts, letters, or other reports with digital signature option on the Parent/Student portal. Identify Attendance issues with ease and address pro-actively. Set Alerts for Students that address security, health, grades, sports, behaviors, and much more. Enhance behavior tracking with teacher entry, graphs and letters. This is a must see session with tools that are certain to enhance your PowerSchool experience.

You've launched your high school esports program—now what? Join us for an engaging "Esports 201" session designed for educators, coaches, and administrators ready to elevate their esports initiatives. This session will dive deeper into advanced strategies, best practices, and innovative ideas to enhance your program's impact and sustainability.

Key topics will include:

Enhancing Engagement: Discover new ways to involve more students, including recruitment strategies, community events, and student-led initiatives.

Competitive Growth: Learn how to structure your teams for success, explore opportunities for regional and national competitions, and implement effective training practices.

Curriculum Integration: Delve into advanced curriculum options that incorporate esports principles, including critical thinking, teamwork, and digital literacy.

Building Partnerships: Explore how to establish valuable partnerships with local businesses, colleges, and esports organizations to provide resources and opportunities for your students.

Measuring Success: Develop methods to assess the impact of your program, including student engagement metrics and academic performance indicators.

Join us to share ideas, network with fellow educators, and leave with actionable strategies to elevate your high school esports program. Together, we can transform the esports landscape in education and create enriching experiences for our students!

MBA is a PowerSchool Partner that has a suite of plugins to enhance your PowerSchool experience. Develop report cards, transcripts, letters, awards, and archive historically to parent portal with digital signature. Monitor attendance thresholds and pro-actively help students to achieve a culture of positive attendance. Send attendance letters electronically with digital signature seamlessly. Manage behavior with teacher entry, letters and graphs for administrative decisions. Student alerts for safety, health, sports, low grades and much more. Come see how MBA Plugins help enhance the power of PowerSchool.

In an increasingly digital educational landscape, protecting student data is critical. This session will explore how Idaho Digital Learning Academy (IDLA) continues to use the TrustEd Apps Management System (TAMS) Dashboard to vet applications, ensure vendors adopt privacy policies, and train teachers to self-vet and adapt resources for their students. Participants will learn how to integrate data privacy protocols within their schools, advocate for transparency in third-party applications, and empower educators to take control of the tools they use. Real-world examples from IDLA will highlight ongoing efforts to safeguard data and provide practical steps for implementing a culture of privacy and security across schools and districts.
Outcomes: Attendees will:
Learn how to leverage the TAMS Dashboard to vet educational technology resources.
Understand how to request privacy policies from vendors lacking adequate privacy safeguards.
Gain strategies for training teachers to self-vet or modify digital resources for their students’ needs.

This session will highlight how IDLA supports schools through the District Programs Regional Teams, providing training and direct support for schools using IDLA for classes. An overview of how the team collaborates through Google Workspace will be shared, with Google Docs, shared agendas and Team Chats will be demonstrated.

Join us while we delve into the comprehensive security measures of Webex Calling, tailored specifically for educational settings. Discover how Webex ensures both physical and digital security, starting with the innovative panic button feature on the 9800 phones, designed to provide immediate assistance in emergency situations. Learn about how you can integrate with screens in the classroom, mass notification systems, and any platform with open APIs; ensuring visibility into classroom occupancy and environmental data in both normal and emergency situations that you can act upon. This session will highlight how these advanced security features create a safer environment for students, faculty, and staff, while maintaining seamless and secure communication. Don't miss this opportunity to understand how Webex can enhance the security infrastructure of your schools.

In this session, we'll explore how K-12 schools can use predictive analytics to forecast student enrollment with the precision and power of Spinal Tap's legendary amplifiers. Just as Nigel Tufnel's custom amplifiers go up to 11, we'll show you how to take your enrollment predictions to the next level.
Key Topics
Data Collection
Data Cleaning
Building Your Predictive Model
Implementing Predictive Analytics in Your District
Case Studies and Success Stories

Wrap up the session by emphasizing how predictive analytics can take K-12 enrollment forecasting to unprecedented levels of accuracy and insight. Just as Spinal Tap pushed the boundaries of rock and roll, educational leaders can revolutionize their approach to planning and decision-making with these powerful tools.