Databus Issue: 2008 1 01/28/2008
Computer and Network Security
Bonnie Marks Executive Director
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Ten years ago, if someone were to ask an educator about computer security, their biggest concern would be hackers – with perhaps their primary focus on things their own students might do that could cause problems. Today, the topic of computer and network security is far more complicated, with the San Jose Mercury News recently running a three part series focusing on everything from phishing schemes and identity theft to student safety on the Internet. In many districts, technology directors are finding they have to do more and more to insure that data is not compromised and to see that students are not using school networks to access inappropriate content.
At the same time that these concerns are being raised, educators are discovering the many valuable resources and activities they can use to engage learners in the Web 2.0 world. With the transition to Web 2.0, rather than just accessing static content on the Web, users have access to applications, data they can manipulate, content sites they can add to, and places to post writing, videos, photographs, and information in social networks where they interact with other users. Teachers are building on the power of Web 2.0 with their students to publish writing through blogs, track locations in literature through Google Earth, analyze election information in on-line collaborative spreadsheets, and share information with the school community through podcasts. Yet even as these rich resources are becoming part of innovative classroom practices, district network administrators are cutting off access to more and more Web 2.0 sites in the interest of safety and security for the district users.
In some cases, doors are being closed just as teachers see the need to have them open, and there are frustrated voices on both sides. What can a school district do?
In CTAP Region IV, it became clear that one thing that would help the issue is communication and increased understanding. We’ve set up a series of meetings where district network administrators, education technology coordinators, and curriculum leaders can hear from some key leaders in the technology industry about the Web 2.0 environment. The goal is increase everyone’s understanding of new resources becoming available and engage in a dialog focused on how to make these resources available while still maintaining the integrity of the network. We see the meetings as an opportunity for network administrators to better understand the needs of educators in the districts they support, and for educators to see the challenges faced by the network administrators. Presenters in the first three meetings scheduled in this series include representatives from Apple, Google, and PBWiki.
At the first meeting, held in November, Stephanie Hamilton, World Wide Education Director of Apple computer, built on her experiences as a high school teacher, IT Director, and later CTO of a large district in Austin, Texas to engage the group in thinking about the many users of a district’s network. She described the clear needs that teachers and administrators have for a secure enterprise network that meets the business and administrative needs of the district, yet builds onto that model a learning environment that can support digital media, interactive content, ad hoc collaboration, and creative exploration. The slide that captured the group’s attention was one that talked about meeting both leadership and teaching/learning needs by expanding the concept of IT to include both Information and Instructional Technology, combining learning services with the IT Infrastructure. The model she described included a broad “infrastructure for learning” that expanded core IT services (file sharing, web services, software update servers, virus protection, gateways, and database services) and distribution services (ListServ, email, media streaming) to include collaboration services (blogging, videoconferencing, instant messaging) and education services (content management, content publishing, online assessment, tracking and reporting, portal tools, individualized learning plans). At the heart of the system was the key goal of accelerating student achievement. What followed Ms. Hamilton’s presentation was a discussion of the need to work together to address the issues. Kathleen Ferenz, a specialist in CTAP Region IV summed it up perfectly when she stated, “ Districts are working in isolation to create their own networks. We should be talking together about developing solutions that will support learning.”
Additional sessions this year will focus on the use of Google tools and applications as well as ways that schools and districts can support the use of wikis.
While security and authentication have been key topics in conversations between information and instructional technology leaders, another issue that constantly comes up is bandwidth. There are rising concerns as classroom demand for access to online resources exceeds bandwidth capacity. Everyone from administrators and teachers to district technology staff realize how much they have come to depend on having a safe, secure network that is always available. Districts need to plan ahead for appropriate growth in network capacity if they are to meet anticipated needs. This planning calls for big picture thinking, and ongoing visualization.
At the national level, the US Department of Education provides a planning tool that can help with that visualization. It builds on the Web 2.0 concept and, thus, is called “School 2.0.” Available at http://www.school2-0.org, School 2.0 is a brainstorming tool designed to help schools, districts and communities develop a vision for the future and explore how technology can support that vision. The name School 2.0 was chosen to encourage discussion about what the next generation of schools will look like.
To help with developing that “big picture,” School 2.0 includes a poster that depicts a variety of educational and management scenarios that utilize technology, with examples, information and ideas that can serve as prompts for discussion. One part of the poster serves as a map of a learning ecosystem, which becomes the basis of a conversation about the future of schooling. In School 2.0, the learning ecosystem includes not just a school building, but a combination of home, school and community that collaborates to bring the wider world into instruction and provides a rich array of learning opportunities. There are teaching, learning and management examples to draw ideas from and spur discussion. In addition, the poster includes horizontal technology layers, which demonstrate where technology can support the educational goals. The technology layers include software applications, interoperable data, network infrastructure and hardware devices.
The School 2.0 poster also focuses on the importance of supporting elements that are critical to success. They include elements such as performance driven administration, leadership and collaboration, technical support and continuous improvement. As the School 2.0 site states, “The real power of this technology can be accomplished through a systematic approach, where a clear plan is in place that includes both instructional and administrative systems that are linked together to meet important instructional and management needs.”
This approach very much aligns with the kind of discussion that has occurred at the CTAP Region IV meetings, as participants have worked to develop better communication and stronger collaborations between the two IT’s that support districts’ technology use, Information Technology and Instructional Technology.
As I look back to where were ten years ago, I see that we’ve made tremendous progress. Networks have grown from site based and district-based to global. The DataLink website (http://datalink.k12hsn.org) currently reports that 87% of districts and 81% of schools are connected to the K12 High Speed Network. Throughout our society, as technology use becomes more and more ubiquitous, there is an expectation that it will be available when and where users need it. What needs to happen for schools to keep pace is for safe and accessible connectivity to be available in every classroom as part of a district network that is designed to support learning.
