Trinity_Meadows_Intermediate_School_STaR_Chart[1]

View more presentations or Upload your own.

A look at Infrastructure

Today's students expect to learn using a variety of media, and have access to vast amounts of data. For this reason, districts must have twenty-four-seven broadband access to the Internet. This access must be safe, secure, reliable, and flexible. It will allow teachers and students access to tools so they can retrieve online materials, do collaborative work, and share resources. The Twenty-first century classroom must be a connected classroom. Computers must not only be connected to the Internet, they have to be connected to a powerful Wide Area Network so that all district resources are available quickly at all schools. These classrooms will be equipped to provide students with personalized instruction tailored to fit their individual needs(Texas Education Agency,2006).

A key component of infrastructure is access to the Internet. The United States has a four to one ratio of students per Internet connection(Education Week,2005). The state of Texas has a three-point-four to one ratio(TEA,2006), and Keller Independent School District has a seven to one ratio(Keller ISD Plan for Technology,2008). All have made significant improvements over the last 10 years. In the United States, there has been a 133% increase in the number of students per Internet connection(National Center for Education Statistics,2003). Texas has had similar success with a 130% increase(Texas Education Agency,2006). The Keller Independent School District had 14 students per Internet connection in 1998. They have experienced a 100% increase in this category(Keller ISD Technology Plan,2008).

Trends at all levels of education are positive. If this trend continues, we should reach our goal of 1 computing device with Internet access per student in the United States. Additionally, we will see a increasingly collaborative effort to connect all computers in schools, libraries, hospitals, businesses, homes, and colleges(Texas Education Agency,2006).

I believe that national, state. and local agencies, along with their respective legislative bodies, should offer across the board tax incentives to companies that are willing to provide low cost products and training for educational infrastructure. Most businesses are more than willing to help out local schools from time to time. With incentives, they will be motivated to supply our communities with cutting edge technology and ideas for improvement. I also recommend that decision makers at all levels take a closer look at open source software. These programs are often just as useful and effective as licensed products at a fraction of the cost. Additionally, agencies at all levels should pursue infrastructure technology that is interoperable. Applications that can perform multiple tasks are much more cost effective than applications that perform a single operation.