News

September 20, 2019

EdTech for Students with Autism: Curriculum, IEPs, and Data

Join Lauren Stafford and Jessie Brown on September 27 for their webinar exploring education technology for students on the autism spectrum.

About

This webinar will feature information on how to meet both curriculum needs and IEP goals and objectives for students with autism. Information will include accommodations that support personalized learning and maximizing large group, small group, 1:1, and independent work to ensure all students experience learning growth.

Participants will also learn how to automatically collect data to advance student learning quickly and easily while sharing progress across the entire IEP team. This webinar will be of interest to teachers and school and district leaders of all grade levels. Time will be provided for questions.

Registration

To sign-up, register via the event webpage.

More Information

To learn more, visit the edWeb website.

*Information provided via EdWeb

News

May 28, 2019

Carnegie Library Summer Reading Extravaganza

Join the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh on Sunday, June 9 from Noon – 5 p.m. in Oakland for its annual Summer Reading Extravaganza to kick things off. Families can enroll in the Summer Reading program and enjoy music, crafts, games, storytelling, food trucks, and more.

Activities

Library activities include:

    • Family PlayShop,
    • Global Library,
    • Bouncy House,
    • Inflatable Games,
    • Chess Club,
    • DataBurgh,
    • Creative Tech and Super Science,
    • Historical Tours of Main Library (offered in English and in Chinese),
    • and more!

Learn More

To learn more about the Summer Reading Extravaganza, visit the event website.

News

December 20, 2018

PA Wins Brandon Hall Group Excellence Bronze Award

In August 2018, the PA Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) and PA Key course, Assessment: Beyond the Basics of Observation and Data Utilization, won the prestigious Brandon Hall Group Excellence Bronze Award for best in Custom Content.

The Excellence Awards

The Excellence Awards recognize the best organizations that have successfully deployed programs, strategies, modalities, processes, systems, and tools that have achieved measurable results. Award entries were evaluated by a panel of veteran, independent senior industry experts, Brandon Hall Group analysts, and executives based upon the following criteria:

  • Fit the need
  • Design of the program
  • Functionality
  • Innovation
  • Overall measurable benefits.

See the full list awardees.

About the Course

The winning self-paced online course for early learning teachers provides an overview of classroom assessments of young children and how information from assessments can be used to inform instruction. The course was developed in collaboration with CyperhWorx, Inc. and was made possible through Pennsylvania’s Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge grant.

Professional Development

To register for the winning course (and others), visit the PA Professional Development Registry.

*Information provided by the PA Early Ed News

News

October 17, 2018

Trying Together Updates Privacy Policy

Today, Trying Together released their updated Privacy Policy. This update was guided, in part, by the recent announcement that Facebook “will begin offering businesses a first-party cookie option with the Facebook pixel.” With this change, Trying Together works to remain proactive in letting their users know about and understand how this may affect their daily usage.

Although internet browsers have been using cookies since the 1990s, internet tracking has remained a hot subject in the conversation digital privacy and security. This is no surprise as cookies themselves store specific pieces of a user’s information such as usernames, passwords, web histories, and more. However, when it comes to understanding the varying types and uses of cookies, the average American citizen may not be up to speed.

What Are Cookies?

In addition to a delicious snack, the term “cookies” is used to refer to small packages of data that are stored on our computers. These packages, or files, contain specific pieces of data in an attempt to better personalize the user’s experience. This data may consist of information such as entered usernames, saved passwords, entered addresses, and more. It’s because of these packets that users can remain logged into social media sites between uses, create “shopping carts” on online purchasing sites, and receive personalized ads based on your own shopping preferences. However, when considering internet privacy and security, it’s important to look deeper into what types of cookies are in place, which parties have access to cookies, and how each party utilizes that data.

First-Party and Third-Party Cookies

First-party cookies, as mentioned in the recent Facebook announcement, are packets of information collected by the website you are visiting. For example, if someone uses the Trying Together page and enters their name and email, cookies may pick up that information and store it just in case the user may need to insert that information on that website again in the future. These types of cookies are allowed in every web browser by default and enable features such as creating a “shopping cart” and staying logged into a social platform between uses. In general, websites utilize these cookies to increase ease of access or to curate website traffic analytics, however additional features may be included as well.

Third-party cookies, however, are packages of information that are collected by a domain that is not the website the user is visiting. One of the primary uses of third-party cookies is to track browsing history to detect trends, generally represented through benefits such as personalized ads or recommendations. In relation to affecting a user’s day-to-day usage, third-party cookies play a very small role. These cookies are also enabled by default.

As a consideration, all cookies are public, regardless of their type. It is best to monitor what type of information you are providing and to read through each website’s privacy statements to see how that data may be utilized.

Cookie Concerns

Concerns surrounding cookie use typically include topics related to privacy and security. For privacy, one concern is that because websites store packages of data and website usage, third-parties such as advertisers, users, and even government agencies can gain access to that information if given permission. For security, a major concern is security holes in browsers that may enable malicious parties to gain access to sensitive information such as credit card information, emails, and passwords. Both of these concerns hold weight and users should be proactive in looking into and understanding how their data is being utilized by the websites they are frequenting.

Disabling Cookies

If all of this talk about cookies and data storage is making you antsy, no need to worry. Users can disable both types of cookies at any time by changing their browser settings. Simply click on the “Help” menu or “Help Center” in your browser settings to learn how to adjust your tracking settings and cookie preferences. On mobile devices, this can be done by editing your “Privacy” settings through your browser.

Keep in mind that disabling cookies may impact your ability to interact with a website. While disabling third-party cookies hardly impacts a user’s daily usage, disabling first-party cookies may affect website functions such as login credentials, purchasing ability, and general efficiency.

How Does Trying Together Utilize Cookies and Data?

As a brief overview, Trying Together utilizes cookies and collected data to provide customized content, contact users, fulfill orders, and more. We use various technologies such as cookies, web beacons, and pixel tags to store limited information when users interact with our site and emails. As an example, information may include non-personal data such as a mobile device identifier or MAC address, browser type, device model, and more. It may also include elements of service usage such as date and time of access, page visits, duration of visits, and others. On occasion, more personal information may be stored such as name, username, demographic information, and other publicly-observed data.

To learn more about how Trying Together collects and utilizes user data, read our Privacy Policy.

Questions

If you have any questions or concerns regarding Trying Together’s privacy policy or data storage, please contact: info@tryingtogether.org