Installing and Managing a Computer Network in a Special School (Part1)
Computer networks within schools used to run terror through IT/ICT coordinators at the management time and involvement that would be required to implement such a new technology when the networks were brought to the front of education with TVEI in the 1980's. At that time the cost of floppy disc drives and such well used peripherals as printers and scanners were expensive. The though of having these resources available to many users, as well as the ability to share files and software, very quickly appealed to schools.
A lot has happened since the early days of computers and with networks in schools. The government initiatives to provide connection to the Internet, has allowed all schools the funds to be able to purchase new computer systems. Networks have been seen as the best way to either connect a dedicated room or all parts of schools to the ever-growing resources that are available to education to promote teaching and learning.
Networks have been common within secondary schools, not many if any in Primary, Junior and Special Schools. All schools now armed with extra funding have been able to purchase network and computer systems. Special schools have always had a good ICT capability with much software been available for all ages and abilities. With the introduction of PC within schools the amount of specialist software has increased with much more specialist SEN software been written to target specific SEN groups.
Planning Your Network
Planning your network is the most important job you need to do, time spent at the early stages will pay dividends, not only on money but on the time spent in managing the network and ultimately the grief you will get from staff if it does not work!
When planning a school network a very simple checklist should be followed to allow the system to grow with your school development plans.
Suppliers
Look very carefully at the companies you use to supply your computer network don't use the guy down the road as your sole supplier he may know the computer systems but do they know how their system will cope in an educational environment. Networks for industry are very different from those used in education. In education users log on and off from different machines many times during a day and a large strain is put on the network at the beginning and end of lessons.
Infrastructure
The network infrastructure is the foundation on which your network is built. This consists of the cabling and active components. It needs to be of good quality and installed to professional standards. Network cable is susceptible to damage from wear and tear and should be regularly checked. Make a plan of your network and keep the plan up to date. Think about what you want to do with your system. It is no good setting up your system for 10 machines and knowing that you want to expand in the next few months. Even if you are going to expand in the next financial year if your hardware has the extra capacity you will save money rather than scraping last years purchase to allow you to connect your extra machines. All computer networks that are going to deliver multimedia should have a central switch and if switches can be used to connect all your workstations to the network all the better. Try to use the same manufacturer for all your switches and hub, known problems with network speed have been highlighted when components from different suppliers have been connected together.
Power Distribution
As well as the connection of your computers to the network, power sockets will need to be made available for your machines. Allow extra sockets for the addition of new machines or extra peripherals such as printers or scanners.
Workstations / Monitors
The power and speed of workstations is improving all the time but when purchasing machines look at the speed of processor and memory. If machines are to be used for heavy graphical software such as for Art and CDT software these will require more memory than those used for applications such as work processing and spreadsheets. Most software has sound capabilities so as standard your machines should be fitted with a sound card. Multimedia monitors are very well suited to use in classrooms where there is a single computer and are good for demonstrating software in-group activities. However when placed in larger computers rooms with many machines headphones may be a better solution. Also do you require some machines to have touch screens or other access devices, having these facilities fitted to the machines at purchase will save time and money. If the server is able to deliver multimedia across your network only one machine will need to be installed with a CD ROM drive.
Network Administration Tool
Network administration tools, this covers many aspects of your network from adding software, setting up users, configuring desktops to which software is available to which users. You seriously need to look at how you are you going to manage your system once it is installed. Adding users may sound simple for one or two but if you have to add more than that is it going to take you hours to add your whole school to the network. The network tools supplied with NT Server are not really suited for education. So spending time looking at the administration tools your network supplier can offer will be time well spent. Adding new software should not be taken lightly; adding applications such as MS Office can be very complicated. Will you have to go to every machine in the school to add the latest word processor or spreadsheet and will the software save your work files into the right directory on the system for the user? Does the system allow the facilities to tailor the settings for each user when using specialist software? Where software is to be run from CD are there tools supplied to assist you in their installation?
Server
The main part of your computer network that is very often overlooked is the specification of the main computer known as the server. Most if not all of your network software is stored at the server. This has two main benefits. Firstly it is easier to manage because it is all in one place, and secondly only one copy of each program needs to be maintained instead of one for each workstation or user. This machine is a PC but is a very special PC. The server is the Hub (not to be confused with a hub, which connects all your computers together) of your network and needs to be a fast machine with good storage facilities and plenty of memory. The server is used to store both software and the pupils and staffs documents / work. When looking at the specification of the server spend as much money as you can afford. Once your system is up and running and work produced on your new network will be saved, it will start to eat into the hard drive storage space so make allowances for a larger hard drive at the server to take into account of the work your users will be storing. If your school has a digital camera or scanner the images used with this medium can use up large amounts of storage space so take account of these when setting the capacity for your network server. As all the work on the system is stored on the central server it is imperative that your server has a good backup device and that you use it. Also an uninterruptable power supply (UPS) is a good investment for your server this unit keeps the system running during a power failure and voltage fluctuations. It manages a safe system shutdown when the backup supply is about to fail.
Most software is now supplied on CD ROM; your server should be able to provide support for delivering CD ROM across your network.
Support
When looking at your network supplier, support is a very important issue that can be overlooked. Don't just look at the cost; the main part of it is the support you are going to receive. If your server crashes is it covered by a warranty for the server hardware such as hard drives and motherboards and will the supplier rebuild it in the event of a crash? Can you talk to someone when you are having difficulty adding a new piece of software to your network? These questions need to be asked of your supplier if they don't give you a straight answer walk away.