Education, Unplugged
In some cases, the difficulties of hardwiring old schools can be eased by portable devices and digitally based curricula
Few doubted that the wireless technology revolution would have an impact on K-12 education, but when third graders start turning in homework using personal digital assistants (PDAs), we know we’ve made a quantum leap from the era of chalk and blackboard.
The days are long gone when school computers were rare, mysterious, cranky objects, rolled around on carts from classroom to classroom. Now, the most-wired schools give their students their own computers, assign them homework on-line, and teach them to do show-and-tell using Microsoft PowerPoint. Teachers who use PDAs in their classrooms can assess student work instantaneously, electronically backing up a student’s grade, and sharing it with parents, counselors, and the school district.
The Denver School of Science & Technology has a wireless network, which allows students to access servers throughout the school. A glass-enclosed server room is located behind the staircase. Photo © James H. Berchert Photography.
Ironically, the freedom offered by the move of instruction into wireless cyberspace doesn’t solve the sometimes daunting problems of real space—upgrading the design of network-ready classrooms, installing communications closets for servers, and, even in the burgeoning wireless age, creating the pathways needed for cabling systems.
Robert Bogan, a consultant with Technology Plus in Aurora, Colorado, considers finding those pathways the most difficult aspect of retrofitting older schools with new cables and network systems. In many schools, concrete block walls pose particular difficulties, since architects typically dislike surface-mounted conduit and block walls can’t be opened like conventionally framed drywall. That can be remediated to some degree by routing computer networks, cable television, security, voice, and audio-visual systems on a CAT 6 cable (CAT 6 cable is the wire typically used in networks to connect computers, servers, routers, and other devices) since each system’s unit acts as its own internet address. Bogan says, however, that full integration can be a tough sell with school districts accustomed to keeping systems separate. And wireless technology, though it gives students and teachers vastly increased flexibility, isn’t a cure-all, Bogan points out. “Even with a wireless data system, you still need to provide cable for all those other systems.”
A typical school information technology system backbone includes various servers, typically mounted in racks, and an ever-expanding array of digitally-enabled technology. A firewall prevents outsiders from accessing the networks and also limits accessibility to sensitive content. Click to enlarge.
Infrastructure isn’t easy
While working at Swanson Rink, an engineering firm in Denver, Bogan installed both wireless (Wi-Fi) and hard-wired systems at the Denver School of Science & Technology, a school in which technology is showcased rather than hidden, with exposed cable trays in the open ceilings and a glass-enclosed server room. “Having both systems is more expensive,” he says, “but you have to provide wireless because everyone uses it.” In addition, for high schools offering courses that depend on bandwidth-hogging software like AutoDesk’s AutoCAD, hard-wired networks are mandatory. More common in schools are classrooms where computers are used mainly for accessing the Internet, which is easily accommodated on a wireless network.
In new school construction, it’s easier to accommodate leading-edge technology, as was the case in Denver. But in older buildings consultants like Bogan find themselves cramming server racks into unused custodial closets or carving out extra space in administrative offices. Reusing existing cable is rarely an option, according to Bogan, since gauging length, quality, and condition is more time-consuming and expensive than pulling new wire. New closets need additional cooling to handle electronics-generated heat loads, as well as electrical receptacles. Upgrading a school’s electrical power system to meet the needs of the computer age can present space issues, as well as large costs for service size increases, transformers, and panelboards. Giving a laptop to each student is easier than ensuring each classroom has the electrical capacity to power them; one advantage of issuing PDAs is that multiple units can be charged off of one receptacle plug. Some schools have even provided dedicated closets intended just for charging laptops.
The firewall factor
Portable technology, however, brings its own security issues. Mario Sanchez, a technology consultant with Los Angeles-based EQ International (part of RTKL Architects), says that as schools establish virtual private networks (VPNs) to allow students’ laptops to access school networks from home, care should be given to implement appropriate security through smart cards or thumbprint identification to ensure computers are used only by the students. “You can install software to automatically lock down a laptop if a student stops attending school,” Sanchez says. With encryption software, automatically updated Internet filtering, and stronger firewalls, he says, the concerns that outsiders might access wireless networks or students could download inappropriate material are lessened considerably.
There are also security concerns with power outages and emergencies. Sanchez says that rack-mounted, uninterruptible power sources are commonly only sufficient to allow for server shutdown, not continuous use of the network. Schools typically provide power backup only for telecommunications systems. But backing up servers makes loss of data due to a power loss less of a problem. And, the drop in digital storage costs has made the idea of backing up a student’s entire academic career less far-fetched than it once would have been. Why would anyone bother with a CD, Sanchez asks, when server-based storage provides security and continuity between grades.
Palm’s Treo (left) is viewed by many as the future of technology for schools, giving students access to the Internet at any time. The company’s PalmOne device (right) is already used by schools nationwide.
The big picture on small devices
While going to Wi-Fi-enabled laptops and PDAs may help to ease the problems of adding cable to older buildings, school technology administrators say infrastructure upgrades are useless without a comprehensive e-learning plan. That can mean anything from curricula changes in specific subjects to offering a high school diploma program solely via website. For example, introducing PDAs into a science lab means students can connect them to probes for testing things like the PH level of a river. At Littleton, Colorado schools, the district implemented a web-based learning program to help students with special circumstances complete their high school coursework. Using a well-known platform software called Blackboard K-12 Starter Edition, Littleton offers a wide selection of classes students access on-line or at a computer lab set up at the city’s Arapahoe Community College. Course content is provided by www.class.com, but the district could use its own class materials eventually. The program is tailored to help students transition either directly to jobs or to classes at Arapahoe. David Yaskin, a vice president with Washington D.C.-based Blackboard, says the program’s ability to expand instruction—using discussion forums, parental involvement, and additional resources—has been a boon to high schools.
Melinda Ness, Littleton’s coordinator for gifted and talented students, says the district hopes the pilot Blackboard program could be expanded to offer professional development courses for teachers, a common feature for other districts. Blackboard has been implemented in nearly 1,200 K-12 schools, many of which rely on the web for offering specialized classes for students in isolated locations. Students in some Alaskan districts, for example, can access Advanced Placement courses through Blackboard without resorting to the previous vogue in distance learning that relied on expensive and complicated teleconferencing facilities and instructor availability. And with Blackboard, like other web-based programs, assessment is instant and can be shared with a wider community of teachers, parents, administrators, and fellow students.
Tech transparency
“With Blackboard, we can track what students are doing, what assignments they are missing, and keep our finger on the pulse of where they are in the course,” Ness says. While parents haven’t been provided access to the site yet, the Littleton district’s own website allows them to see their student’s grades.
Although Littleton helped pay for its program by partnering with the community college, schools can apply for a grant for such initiatives through the U.S. Department of Education’s Star Schools program, begun in 2000. Star Schools, which requires a matching funds commitment from the schools, encourages schools to develop distance learning programs and offers funding for equipment, facilities, coursework, and support staff (see www.ed.gov).
Technology consultants and administrators almost uniformly point to so-called smartphones as the next wave in education. Like Palm’s Treo and other such devices, smartphones would allow students total connectivity while combining nearly every function they might use: phone, e-mail, and the Internet. Some school administrators already rely on smartphones to augment their work. If a principal catches a student wandering the halls during class, a quick name check on a smartphone—one that is Internet-enabled and connected to the school’s student database—could pull up the student’s photograph, class schedule, tardiness record, and parent’s e-mail address. Cutting class now has its digital risks.
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