Reports have found Australia to be leading the way in the use of internet within the classroom and the amount of time that students are spending using connected devices.
This has been propelled by $2.4bn of government investment and a broad acceptance of BYO device schemes.
Some technology leaders and experts believe that by harnessing the latest smart Wi-Fi technology, schools can both provide students and teachers with the connectivity required for the ever evolving digital school environment and open doors for partnerships and collaboration between institutions.
One such expert is Rich Nedwich, the global director of education at Ruckus, a manufacturer of Wi-Fi networking equipment for enterprises and service providers based on smart Wi-Fi-technology.
To ensure that principals have the most efficient wireless networks for their schools, Nedwich says they should start with the end goal in mind.
“Principals need to ask themselves: what is the learning experience I am trying to achieve for my school?” Nedwich told The Educator.
“They should then look at how this can be accomplished within the budget. Some schools set up one or two connected classrooms with state-of-the-art infrastructure, rotating classes through the week.”
Nedwich said this gives students and teachers the best possible learning experience with less time wasted on troubleshooting.
“A great litmus test for the efficiency of a school’s Wi-Fi infrastructure is to see whether the teachers are first using it for digital learning experiences, such as Khan Academy videos, immersive learning with Lenovo VR headsets, or gamification with Kahoot,” he said.
“If, instead, the network is ‘slow’ or ‘unreliable’ then it will only be used for administration, such as email and entering grades.”
Improving connected classrooms
Nedwich said collaboration between principals, IT departments and curriculum directors is vital as each party brings an essential point of view to the discussion.
“Firstly, the principal brings a holistic view of the school and can workshop options with the other two departments to ensure the implementation meets the needs of the curriculum, and stays within budget,” he said.
“The IT manager can ensure a solution that can be properly deployed, then diagnosed and managed remotely.”
Nedwich said the curriculum director is best placed to discuss the learning resources that will be utilised in the near and far future, such as those needed by schools in rural communities moving towards remote learning.
When it comes to the pitfalls and solutions of managing ICT-related matters in a fast-paced education technology environment, Nedwich said this can be a two-pronged issue.
“There are two major pitfalls: underinvestment and overcomplicating the solution. Solve for the learning experience you want to achieve somewhat longer than the short-term,” he said.
According to Nedwich, it is better for schools to have “future-proofed infrastructure” that can be built up over time rather than a “half-measure” solution that will become quickly antiquated.
“Teachers also want to teach, not deliver tech support to a class of thirty. Unfortunately, teachers are all too often viewed as the first line of defence when there are issues with the wireless infrastructure,” Nedwich said.
“A cloud-managed Wi-Fi solution can alleviate this problem. Such a solution allows the systems administrator to see the status of the entire network directly on a smartphone with a simple interface that can be used by non-technical staff if need be.”