Hit these two keys at the same time to lock your computer.

A number of our teacher colleagues have asked my advice on using their laptops safely outside of the school network.

Here are four simple rules to follow

1. Only the teacher should use the laptop to ensure that the computer is being used appropriately. Almost always the troubles involving school laptops occurs when someone other than a teacher uses the laptop.
2. Always hit the Windows-L keys when getting up from the laptop as this automatically locks the laptop. Only a  username and password will open it up.
3. Use school laptops strictly for school related work. We encourage teachers to experiment with new technologies and the many new web tools we have available for teachers.  Do not use the school laptops for personal business such as Ebay or online gaming.
4. Keep username and password secret.

Atheros Computer Chip

In order to ensure that teachers and students have the best possible wireless experience for instruction we will have to prohibit any public devices from accessing the wireless network.  The reason is that wireless only performs as well as the lowest common denominator.  More specifically, the Cisco access points recognize specific wireless devices better than others.  Fairport teachers and students were purposefully given laptops and wireless devices that will provide the best performance….so let me use an example to illustrate the issue…

Say we open up the network and  a person brings in a Mac laptop.  They connect to the wireless network.  The person enjoys a relatively satisfactory level of connection….this laptop has an older Broadcom chip which talks to the wireless access point…the next room over has a teacher using 15 laptops with the her students.  They are using equipment with an Intel (Atheros) chip set designed to work with these access points.  These 15 laptops connects to the same access point as the 1 older Macintosh…the access points only need to identify the Intel (Atheros)  chip once, but has to re-identify the Macintosh chip evey single time it talks to the radio….this interrupts the communication to the 15 laptops and therefor causes them to have to re-identify themselves….bottom-line is the one Macintosh device inhibits the experience of the other 15…now I do not want to suggest this is a Mac issue, it is not, it is the type of chip set used in computers…

Internet cafes and libraries have open wirelee, but they are not required to provide quality of service….Fairport teachers and student require the very best technical experience possible and that is what we are going to do…..eventually we may turn on the 2.4 GHZ wireless for the public, but not soon.

This new network does have important caveats that we all need to be cognizant of.  This network is met to maximize bandwidth and connectivity for teachers and students.  This is not meant to be a public wireless network, like one might find at a coffeehouse.

• We are ONLY running 802.11N over “A” 5ghz . We have turned off all 2.4Ghz B and G radios.
• We have one Wireless Network called “Fairport Schools”
• We have only allowed the X200 teacher laptops and Mobile Labs access to the network at this time.
• We have no guest Wireless enabled anywhere, nor have we let any other piece of hardware other than and X200 on this network.
• We  see a LIVE view of every connected wireless device. This provides a high level of technical detail that will be beneficial in troubleshooting and maintaining quality wireless services.
• We will  bring up guest services after we have a proven, successful district wide structure that fully supports the difficult demands of the high density mobile classroom.

Major kudos to Ross Ciulla, Tom Devitt, John Poland, Jason Scott, and Brett Provenzano for their significant contributions to this project.

A second reason is that classrooms of students, with different reading levels, can read the same titled book, but at a reading level of which matches each respective student. For example, if a class of 20 11th grade social studies students were to read George Orwell’s book 1984. In this class are two students who are reading at a 6th grade level. The teacher, with 20 eReaders could have 18 students read the book 1984 as George Orwell wrote it and the other 2 could read a version written at the 6th grade level. In this manner the students can all learn and discuss the implications of “Big Brother”, “newspeak” and “doublethink“.

A third reason is the new dense wireless network in the libraries throughout the district. These environments are very suitable for such initiatives as Google books where it would only take a few seconds for a student in the library with eReader to download a book.

The market is changing rapidly on eReaders. The TVT group is exploring iPod Touches now. We will also bhe looking at enTourage eDGe™ and the Sony Reader Daily Edition because of their wireless features.

1142N Cisco Access Point

did what is was supposed to….empower and not interfere with the learning!.  It was really gratifying seeing our hard work and planning coming to fruition.   This was a test of our wireless engineering as it relates to the new network operations center.

The next phase of our JP project will have VPN and IBM install the final Cisco access points and we should be fully operational building wide with an 802.11n network  by the end of October.

Ross Ciulla and Tom Devitt switching to the upgraded core switch

Fairport senior technician Jason Scott wiring a network rack

This morning at 7 AM the team responsible for making the switch from the old network to the new network were hard at it again.  John Poland, Ross Ciulla, Tom Devitt, and Jason Scott compile the perfect “dream team” of experts in making this switch over.  The complexity of this work is really something….it requires a rich knowledge of the relationship of electrical power and network configurations all designed specifically to empower educators with the capacity to deliver the quality of instruction as articulated by the Fairport’s TVT vision.  I feel very fortunate to have such a group of intelligent  and dedicated professionals working very hard to bring our school district to a better place.

All of the network equipment has arrived and the team is busy configuring them and prepping them for installation.  We are shooting for the 23rd to begin the installation of the computer network components in the main computer closets and the 27th to allow the wireless engineers from IBM to do their final site survey.  Working very hard we should be able to have the computer network operating properly by the start of school and the wireless network shortly thereafter.  Below are some pictures from today’s tour:

Look before you jump to new technology

The vision for our technology use at Fairport Schools has been articulated via the work of the TVT team.  The capital projects are underway to bring us the infrastructure required to realize this vision.  To assist our teachers and administrators with determining what is contemporary technology  versus out-dated technology, we have identified a litmus test that can be applied to technology being considered for Fairport Schools.

1. Is the technology personal to the user?

2. Is the technology accessible over the Internet?

3.  Does it have an easy interface?

4. Can the technology be supported with current IT support services?

If the answer is yes to all four questions, than chances are favorable for this technology to work favorably in our new paradigm.  Let me explore these questions further….

1. Is the technology personal to the user?

20th century technology required a person to start from scratch whenever the person interacted with it.  For example, I would go to the library, search on a computer for a book called “Rifles for Watie”.  The next time I would go to the library the computer would not recognize me and I would start from scratch.  Today, I walk into the library, log on to a computer, and it would recognize me as having borrowed “Rifles for Waite” and recommend other books I might like. For students, everytime they interact with technology it should recognize them, their history, preferences, etc… Mrs. Bantle, FCSD Teacher Center Director is leading a book talk on  Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age by David Rose and Anne Meyer….one aspect of this book is how important it is for us educators to recognize how distinctively different our brains are and to alter our pedagogy to reflect this recognition…well this is at the heart of why we consider “good technology” technology that explicitly recognizes each student individually.

2. Is the technology accessible over the Internet?

Up until now students formal interactions with district owned software were very limiting….For example, in the elementary schools students access such software as Reader Rabbit once every 10-15 days which is when they are able to go to a computer lab AND because the software will only run from a specific machine (s).  Today, the vast majority of educational software is web based because schools today demand that this software be accessible to any student with Internet access.  By considering software that is web based we dramatically increase the potential impact that it might have on students.

3.  Does it have an easy interface?

Steve Jobs, when he introduced the iPhone in 2007 he spoke to why “smartphones” are really “dumb phones” because they are too complicated for the average person. …their interfaces are non-intuitive….well so too does this hold for technology to be used by our students and staff.  When considering new hardware and software we must pilot these systems with a variety  of folks to ensure that the interface is indeed intuitive….because if is not the technology will not be used!

4. Can the technology be supported?

Cutting edge technology is often called bleeding edge technology because of the many quarks and technical problems that new technology always presents….similar technology that has not been update or improved as technology has advanced poses just as many if not more problems.  At Fairport we have an extremely sharp group of professional technicians who excel at providing quality support on contemporary technologies, but we only have 7 technicians for approximately 9000 users…that is more than 1000 users per technician.  All it takes is one bad piece of software or hardware…..be it new or old….to bog down our whole support network.   This is why we are very sensitive about carefully screening all software and hardware to be purchased.

We randomly surveyed 81 teachers on their

• preferences on computer operating systems
• level of support required for the different operating systems
• sense for what the critical elements of a laptop computer ought to have

We learned a great deal from this, way more than can be captured in this blog. Some of the more distinct points include:

1. 84% of teachers responded as very comfortable with Windows XP and 80% were either uncomfortable or had no experience with Apple OS.
2. Good battery life and Internet speed are critical requirements for instructional laptops.
3. More teachers were motivated to use the small 12″ laptop than any of the other choices.

We held focus group meetings with

• parents
• community members
• students
• teachers
• technicians

From these we learned that

• Parents want a laptop that provides their child with a comparable or better learning experience than other schools.
• Community members want the most economically conservative laptop solution that still meets the educational requirements.
• Technicians are much more knowledgeable with supporting the Windows environment for an enterprise solution than Apple.
• Students are far more comfortable with Windows, but love iTunes.
• Teachers would require extensive staff development on Apple to obtain their present level of comfort with Windows.

Laying all these out on a grid of objectives and priorities, that overlays the economic challenges we face, we will be moving forward in the following manner:

1. Provide Lenovo X200 as our enterprise laptop for grades 3-12. These will gradually replace the ones in our computer carts. These will come with a built in camera, 9 cell battery, power cord & case for teachers.
2. Offer the cradle, USB Mouse and exterior CD/DVD player as an option to acquire through building/program budgets.

While these sorts of decisions never please everyone, we think that our work in soliciting and measuring all the stakeholders feedback has resulted in the best possible decision. We will continue to use Apples as our enterprise solution for pod/vod casting and look forward to a NYS iTunesU hopefully soon.

Fast forward to the present where industry specialists estimate that one in every seven classrooms in the world will have an interactive whiteboard in 1-2 years.  Why?…it is because they do so much more for the learner than a static board.  For example, on these boards students could watch the inauguration, have a video conference with a foreign classroom, tour the ancient ruins of Rome, and still take written notes from the teacher  ….

We are going to continue to use the Smartboard solution. This was first introduced to Fairport schools about 4 years ago.  They have been used throughout Monroe County schools and have been supported both technically and pedagogically through Monroe #1 BOCES Model Schools.  There are lots of interactive boards to choose from…Polyvision…Mimio….Promethean...we have decided that the differences between these boards are mitigated by today’s economic climate.

These economic reasons include that Fairport already has a large number of Smartboards and there has been a significant investment in intellectual capital.  Teachers have been trained for several years on these boards who in turn could assist their colleagues in learning this technology.

A second reason is that we only have 7 technicians for all the schools.   A second brand of interactive boards would require additional personnel to be hired to support them.   It simply would be cost prohibitive to start from scratch to train teachers and technicians on another system.

The third reason is that Fairport is required to buy this equipment through Monroe #1 BOCES who in turn services this equipment through their AV repair service. They have a solid history for supporting this board.  They are very restrictive on the types of interactive boards they can support.

Check out this page of Interactive activities on the Smartboard for an illustration of of the types of things that can occur on a Smartboard.

To see a visual illustration of the technical system click on this link and select the Smartboard 600 series.