NETWORK DESIGN PROJECT
PRELIMINARY NARRATIVE - GROUP PROJECT ACTIVITY #1
Comm 5350, March 5, 2001
Karin Porter
Katherine Squires
Jamye Swinford
Karon Tarver
This paper represents a narrative of the proposed networking project, for Crane Independent School District (ISD), a small independent school district consisting of an elementary, middle, and high school with one administrative building. The four buildings constitute the district and are within walking distance of one another. The school is educationally-focused and incorporates technology into its classrooms and curriculum. The paper will briefly identify the technologies used, the content to be delivered over the network, the audiences or population groups that will be served, and the conditions under which it will operate and be evaluated for success.
Logical Network Topology:
The Crane ISD logical network construction consists of a fiber gigabit Ethernet backbone connecting to each campus via fiber/copper 100-megabit converters into 10/100 switches. The topology, a standard star collapsed-backbone, provides high speed and adequate bandwidth to support multimedia intensive applications throughout the district. The slowest point of access is the T1 Internet connection from Region 18. The Internet router (CSU/DSU) is equipped with a gigabit backplane and is non-blocking to decrease conflicts and promote access. Twelve-strand, single-mode fiber ensures full distance of up to 3000 feet. All user access points are within 300 feet of a 10/100 switch. Daisy chained "hops" have been kept to the minimum to allow classroom level expansion without sacrificing performance. All Category-5 copper wiring was done with enhanced Category-5 wire and provides 2 ports terminated with RJ45's in the classroom. All wiring closets were chosen for secure access, controllable climate, and expansion space. Each closet and access point drop is numbered and labeled for network documentation purposes. Vendors have also submitted speed test results of each drop.
Each campus has an application server and a back-up server to authenticate users should the primary campus server fail. The Primary Domain Controller (PDC) is located in the Administration building at the Main Distribution Frame (MDF). All other servers in the district are Back-up Domain Servers (BDC). The PDC hosts the filtering and virus protection software and serves as the district back-up agent. The software is remotely and automatically updated through a subscription service. All servers are backed-up nightly to a 16 tape library via the PDC. To protect data a RAID 5 redundancy scheme with "hot swappable" hard drives is used on two servers the district has deemed mission critical.
The Crane ISD Strategic Planning Committee identified the financial/student services server and the Internet server as mission critical. All other servers use data mirroring to ensure data redundancy. Proxy 2.0 is used to provide user authentication of email, a secondary firewall, and Internet services in the district and browser-based email services of network members outside the district, primarily from home.
Each campus has been segmented to use the resident application server except in the instances of Internet, e-mail, and Domain Name Service (DNS). The segmentation is to reduce unnecessary network traffic. The district has standardized on Cisco switches, Compaq servers, and Intel 10/100 network interface cards (NIC). The Internet Server has two NIC's and a 10 subnet network as additional security in addition to the proxy and firewall services offered through Region 18. To complement the infrastructure security, all network using faculty and staff are required to change their passwords on a scheduled basis. Diagrams have been added to supplement this narrative description and attached as Appendix A.
Type of Content:
The content delivered over the network configuration will consist of:
The substantive classroom curriculum driven content meets the educational goals of the Texas Education Code, mandating each student develop exemplary skills in the subjects of reading, writing, mathematics, and science and demonstrate his/her facility with essential knowledge and skills. To provide a universal foundation, technology will also be infused into student disciplines of history; geography; economics; government; citizenship; culture; science, technology, and society; and social studies skills. For all grades the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) will form the center of the curriculum and define the basic content of the instructional program.
In order to facilitate the delivery of content; administration, faculty, staff and students need access to the technological tools that will enable them to translate educational research and theory into practical applications. For example, students will use computers and information technology tools to support scientific investigations. Students will also use computers and information technology to appropriate language and organizational structures such as tables and charts to represent and communicate relationships, make predictions, and solve problems in mathematics.
Through the use of technology applications, including technology-related terms, concepts, and data input strategies; students will learn to make informed decisions about technologies and their applications. Students will experience the efficient acquisition of information by understanding the identification of task requirements, the plan for using search strategies, and the use of technology to access, analyze, and evaluate the acquired information. By using technology as a tool that supports the work of individuals and groups in solving problems, students will select the technology appropriate for the task, synthesize knowledge, create a solution, and evaluate the results.
Collaborative programs, such as FirstClass Collaborative Classroom or LearnLinc I-Net will be used to facilitate on-line learning. To facilitate student learning at all levels, pre-packaged software programs will be evaluated and implemented to increase teacher/student time-on-task and reduce the "reinventing the wheel" of selected tasks. Some of these programs are listed in Appendix "B."
Audience:
Crane ISD is a small district serving approximately 1,000 students. Crane ISD is located in Crane, Texas, which is located in west Texas approximately thirty miles south of the Odessa-Midland metropolitan area. Crane ISD can be described as a high wealth district, since the district is a Chapter 41 school district. The school district is comprised of one elementary school, one middle school, one high school and one administration building. The elementary school serves approximately 600 students. The middle school serves 250 students, while the high school serves approximately 350 students. The ethnic distribution of the students can be described as follows: 39 African American, 550 Hispanic, 470 White and 3 Native American students. Approximately 400 of the students within the district are economically disadvantaged, and 115 students are identified as LEP students. To serve these students, the district employs 110 professional staff employees, which include teachers, professional support, campus administrators, aides and auxiliary staff.
Conditions for use:
Computer use in a school setting, targets almost all the population.
To encourage use, equipment and software applications should be readily available for any user. This would include the incorporation of at least one open lab for use by any student or faculty. This lab is open during the day on an appointment basis for visiting classes, and open for two to four hours after school hours for student use. Teachers have a computer at their desk for record keeping, assignment planning, and content presentation development. Each classroom has two to four computers available for research and editing purposes. This allows individual student use as well as group access for projects.
To help ensure a smooth running operation, equipment is standardized. This assists with solving technical problems, as well as, allows interchangeability of parts among units. The servers are purchased from a reputable hardware dealer, such as Compaq. Cisco switches and routers are also an example of an industry standard. All computers have a network interface card (NIC) such as Intel 10/100. The classroom and lab computers are a reliable brand name with an extended warranty for emergency replacements and/or repairs. Crane ISD selected Dell as the standard workstation platform due to the fact that they have recently been named number one in education, provide a three-year warranty, and have very competitive prices.
Funding is a major issue for the upkeep and upgrading of equipment related to technology. Funding sources must include grants, such as Telecommunications Infrastructure Board of Texas (TIF), Technology Integration in Education (TIE), and private foundation grants, such as the Gateway Foundation to leverage the expense of this rapidly growing educational phenomenon. Some of the government grants are non-competitive grants that almost guarantee a school receiving technology-funding money. Others are highly competitive and usually require collaboration between more that one school district or entity. The state provides a $30 per student technology allotment for districts based on their average daily attendance (ADA). Special state and federal program funding, such as funds for special education and funds for Title 1, a funding program based on economically disadvantage populations, are available for technology support.
Crane is a Chapter 41 school. Chapter 41 defines a high wealth district as one with a tax base that exceeds the equalized wealth level of $295,000 in property value per student in weighted ADA. This qualifies the district as a 'wealthy' district. That means the state will provide little to no help with funding above the required minimum amounts. An option in this case would be to solicit donations from local industry to help with the technology funding.
Maintenance costs are an expensive ongoing factor. To help leverage this cost, vendor agreements and warranties are used to full advantage. These services apply to all of the hardware involved from the networking hardware to the computer stations in the labs and classrooms.
Training and technical staff should be adequate for keeping all in working order. Crane ISD employs three people for these tasks. One is a dedicated on-site trainer available to the staff. One technician provides maintenance and upkeep to the system. The third technology team member maintains all network level software, repairs, and upgrades. Additional help is implemented through a set of student computer maintenance programs. An A+ workstation maintenance course and a Cisco network support class is being taught with top students recruited to assist the technology staff in simple maintenance tasks, such as, cleaning workstations, minor repairs, or in the termination of category 5 computer patch cables. Technology staff members have networking knowledge and handle the day-to-day events involving a network. The technology staff is kept current in training on new and available technology. Vendor trainings such as Corbey and C-Trec are cost and content efficient and therefore utilized as needed. Formal university training - such as TAMU Texas, or UT Telecampus also provide instructional training and curriculum design training to the staff. The Educational Service Center (ESC18 for Crane) provides the majority of support and training for all staff, including administrators. The technology staff is encouraged to attend technical conferences, such as TCEA to create a network of professionals to rely on for advice and support. Crane ISD believes that ongoing training practices benefit the training staff as well as the trainees.