The Innovative & Ethical Use of Technology

Technology is a positive, enabling force for parent engagement, student engagement, educator effectiveness, operational efficiency, student safety, and student achievement. The school district's Information Technology department oversees the innovative and ethical use of technology by providing digital environments that meet the evolving needs of our students and staff. 

For the 2022/23 school year, our team at the Information Technology Centre (ITC) has been focused on broadening our insight and capabilities with both new and existing systems. Here are some exciting projects that we're working on to enhance the use of technology in our district for all employees:

• Transition to a complete Microsoft 365 environment. As announced at the end of last year, the Abbotsford School District will be transitioning to Microsoft 365 for all users and will serve as our education platform starting in September 2023. Currently, there is a test group piloting Microsoft 365 for Education, and the feedback has been very positive! Teachers are seeing that it is more reliable, more feature-rich and integrates seamlessly with other systems.Implementation of Microsoft Intune. This platform supports our computer registration and management process, allowing our employees to access the applications they love while configuring PCs/laptop settings to meet compliance needs.
• Expanded use of Azure AD, our cloud network management system. This system provides single sign-on, multifactor authentication, and conditional access to guard against 99.9 percent of cybersecurity attacks.
• Advancement of Varonis, our data protection and management system. This security software platform allows our organization to track, visualize, analyze and protect unstructured data.
• Expansion of Wireless networks, providing reliable and secure internet access to all of our devices throughout the Abbotsford School District.

Throughout the year, our ITC team will continue working towards getting the most value and benefit possible from each system. If you run into issues with your device at any time, please don't hesitate to contact a member of our item at helpdesk@abbyschools.ca. 

Pat Taylor, Manager
Information Technology