Oklahoma

Plus, Washington launched a digital equity dashboard, Kansas announced funding for digital literacy, a Center for Tribal Digital Sovereignty was launched, and more.

The Oklahoma Educational Technology Trust will give $40,000 each to schools across the state to buy iPads, Chromebooks, esports equipment, various robotics, virtual reality equipment and other tech supplies.

For schools facing a wave of new technology, student habits and teacher shortages, the Oklahoma State School Boards Association helped develop a free guide to creative teaching with digital tools.

Oklahoma CIO Joe McIntosh explains how his agency is overhauling its core services and empowering staff to do their jobs to the fullest. Plus, he shares what he's working on as head of the state's AI task force.

Plus, registration has closed for Net Inclusion 2024, Oklahoma and Kansas get funding for broadband, and a report seeks to uncover the best broadband technology investment.

On the heels of a recent report from the state’s AI Task Force, Gov. Kevin Stitt is advocating for the removal of human workforce redundancies in favor of artificial intelligence systems.

Four companies in the state received more than $6.5 million in grants recently from the Oklahoma Broadband Governing Board, which is distributing the money to expand high-speed Internet access there.

During a meeting last week, the Oklahoma Broadband Governing Board approved $374 million in ARPA funds to go toward 142 broadband service expansion projects in 57 counties.

The Oklahoma State University Polytech initiative will increase STEM programming across the OSU system, starting with the expansion of OSUIT in Tulsa, and solicit guidance on academic programming from industry leaders.

Starting Jan. 1, 2024, the Oklahoma Broadband Office will begin to administer more than $1.3 billion in federal grant funding to bring broadband Internet service across the state.

According to the Federal Highway Administration, the grant funding, allocated under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, aims to propel digital construction tools such as computer modeling and 3D design in 10 state DOTs.

Amid struggles to fill open cybersecurity positions, some states have looked toward volunteer citizen brigades trained to respond when smaller jurisdictions need help. Experts consider whether the benefits outweigh the risks.

This growing form of getting more from data is helping officials analyze spending that took place without top-level oversight. The tool could find its way into the hands of other public agencies for a variety of tasks.

The Oklahoma Broadband Office received official notification from the U.S. Department of the Treasury of the allocation of $167.7 million through the American Rescue Plan Act's Capital Projects Fund for broadband expansion efforts.

Experts say AI is now present in everything from apps and facial recognition software to ChatGPT, which allows users to ask questions and receive human-like replies based on data harvested from the Internet.

Stillwater Public Schools continues to develop its 1:1 technology initiative — a program launched for the 2023-24 academic year and funded by monies from a new bond initiative passed this year.

An Oklahoma community college has added wind and renewable-energy courses to its process technology program designed to provide skills needed for the traditional oil and gas, electrical and processing industries.

This week, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt issued an executive order to create a task force that would help guide the use of AI, aiming to help state government identify and mitigate risk in this space.