TECHNICAL SESSIONS FOR SCHOOLS AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS

Birds of a Feather for IT Professionals
This session is geared toward IT Professionals joining with their peers to discuss and share ideas and concerns amongst themselves. These sessions will participants with an opportunity to openly discuss issues and ideas with each other. Any issues or items of concern resulting from these sessions will be forwarded to ED staff for consideration.

Ensuring Information Security
Learn the steps to certify your information systems and what to do if a security incident occurs. This includes a discussion on security awareness training, policies, and procedures.

Federal Student Aid Technical Architecture Initiatives
Learn about Federal Student Aid's new technical architecture initiatives such as the Person Record Management Service, the PIN re-engineering efforts, and the Information Server. This session also includes a discussion about improvements to the Security of Federal Student Aid systems and data through the implementation of technologies such as Two-Factor Authentication and technologies to evade "keylogging."

Financial Aid for Technical Staff
Is Pell Grant really a long lost relative of a Civil War General? Are ECASLA and CCRAA answers to Jeopardy questions? Do the financial aid acronyms drive you crazy? Is there really some little man in a green accountant's hat and sleeve garters hiding in a closet at the U.S. Department of Education who does nothing but come up with this stuff? Come to this session and learn a little history of the major financial aid programs, and just what all the acronyms really mean.

FSA Gateway and Portal Strategies
Learn how the portal strategy will help us consolidate 70+ web sites and provide new services such as personalized content, collaborative tools, individual data views, customized alerts, and automatic workflows. Federal Student Aid's Gateway will be a key enabler for external partners doing business with Federal Student Aid. Learn how the Gateway will provide external partners and Federal Student Aid with a secure and reliable infrastructure to communicate with each other.

FSA Technical Services for IT Staff
Federal Student Aid provides technical services for IT staff. What are they? When are they available? What areas provide them? Come hear about these services and get answers to these questions.

Web 2.0 Technologies and Privacy/Security Considerations
Research proves that our targeted consumers are attracted to social networking communities that foster user-driven content. How should we use social networking and Web 2.0 emerging technologies to attract and engage our students, parents, and schools? In many cases, obstacles to adoption of such user-driven content include numerous privacy, data security, and legal issues. However, a number of agencies, including the Department of Education, are beginning to leverage social networking to extend their reach and message to constituents. This session will provide an overview of technologies, policy/legal, technical architecture, privacy/security issues, as well as recommendations on how to embrace Web 2.0 initiatives.

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