Technology & Learning - May 2008 - (Page 32)

Plans should address wired and wireless networking from core to distribution to edge and the capacity to address such applications as time of day and types of traffic. In addition, networks should have the flexibility to address the evolving needs of applications, devices, and modalities; access control for staff, faculty, students, visitors, and the community; content filtering; and converged applications such as VoIP, video, Internet, collaborative learning, and others. Wireless technologies have seen explosive growth in K-12 schools, which are choosing Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) that permit students and teachers to connect with Internet-equipped wireless laptops or roll mobile computer carts from one classroom to another in order to take advantage of the benefits of wireless access in the classroom setting. Students can have true anytime, anywhere access across campus with wireless Internet connections in the classroom that enhance collaboration across the district for students, teachers and administrators. Today’s districts have to build effective communities of learners, equipping them with the most advanced technologies and costeffective solutions. Security, convergence and high-performance networks all help students reach their potential. In a community of increasingly sophisticated technology users, reliability and ease of use and management are more critical than ever. Administrators, instructors, students, and families require consistent, anytime and anywhere access to each other and to learning resources. These considerations will help you reach the goal of building a robust infrastructure to support the community of learners in your school district. Cost effeCtiVeness Just as collaboration among parents, teachers, administrators, and students is critical to developing proficiency in the presentation and application of information, a school network must be integrated and interoperable. For increased return on investment, schools must carefully plan how to increase efficiencies, productivity, and access to online learning resources. An infrastructure design should consider how to manage evolving capabilities and assure a solid return on investment. To stretch limited budgets while delivering strong educational returns on public expenditures, enhancements to a district’s technology plan must be integrated and focused on creating unified district architecture. It must eliminate inefficiencies in management solutions, training, hardware components, power and cooling, maintenance and warranties and software seat licenses and upgrades. CaPaCity To meet the considerable demands of technology-based learning and administration dependencies on real-time data, K-12 educational networks must be reliable, flexible, and robust. To handle the realities of 21st century communications, these networks must also provide security and mobility without jeopardizing performance. And to continue to meet evolving needs cost-effectively, a school’s network must allow for practical scalability that is able to support all users during critical school hours and provide performance that enables students and teachers to have the high-speed access they need to be successful. ConVergenCe For schools around the world, converged network infrastructures demonstrate their cost-saving and efficiency-enhancing benefits everyday. By leveraging existing cabling and management resources, by eliminating the need for many out-sourced services, and by offering built-in productivity tools, they save money and facilitate collaboration. In addition, built with interoperability and deployment flexibility in mind, the right convergence solutions such as integrating voice and data whether it is wired or wireless can overlay existing network installations. seCurity Schools are looking for ways to both physically protect their students and faculty and ensure the confidentiality of their networked resources. As their IT staffs research options, they are learning that secure converged networks provide high-performance and high-value solutions. Because networks are only as secure as their weakest access link, network protection should be integrated into all components and be standards-based. 4 www.techlearning.com/K12/Fundamentals http://www.techlearning.com/K12/Fundamentals

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Technology & Learning - May 2008

Technology & Learning - May 2008 Contents New@techlearning.com Editor’s Desk News and Trends E-Learning Gets Real Cover Story: Make Students Info Literate School CIO Product Guide Reviews Best of the Blogs What’s New LOY Profile Series

Technology & Learning - May 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.