The COVID-19 pandemic sparked an unprecedented expansion of educational technologies and digitisation of the university sector, and also amplified existing inequalities and crises. In this paper, we introduce the 'socio-technically just pedagogies framework' to systemically explore curriculum-making, student-staff partnerships, knowledge…

The purpose of this document is to provide timely and useful best practice information to help education agencies proactively prepare for, appropriately mitigate, and responsibly recover from a cybersecurity incident. This resource reflects lessons learned by the education community and provides recommendations that will help agencies protect…

Many institutions implement a distributed antenna system (DAS) as part of a holistic approach to providing better wireless coverage and capacity on campus. A DAS provides wireless service within a particular area or structure via a network of separate antenna nodes that are connected to a common source through fiber or coaxial cable. Because DAS…

Most school business officials have heard the term "cloud computing" bandied about and may have some idea of what the term means. In fact, they likely already leverage a cloud-computing solution somewhere within their district. But what does cloud computing really mean? This brief article puts a bit of definition behind the term and helps one…

Many rural areas of the country lack an on-ramp to the information superhighway for people who are looking for educational and professional advancement, which leaves these rural communities frustrated by a situation that puts their residents at a significant disadvantage. This article describes Quick Start and Advanced Internet Regions (AIR.U) as…

People live in an era of social, enterprise-oriented, and increasingly cloud-based technology; a dramatic shift away from stand-alone isolated silos that previously dominated. Computing systems can flourish today only when built to easily exchange data and services. An application that stands alone may provide practical functionality but may not…

We implemented two local area network (LAN) projects in our introductory data communications and networking course. The first project required students to develop a LAN from scratch for a small imaginary organization. The second project required student groups to analyze a LAN for a real world small organization. By allowing students to apply what…

Cloud computing is definitely a thing now, but it's not new and it's not even novel. Back when people were first learning about the Internet in the 1990s, every diagram that one saw showing how the Internet worked had a big cloud in the middle. That cloud represented the diverse links, routers, gateways, and protocols that passed traffic around in…

In this era of political rancor when everything is a zero-sum game, it is refreshing to think that two parties could actually come together to create a win-win situation. That is exactly what is happening, though, as a number of universities take on the role of application service provider (ASP) for smaller schools. It is not all confetti and…

As higher education budgets tighten in the ongoing recession, colleges and universities have found themselves questioning, lengthening, and even eliminating tech refresh cycles. Yet how deep an institution cuts into its refresh program can compromise its ability to provide an up-to-date and competitive computing environment for students and a…

Since 2001, there has been a dramatic decline in Information Technology and Computer Science student enrolments worldwide. As a consequence, many institutions have evaluated their offerings and revamped their programs to include units designed to capture students' interests and increase subsequent enrolment. Likewise, at Victoria University the…

In these days of distance learners, virtual libraries, and electronic information, no library can be without some way of providing remote access to affiliated users, whether they are distance students, online students, or local students and faculty members working from home. Libraries subscribe to any number of electronic resources and journals,…

Despite the hype, IP convergence does not happen overnight. Navigating the IP convergence market is not easy. Some network equipment makers are taking traditional voice over IP (VoIP) product lines and rebranding them as unified communications offerings. But beware: While closely related, VoIP and UC are not the same. Generally speaking, VoIP…

Colleges and universities worldwide are turning to the hosted Software as a Service (SaaS) model and saying goodbye to issues like patch management and server optimization. Generally, SaaS involves applications (such as customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), and e-mail) offered by a hosting provider. In this…

Discusses multipoint interactive video networks and describes experiences with two networks in North Carolina, the MCNC CONCERT (COmmunications network of North Carolina for Education, Research, and Technology) and the Vision Carolina network. Digital video is explained, and issues concerning various components of the telecommunications industry…