My Name is Andrew Swartz. I attended Leading Learning 2008. I am hoping to get some responses from many of you thar are in this group.
Are there any of you out there that have Wireless Internet in your school that students and staff have access too?
There are several of us at my school that are pushing to have Wireless Internet brought into the school. We are told that there are too many issues surrounding the use if wireless so we will not be receiving it.
I think there are many benefits to having wireless!
So, does your school have it? Are there issues? How is it used? How is it set up? Who has access? Is it password protected? Are there security issues? Please let me know.
Keywords: Wireless laptop high school security Internet access protected password
Comments
We struggle a bit with this here in Ottawa as well. Our rule of thumb is that wireless doesn't replace wires - that is, that a wireless network is something totally different. It can't be used a cheap way to get around running cables, or to cheap out on using hubs instead of proper switch networks (all wireless is essentially a big hub, where the bandwidth is split to the number of users, where as switches take turns using the pipe and get full bandwidth during their turn).
We have had schools where we tried to use wifi (802.11g) to replace wiring for desktops, but it never measured up (especially if you use the network heavily for managing the computers via AD or Novell).
Wireless is best when it is limited to use for basic web browsing. The current trend towards mobile Internet devices is making this more realistic - laptops like the Asus eeePC that focus on being a good web browser (and not much more) work great on wifi because they don't consume a lot of bandwidth.
Thanks Tim.
I agree with you, wireless is best when it is limited to basic web browsing. That is exactly what I would like to see here at school. Students could bring their own laptops, this would alleviate some of the problems were are having with computer use. We just don`t have enough computers. Also, this would allow the students to connect is class and use the web as a tool for learning in classes that don`t have computers. This would begin the change from the traditional style of classrooms to the way that the students know how to learn. I really think that wireless is a key component to educating these and future students. I just want to figue out how to get it done properly here at my school.