WiFi in Education
The Education sector presents some unique challenges when deploying a WiFi network. The network must assist teachers to teach and students to learn; often it must also support administrative staff functions. The WiFi network in a school should also enforce appropriate use policies and provide traffic separation, security and guest access.
Today's ICT environment is seeing rapid growth in the number and type of WiFi devices. Laptops, PDA's, mobile phones, iPod touches and so on can all connect to a WiFi network and are increasingly seen as integral learning tools.
Schools and Universities are typically high density and high demand network environments. The nature of the school period or university lecture timetable means mass demand to logon at the beginning of a lesson and further high demand to save work and logoff at the close. And then there is coverage. Most schools and universities are distributed sites with learning buildings scattered across the campus. With limited budgets and often minimal IT staff, educational institutions need an approach to WiFi networks that is simple, reliable, scalable, affordable and easy to administer.
With great depth of experience supplying the education sector, Kalooma can assist your learning institution, whether large or small, to identify key requirements for your WiFi network and recommend an appropriate solution.
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Hartlepool Schools - UK
With the digital divide putting e-Learning technologies out of reach for many groups and individuals, the government provided funding through the Home Access Programme, to equip students with technology in the home, providing broadband access for one year. Colin Scott, Strategic Director for e-Learning in Hartlepool, sought a way to meet the needs of disadvantaged students once the year was up. By investing some of that funding in deploying wireless LANs in schools and oher locations, any student with a laptop or personal device could access the Internet and on-line curriculum applications from wireless hot spots. The first phase of the LearnNet rollout provided acccess in more than 40 schools, and the second phase, now underway, adds access in community centres, youth centers, and other locations where students may hang out after school, on weekends, or during holidays. |
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Kew High school - VictoriaThis co-educational high school, with over 1400 year 7-12 students, has deployed Xirrus 802.11n Wi-Fi Arrays in preparation for 1:1 Initiative. Being able to support hundreds of students and teachers was the primary selection criterion. Peter Burgess, IT Manager for Kew High School explains, "We looked at Cisco. We looked at HP. We looked at Aruba. None of those could offer the density that we needed. We wanted an absolute guarantee that we would have fast logins - in three rooms in a row with 25 computers in each room - and we would have no complaints." |
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Mount Maunganui CollegeAn early adopter of wireless technology access, Mt Maunganui College provided staff wireless on their cross-platform Mac and Windows network in 2003. Kalooma worked with their channel partner Totali, to provide an easy-to-manage network capable of handling the complex, changing demands of the school. View or download PDF
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