Getting the Most out of Your Ed-Tech Investment
Although technology spending remains a top priority for many districts, school budgets are still tight and unpredictable at best. But funding from the federal eRate and other grant programs can help supplement ed-tech budgets, and smart purchasing and management strategies can help school leaders maximize the learning return on their ed-tech investments.
With the generous support of ADTRAN, we’ve assembled this collection of stories from our archives, along with other relevant materials, to help you learn how to best stretch your ed-tech dollars.
—The Editors
How to sustain technology funding in schools
Involving the community, identifying backup revenue sources, and dedicating time and resources for professional development are the keys to sustaining technology funding and ed-tech initiatives, according to a…
How proper ed-tech implementation can transform learning
A new report outlines four critical challenges facing public education and identifies steps that school and district leaders must take in the next two years to ensure that…
Dispelling 10 common eRate myths
Each fall, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC)—the agency that administers the $2.3 billion-a-year eRate—holds a number of training sessions designed to help applicants wade through the rules…
New online community shares ed-tech best practices
Project RED, an ed-tech research and advocacy group that has been studying how technology can help re-engineer the education system, has created a new online community for school…
To support ed tech, schools need to rethink budgets, infrastructure
As schools seek to provide more interactive, engaging, and personalized learning, newly released survey results reveal they need to radically rethink their budgets and infrastructure to support this…
Report calls for more broadband access in schools
School districts should provide a minimum of 100 megabits per second of bandwidth for every 1,000 students and staff members within the next two years, and federal lawmakers…
Five tips for eRate success
With a new eRate application season about to dawn for schools and libraries, here are five tips that can help ensure success in getting your fair share of…
How to fight back against devastating budget cuts
If educators are going to win back the hearts and minds of the public in support of public schools, they need to learn how to engage social media…
Study reveals factors in ed-tech success
Schools with one-to-one computing programs have fewer discipline problems, lower dropout rates, and higher rates of college attendance than schools with a higher ratio of students to computers,…
What a Business Process Analyst can do for K-12
Delivering financial savings, continuous innovation, and better execution is a must for every K-12 organization. A Business Process Analyst (BPA) can deliver that benefit and allow the…
Additional resources
WiFi Awesomeness Video
Your Wi-Fi Network is no longer an unlimited resource.
10 Steps to BYOD Access Strategy 10 Steps to a Successful BYOD Access Strategy
Despite the significant challenges facing the IT departments of K-12 organizations, the demand for the use of consumer technologies is not going away.
“A Scalable BYOD Access Strategy is Crucial for K-12 Districts” White Paper
The IT demands on a school system are among the most complex of any organization. Schools are a mix of technically savvy users and nontechnical users. Additionally, technology is not upgraded consistently so different locations in the same district can have widely different technology. Technology is becoming an increasingly important part of school operation, and the challenges around operating the IT environment continues to grow.
Traditional WLAN vs. Virtual WLAN Comparison Chart
Within a wireless LAN, legacy hardware controllers have complexities and scale limitations—the method of scaling has been to add more and more costly hardware controllers. ADTRAN’s vWLAN solution brings the power of virtualization to wireless networks. vWLAN virtualizes network control and management onto to software which runs on a hypervisor (e.g. VMware) or a virtual appliance. vWLAN eliminates the need, cost, and all the operational constraints inherent to hardware controllers—resulting
Bluesocket vWLAN Enables Forney Independent School District’s 1-1 Computing and eBooks Technology Initiatives
Bluesocket vWLAN Enables Forney Independent School District’s 1-1 Computing and eBooksTechnology Initiatives
One of the Fastest Growing School District in Texas
Forney Independent School District (ISD) has been ranked as one of the fastest-growing school districts in the State of Texas. The Forney ISD has a total enrollment of more than 8,000 students in K-12 and more than 1,100 teachers and staff. The district includes nine elementary schools, two middle schools, two high schools, one alternative school and the Ellen Brooks Memorial Library, spread out across the district which
vWLAN Architecture Overview
Today’s enterprise communicates wirelessly. Users now carry multiple devices that need to connect to the enterprise Wi-Fi® network from any point in the building and across the campus. These devices are mobileand are accessing applications that demand higher bandwidth. Wireless connectivity in the enterprise has moved from the access of convenience to the access of choice.
“How schools can embrace future communications while protecting their present investment” White Paper
By adopting unified communications, schools can reduce costs, ease network maintenance, and improve information flow among staff, students, and parents
Not that long ago, the telephone was the only communications option for schools. Today, the variety of communications channels has grown exponentially—from faxes and email to instant messaging, automated alerts, and even video conferencing. Administrators, teachers, and parents have a number of options when they need to reach someone—and now a new challenge has emerged: the need to sift through a variety of messages, find the most important ones, and respond appropriately to them.
Norwood School Unified Communications Case Study
The NetVanta UC Server is changing the way Norwood faculty, students and even parents are communicating with each other.
Unlock the Power of Ethernet Delivering 100 Mbps and PoE over CAT3 and Legacy Copper with ADTRAN ActivReach
In this solution brief, we will outline the ADTRAN® innovative ActivReach™ technology, which provides a fresh approach, and removes these troublesome constraints. Complementing the gigabit capabilities on ADTRAN’s new NetVanta® 1535P Ethernet switch, ActivReach unlocks the power of Ethernet. Now businesses around the world can utilize their existing voicegrade cabling to deploy cutting edge business applications, and access data at speeds of 100 Mbps, while transitioning towards a gigabit future.
4 Keys to Campus Connectivity
Higher educational institutions are experiencing a monumental transformation where learning is really occurring in all corners of the campus 24/7. Advanced technologies offer the tools for break-through research, study, and learning on the constituent side, but present challenges to implement for the IT department. It’s no longer a matter of having a few computer labs scattered throughout campus or even planning on one device per student. Students will often be using multiple devices for class, dorm, and personal use.