Mulgrave School
Education goes wireless in state-of-the-art learning program for students
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Company Overview
Founded in 1993 with 12 students, Mulgrave School, an independent school located in Vancouver British Columbia, is establishing a worldwide reputation for education through technology. With a mandate to foster individual excellence in the classroom, school administrators, teachers, parents and students have all come to recognize technology based learning. Doing so allows students to learn at their full potential and to better prepare them for the business world of the future.
Business Challenge
With a current enrollment of more than 600 students, Mulgrave moved to a brand new state-of-the-art building in 2001 to accommodate the growth of the student population. This provided school administration with the opportunity to design a new technology program from scratch, and it was decided that it would make the most sense to implement a wireless network alongside a hardwired gigabit network infrastructure.
"We are trying to educate students for the 21st century," says Nicholas Miller, Vice Chair at Mulgrave School. "We need to produce students who don't even have to think about using technology in their endeavors after high school it has to be second nature. We are determined to integrate technology into the education process in the exact same way it is integrated into the business world.
"We knew that if we were going to do this, we had to do it right. We didn't want an environment full of wires in and outside of computer labs. So we created a wireless network, where everyone students and teachers use laptops and all data is backed up on the school's servers for safekeeping.
"Wireless networking has been one of the key success factors for our laptop program, and it has generally performed above expectations", said Murray Miller, Manager of Information Technology; "but there are still some issues with wireless networking that need to be resolved. On a go-forward basis, we are planning to implement Windows XP to take advantage of the support that it offers for wireless networks, and we are also collaborating with a wireless technology company as a beta test site for a new technology designed to deal with issues such as security, channel provisioning and load balancing."
Challenges
"The biggest challenge we thought we would face was not in terms of technology, but buy-in from the parents," says Murray Miller. "But they stepped up and embraced the idea, which has really gone a long way towards the success of the program."
Getting the staff up to speed was also a key priority. Miller found that some of the teachers had a lack of experience with technology, which is not routinely taught in teacher's college. So teachers were provided with a mix of software applications training and Microsoft interactive training CD's along with support from Murray Miller and Marc Hurtubise, to help them get the most out of the technology.
Solution
Microsoft Canada Co. is committed to working with educators and education organizations to help schools build connected learning communities and offer programs that can provide anytime and any place access to technology. As such, Microsoft works to help schools like Mulgrave build a modern learning infrastructure and help educators integrate technology into classroom instruction.
With the pilot project launched in September 2000, Mulgrave went live running on a Novell 5.1 server and laptops with Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional. But when they found that bad synchronization and reduced functionality was impeding the success of the project, they made the switch to Windows 2000 Server and have been up and running since January 2001.
"We installed and set up the Windows 2000 Server in one weekend and have had no problems since," says Murray Miller. "It's the most stable software that I've ever worked with."
Marc Hurtubise, Network Architect, goes on to say that "the group policy settings allow each user to customize his or her desktop, but at the same time, they are unable to change hardware settings or install unauthorized software. In terms of technical support, this is a huge benefit because it lowers the total cost of ownership as the laptops need less maintenance."
"Windows 2000 on the server has been very successful," says Miller. "One of the most tangible benefits is that when the students log on in the morning, their files are automatically synchronized with their personal folder on the server, and the same occurs when they log off, this ensures data integrity. So if they go home and accidentally damage their laptop, they can get a loaner first thing the next day and get right back to work without losing any time or data."
More than 200 laptops are now running on the wireless network, including all faculty members and all students from grade 9 and up. Microsoft Office Suite has been installed on each laptop, and is used extensively by teachers to help them deliver the curriculum, and by students to create and present assignments. Miller credits two technological advances that have made the Mulgrave program possible: wireless technology with the bandwidth to move large amounts of data; and improvements in battery technology that allow the students and teachers to run their laptops all day usually without the requirement for recharging.
"We use Exchange 2000 Server for our e-mail," says Hurtubise. "Next year we are planning to have multiple domains; parents will each have an account on the server and unless there's a specific request, all communication from the school will be done by e-mail. They can have access from virtually anywhere in the world and we're even going to publish a bit of a how-to booklet for them."
Business Benefits
"With this program in place, the students have the opportunity to learn to successfully communicate using 21st century tools," says Nicholas Miller. "It's quite a sight to see them presenting they routinely stand up and present their ideas and assignments far more effectively than some business people do. And that's what we want to achieve, because you can have the greatest ideas in the world but if you can't communicate them effectively it's all for naught."
And the students agree. Alyssa Houghton, 15, has been at Mulgrave for seven years, and using a laptop in class for last year and a half.
"The biggest benefit is that we learn to use this type of technology," says Houghton, who's in grade 11. "Most of all I like to be able to take my class notes in an efficient way and to be able to easily research information for school projects."
Future Plans
With the basics in place, administrators at Mulgrave have many different expansion programs in the works to fully take advantage of the educational benefits the wireless laptop program provides.
Microsoft Daily Curriculum Planner is being implemented to allow students to receive tests, homework etc. online, as well as letting them access their work from virtually anywhere in the world. Parents will also have on-line access to their child's account, which enables parents to monitor the quality of their child's work and keep track of project and assignment progress. With the eventual implementation of Microsoft Daily Curriculum Planner, teachers, students and parents will have access to educational information anytime and anywhere.
"Through the implementation of Class Server, student learning will become an innovative, interactive experience that is entirely Web-based," said Miller. "In addition, the value of giving parents access to a Web site that informs them of their child's progress is an invaluable tool as it relates to parent-teach interaction."
Mulgrave is also participating in the Microsoft IT Academy program, which gives students the opportunity to become Microsoft Certified Professionals by the time they finish high school. And in the ongoing effort to educate the students in all things technical, a student help desk has been set up which has become an important part of Mulgrave's IT program. Students manning the help desk, staff the computer labs and provide technical support to staff and students alike.
And, according to Miller, they will be starting to use the laptops more in the science labs. The school has purchased probes that plug into the laptops. The probes will transfer temperature, pressure and pH readings into the laptops at precise intervals, allowing the students to create very accurate test results that can later be analyzed in a spreadsheet created using Excel.
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products or services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Co. information Centre at 877-568-2495. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information via the World Wide Web, go to:
http://www.microsoft.ca/casestudies
http://www.mulgrave.com
