January 2004 — Applications
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Affordable Network Management Solution Helps Novato District Make Technology Work for Its Students a
First-rate hardware and software is a must. While this sounds obvious, it's difficult to achieve in today's budgetary environment. It is always easy to relegate equipment upgrades and acquisitions to next year's wish list, but sound technology solutions will eventually save your district time, trouble and headaches. I would suggest taking the time to shop around in the market for reliable solutions so that you aren't forced to make a rushed decision later on.
Fortunately, there are many sources of public and private funding available to purchase and maintain Internet-related equipment. Companies like Lightspeed Systems even provide free assistance in identifying and applying for grants. Grant resources are also available through various print and online publications.
Trained staff. Today's technology can be very difficult to understand, let alone manage. With a large network like ours, it is paramount that my team understands how traffic flows and where problem areas are located. Therefore, it is important to find technology solutions that your team will be able to understand and use. There are solutions on the market that are more user-friendly than others, so consider this before investing. However, we've found the Windows-based user interface of Lightspeed Systems' software to be very manageable.
In addition to having trained staff, make sure that you create alliances with companies that will go the extra mile in providing the support and service your team needs. When I recently placed a call to Lightspeed Systems, they sent the beta version of TTC v.5.0 to me within two days. They also answered numerous phone calls and helped us troubleshoot our way back to a functional network.
Content monitoring and control. The Internet can open the world to students. But some of what it opens to them isn't always what they should be able to access. Pornography and other harmful materials are extremely easy to access online. Even tamer material, like music or video clips, can violate copyright laws and cause excessive network traffic not related to educational goals.
Teachers appreciate assistance in monitoring students' access to the Internet. The best way to do this is to use a blanket standard that is applied equally to every student in a school. Of course, with CIPA this is exactly what is required if schools want to obtain federal funding for Internet-related equipment. Being cognizant of which software solutions will best help your district comply with CIPA is important. Software like TTC v.4.0 provides a firewall, e-mail and instant message monitoring and filtering. Lightspeed Systems' solution also produces reports that are very easy to read. This means that I can prove to my superintendent that we're CIPA compliant.
Effectively using ever-changing technology is an unsolvable problem. But I believe it can be managed through common sense, sharing best practices and the assistance of experienced private-sector companies. If we want our students to learn with and through technology, we must continually learn as well.
— Jan Langtry
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Lightspeed Systems (877) 447-6244 www.lightspeedsystems.comCite this Site
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