Providing access to robust connectivity is critical to ensuring today's students are college and career ready. As such, federal, state, and district-level leaders have dedicated a significant amount of time, effort, and resources toward improving our schools' external broadband access, including both Internet access and wide area network (WAN).…

This article features a major statewide initiative in North Carolina that is showing how a consortium model can minimize risks for districts and help them exploit the advantages of cloud computing. Edgecombe County Public Schools in Tarboro, North Carolina, intends to exploit a major cloud initiative being refined in the state and involving every…

Supplements a previous column's laundry list of bad technology ideas with further provisos: fixating on processor speed; relying on user support; developing non-visionary long-range technology plans; leaving people out of long-range planning; and concentrating technology at the center of a network. (MLH)

For many school districts, planning, developing, and implementing a technology infrastructure has become very expensive, time-consuming, and knowledge-intensive. Following Hartford, Connecticut's example, districts should expand cooperative purchasing, try outsourcing, develop vendor partnerships, and use regional educational service centers. (MLH)

Explores technology planning possibilities via interviews with a district-level technology director, a state instructional technology director, and a state administrative technology director. Schools' biggest planning challenges are funding, professional development, and technology integration. The Web browser is becoming a "universal…

Discusses connecting K-12 schools to the National Information Infrastructure. Presents four technology models and the estimated costs for each. Examines programs that could help reduce hardware, training, support, and retrofitting costs, and estimates potential savings. (JKP)

Presents planning guidelines for wiring specifications for K-12 schools by reviewing advantages and disadvantages of using copper, fiber-optic, and coaxial wire. Addresses the future of network wiring and educational technology, and makes recommendations. A sidebar describes the physical appearance of different types of wire and a table compares…

Fourth-graders in Oklahoma City used the Internet to find an expert to identify a 75-pound Pleistocene-Era mammoth femur they found in a nearby river. A superintendent explains how his technologically backward district wired its schools for Internet learning and facilitated genuine instructional improvement. (MLH)

Discussion of technology planning in schools focuses on the total cost of ownership, a model from business that can be helpful in determining the real costs of educational technology. Highlights include learning resources; organizational impacts and management; computer network resources, including software; research and development; and spirit…

The Oswego City School District is committed to creating--through the implementation of its technology plan--an environment that supports effective teaching and learning and prepares all students to succeed in a technologically sophisticated world. This report summarizes the efforts to build a community-wide consensus for a meaningful technology…

This book introduces the basic concepts of connecting computers together and provides technical background necessary for constructing small networks. For those already experienced with creating and maintaining computer networks, the book is intended to encourage the creation of a school-wide network. The book is divided into two main sections: an…

Suggests resources for school library media programs to help plan for and implement technology. Examples from other schools and districts are recommended that are available via the Internet. (LRW)

The 100-school networking project began in Japan in 1993, sponsored by MITI (Ministry of International Trade and Industry and Ministry of Education). The features of this project can be summarized as follows: (1) one server computer per school; (2) supported by government organization or quasi government organization; (3) supported by local…

Utah's Southeastern Education Service Center has devised a five-phase vision plan for improving the educational technology infrastructure in the southeastern region of the state. The fourth phase involves the creation of the Southeastern Utah Regional Wide Area Network (SURWAN), which will link all K-12 schools to the Internet by 1996. This…

This book is intended to introduce the basic concepts of connecting computers together and to equip individuals with the technical background necessary to begin constructing small networks. For those already experienced with creating and maintaining computer networks, the book can help in considering the creation of a schoolwide network. The book…