2 New Jersey Schools Deploy WiFi for Online Education
Two schools in New Jersey's Cresskill Public Schools are deploying a wireless network from Meru Networks to provide mobile Internet access and to enable access to online educational materials.
According to the district, students in the two schools--Creskill Junior High and Cresskill Senior High--needed to be able to access the Internet via their laptops, some of which are supplied by the school, others brought from home and used in school as part of a special initiative in the district. The district also wanted to provide easy access to its open source learning management system, Moodle, to allow teachers to design online instructional programs and distribute assignments.
"When a cart with 25 laptops rolls into the classroom, everyone expects to log on immediately and begin doing research for their projects," said Kevin Whitney, district technology coordinator for Cresskill Public Schools, in a statement released this week. "With our old system, half the class often wasn't able to authenticate and get access, and even then there were lots of timeouts. I kept coming across references in the trade press to Meru's ability to handle high density very well, and it's true. Now everyone can connect at once, no matter what kind of laptop they're using, and our wireless network is incredibly reliable."
Cresskill's deployment includes AP201 single-radio IEEE 802.11a/b/g access points and an MC3000-series controller with Air Traffic Control technology for centralized RF management.
Cresskill Public Schools serves about 1,500 students in three schools. The senior and junior high schools include 800 students and teachers.
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About the author: David Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's online education technology publications, including THE Journal and Campus Technology. He can be reached at dnagel@1105media.com.
Proposals for articles and tips for news stories, as well as questions and comments about this publication, should be submitted to David Nagel, executive editor, at dnagel@1105media.com.