So Far, So Good, But Now What?

Okay, so you've convinced the school board, or the PTA, or someone similar, that a network in your school would be a good thing. Now what do you do? You've got to actually do it, so here are some sources which will help you get an idea of what you're looking at doing. Also, we have some resources for training teachers and what a technology classroom should look like.

• How do I get funding to do all this?
• I have a bunch of ancient computers in storage. Is there any way I can use them and save some money?
• How do I plan and build a local area network at my school?
• How do I install network cables and accomplish the other physical work of getting the network up and running?
• How do I plan and build an internetwork to connect all the schools in my district?
• How do I build a WWW server?
• How do we train our teachers?
• What should my technology classroom look like?

How do I get funding to do this?

• Investing in School Technology: Strategies to Meet the Funding Challenge is a document offered by the US Dept. of Education on various ways of finding the funding you need. This pointer goes to a document in PDF format, and requires the free Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in in order to be browsed, as well as a graphic web browser. Lynx users won't be able to read it until we find out whether there's a text or HTML version up somewhere, or we can have permission to convert it ourselves (avenues we're currently seeking as of 1/16/98).
• GrantsWeb is a website at Penn State with information on funding opportunities & grant programs, both government-sponsored and non.
• Application for State Grants Under the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund from the US Dept. of Education's website.

I have a bunch of ancient computers in storage. Is there any way I can use them and save some money?

• Good as New gives tips and tricks for making use of those old Commodore 64's, Apple II's and first-generation IBM PC's. You'd be surprised what you can do with them!

How do I plan and build a local area network at my school?

• A Design Guide for School Networks, developed by a computer science class at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is available on the World Wide Web. Information includes such topics as networking for a large school, networking for a small school, an overview on wiring and networking for schools, and a schools discussion forum. The class is now over, but the pages are still there and can provide interesting and valuable discuession as schools begin to investigate the possibility of wiring themselves.
• Networking K12 Schools -- Architecture Models and Evaluation of Costs and Benefits -- A thesis written by Russell I. Rothstein, Networking K12 Schools "examines the costs and the benefits of networks in K-12 schools. To examine costs, five technology models are developed with increasing levels of connectivity. For each model, a range of one-time and annual costs are computed. These costs are extrapolated to the national level to examine the costs to network all U.S. schools.
• Connecting K-12 Schools to the Information Superhighway, by McKinsey and Company, contains costing models which are not specific to Texas. Contacts for the study are:

Michael Nevens, McKinsey and Company
630 Hansen Way
Palo Alto, CA   94304

or

Margot Singer, McKinsey and Company
555 East 52nd Street
New York, NY   10022

How do I install network cables?

• Netday '96 has a Cable Installation Guide which shows you, step by step, how to install network cables in your school. Be sure you've got Shockwave installed so you can see the animations!

How do I plan and build an internetwork to connect all the schools in my district?

• The Context for Development of a California Education Network Prototype (postscript file)
• Network Access, Use and Costs in K-12 Schools and Libraries is a report prepared in New York about the existing levels of connectivity and potential connectivity, as well as cost estimates for upgrading. While it is area-specific, it can provide some idea of what issues are of concern in undertaking such a study.
• Connecting K-12 Schools to the NII examines the cost of connecting all schools to the National Information Infrastructure and how this will help reform education.

How do I build a WWW Server?

• A WWW server can be quite a thing to put up--but it can also be quite easy. Of course one will first need a server which is somehow connected to the Internet. Look here for pointers on that in the future. Then one will need the HTTP-Daemon software. An HTTP-Daemon is simply the software on the server which makes it a WWW server. There are a couple of good HTTP-D software packages:
• FolkWeb Server for Win95 or WinNT is one of the best PC WWW servers we've seen to date. It's easy to fun, it's fast, and it's cheap, clocking in at $44 for the registration fee.
• NCSA HTTPD
• Netscape Communications and Commerce Servers, free of charge to educational institutions (this means you!).
• WebStar, formerly known as MacHTTP, is a very simple, efficient and easy-to-administer HTTP-Daemon package for Macintosh computers.
• Then there's the issue of HTML. HTML stands for Hyper-Text Mark-up Languge. It's a very simple way of imbedding a scripting language into a document, such as this, so that the document--when read by a web browser--comes out looking the way it should according to the commands. There are loads of good tutorials on HTML. Here are a couple:
• NCSA's HTML Primer, an excellent first primer on HTML with a glossary of terms and excellent advice.
• Composing Good HTML. Don't just write pages, write good pages.
• The larger picture:
• Absolute Resource! is a guide to go "from webbie to webmeister," a mountain of handy information on making the transition from browser to publisher/maintainer.
• Ender Design: Realm Graphics is a warehouse of public-domain graphics, free for you to use when designing pages. Internet Tools Summary is a collection of information sources about software used on the Internet for network information retrieval, computer-mediated interaction, and computer-mediated communication. A popular resource for Internet trainers and students to learn about the Internet, it is updated continuously.

How do we train our teachers?

• Begginer's Info on the Internet is a directory of beginner's guides and resources for getting around on-line.
• BCK2SKOL [Back To School]: The Electronic Library Classroom 101 originated as 30 lessons on basic Internet use, distributed by email to 200 South Carolina librarians in 1995. These revised lessons include information on participating in mailing lists, Usenet newsgroups, and cover basic Internet tools including telnet, ftp, archie, gopher, veronica, and the World Wide Web. In addition, the class provides pointers to librarians on researching the Net in eight different academic subject areas.
• InterNIC's new "Academic Guide to the Internet" is a great source of materials for training "newbies" in the use of the Internet. Check out this searchable database, although use a browser which supports frames. There's a text version, as well, for the frame-less.
• Resources for Training the Trainer are found on SunSITE Canada, at Queens University's SunSITE, a list of places you can find information on training teachers.
• World Wide Web primer -- "This information was designed to introduce public school teachers to the various ways to access the Web. Feel free to share it with your (unenlightened) colleagues" -- (from the introductory page).

What should my technology classroom look like?

• Exploratory Studies of a Flexible Computer Classroom is a good starting point for a review of your options.