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Case Study - Caboolture State High School

Restoring Faith in the Curriculum Network at Caboolture State High School

Teachers and administrators at Caboolture State High School have made progress in increasing the speed of their curriculum IT network by taking a few, easy-to-follow steps.

With over 1000 students using 270 desktop computers and 160 students connecting their own laptops to the curriculum network each day, the school's network speed was slowing down. Teachers and students were reconsidering using ICTs in class.

The school's ICT team, comprising the ICT Services HOD, two part-time network administrators and a senior technician, looked at the causes of the poor service and considered options for its improvement.

As expected, the major cause of the slow network speed was daily downloads from the Internet of large files unrelated to studies, especially music. This was despite all students signing, at the time of enrolment, the school's LAN Agreement, which outlines the designated protocols for computer access.

Initially, the school removed from most computers the software that plays music and video files. This reduced the proliferation of music downloads and allowed students to focus better in class.

Weekly reviewing of a range of MIS reports identified the top 10 student Internet users.

Their activity was discussed with them. This alerted the students to the reporting power that MIS provides and word soon spread throughout the school that Internet use was being monitored. When students reappeared in the top 10 and their inappropriate downloads exceeded 40mb, their access was restricted for a month.

The MIS reports also revealed the top 100 sites visited by students. Armed with this information, the school filtered sites unrelated to studies, which eased the amount of network traffic.

Student activity was also monitored by scanning all network drives to determine the size and content type of the students' drives. This identified further breaches of network policy.

Some students were providing their user name and password to allow other students to access files stored on their drive. Others were logging onto more than one machine, using one for work and the other for recreation. Students were also accessing the network and Internet via a generic password used for a software program. Game and music files and the software were all subsequently removed.

Part of the process of improving the standard of operation involved making teachers more aware of student activity. Students in breach of the Internet or network access protocols were published in staff notices. The LAN agreement was posted in each lab to serve as a reminder for students and to raise teacher awareness of school expectations.

While all of these initiatives made an impact, the school also used MIS to set Internet usage quotas for students, limiting the volume of downloads made each month.

Students became aware of their usage patterns and soon learned that Internet access could be restricted if they did not manage their accounts. Students were able to replenish their accounts if their excessive use could be validated. If not, their access restriction stood.

With increasing numbers of students using their own laptops and growing demand for lab access, the school decided to increase its Internet bandwidth to 1500Kbps. This was achieved with the awareness that, if there were no efficient management systems in place, students would quickly absorb the new speed and the situation would be no better than before.

Misuse by just a few has a huge impact on the function of any curriculum server, supporting the old adage that the majority is affected by the minority. By introducing measures to manage this minority, Caboolture State High School has created a curriculum network that provides a more efficient service and therefore more constructive experiences for all students and teachers.

While there was some initial disruption and a need for education during the early stages, Caboolture State High School is now using its curriculum network smarter.

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