TIPO DE CARRETERA MINlMO DESEABLE (m) MINIMO ABSOLUTO
EVALUACIÓN DE LA SEVERIDAD
5. Infrastructure, Hardware, Technical Support, and Software
5a. Describe the existing hardware, Internet access, electronic learning resources, and technical support already in the district that could be used to support the Curriculum and Professional Development Components of the plan.
The Berkeley Unified School District network supports 16 locations including 11 elementary, 3 middle, 1 high school sites and 1 alternative school site. All sites have Windows and/or Apple computers.
Hardware
Throughout the district, 100% of computers have a broadband connection to the Internet. While most of the computers are desktop computers, in the last year increasing numbers of pseudo-‐thin-‐clients have been implemented. One example is using nComputing
technology to power four computing environments with one CPU. At King Middle School, each classroom has 1 CPU powering 4 workstations. At Willard and at the high school, this technology has been implemented in a computer lab. The workstations are surprisingly robust, and function well even in a classroom teaching programming techniques. The limitation seems to be Read180 labs, where because of the interactivity of speaking back to the computer, a standalone CPU works better.
Table 1.
Quantity and Location of Berkeley Unified School District Computers 2011-‐12 School Year
Location Classroom Lab Library Other Total
Berkeley Unified 48% (1221) 13% (146) 7% (192) 32% (833) 100% (2578) Elementary Schools 418 0 78 247 (on carts) 743 Middle Schools 300 146 59 136 (on carts) 641 High Schools 503 186 55 450 (on carts) 1194
Table 2. Age of Computers
Source: CDE State Technology Survey (2011)
< 1 Year 1 -‐ 2 Years 2 -‐ 3 Years 3 -‐ 4 Years 4+ Years
Berkeley Unified School District Page 61 Electronic Learning Resources
Google Apps for Education has been adopted as the email and calendaring platform of the district. All teachers, staff and secondary students have accounts. Gains have been made in replacing Microsoft Office with Google Docs. That said, browser-‐based application are subject to the constraints of internet access, which occasionally goes down, so computers are provided with either Microsoft Office or open source productivity applications Open Office (Windows) or NeoOffice (Apple) on 100% of desktops. The middle schools have site licenses for Type to Learn. King Middle school lab has licenses for Flash and Sketch-‐up.
Software resources used in the classroom to support achievement in core academic
programs include Read 180, Accelerated Reader, Compass Learning and FasttMath as well as media included with State-‐adopted classroom materials purchased by BUSD, including Pearson’s middle school ELA curriculum, the Teacher’s College elementary curriculum, Every Day Math and others. Teachers also have access to web-‐based activities, some of which may or may not be subscription based. Some of these websites are offered by museums, the Library of Congress and some universities and colleges.
Library Services maintains an online catalog of all library holdings. It carries a district wide electronic subscription to World Book Online and TeachingBooks.net, and Rosen's Teen Health and Wellness database for all secondary sites. Berkeley High School has additional electronic subscription resources of ProQuest, Gale's Virtual Reference Library, Opposing Viewpoints, and ABC-‐Clio, and hosts direct links to OWL, Purdues Online Writing Lab. The library web pages of each school library embed additional links to useful resources for students: Berkeley Public Library, Calisphere (digitized primary sources from UC Berkeley), International Children’s Digital Library, FOSS science games, Storyline, Toonbooks, and links to specific classroom teachers’ assignments.
Internet Access, Infrastructure, Network Access and Core District Applications
The District has a Comcast fiber backbone that connects all K-‐12 schools and the 3 main district office buildings, the Adult School, all 3 preschools, by 100 Mbit or gigabit fiber (depending on site). Each school site has a fully operational Ethernet local area network that provides gigabit fiber connections to each MDF and IDF, and is connected to the gigabit WAN backbone. 100Mbit connections are provided to each desktop. Each school’s local area network configuration consists of connecting every classroom, computer lab, library, and administrative office by Category 5 data cabling to the building’s Intermediate
Distribution Frame (IDF). Each IDF provides an individual port on a high capacity network switch to each Category 5 data drop. A fiber optic backbone connects outlying IDF locations to the Main Distribution Frame (MDF) that provide the interface to the district’s wide area network via gigabyte fiber connections.
In new construction, Category 6 data cabling is used, and wiring infrastructure for future wireless deployment is provided. The Facilities Department oversees school modernization
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efforts. The district wiring guidelines were rewritten in 2008 with the assistance of the Technology Department. The new guidelines to require data and electrical wiring in the ceilings of all new classrooms for wireless access points and for a short-‐throw projector mount above the whiteboard.
The target bandwidth on each school site’s local area network to classrooms and
library/media centers has been 100 Mbit to the desktop with a 1 Gbit fiber optic backbone. Many existing computers are capable of gigabit connections, but it is unlikely the switch infrastructure will be available to support those speeds. All current uses, both instructional and administrative, at the desktop are fully functional with a 100 Mbit connections.
Berkeley High School: The high school is completely wired, every instructional space contains a networked, workstation. The library is connected and has 11 connected search stations and a networked 30-‐computer lab. All teachers and administrative workstations are networked to the student data system. A wireless connection is available throughout the school.
Berkeley Technology Academy (continuation high school)/Independent Studies: 100% of the instructional areas are connected to the Wide Area Network, and wireless is available in nearly every classroom.
Middle Schools: 100% of instructional spaces at all three middle schools are connected to the Wide Area Network. Wireless is available throughout all three middle schools.
Elementary Schools: 100% of instructional spaces at all eleven elementary schools are connected to the Wide Area Network. A few of the classrooms are not physically connected to the Wide Area Network; all of these classrooms are in bungalows and are provided with internet connections through wireless access. Wireless access is planned for all classrooms in the 2012-‐13 school year.
All Berkeley Unified libraries are automated with the library circulation system software (Insignia) providing access to the library collections and Central Media Library video and DVD collection. All of the District’s school libraries are connect to the Wide Area Network.
Appropriate content filtering software from Lightspeed Systems is in place and will continue to be used to prevent district staff and students access to inappropriate Internet content. Review and certification of filtering software takes place on an ongoing basis to ensure that all requirements of the Children’s Internet Protection Act are met.
Internet access is provided through Comcast. A 50 mbit connection provides adequate access, 100 Mbit or more will be necessary in the future.
The district has approximately 650 Centrex lines, all equipped with voice mail. The voice mail system also provides voice mail accounts for approximately 500 employees without
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direct-‐dial numbers, primarily teachers and other school site personnel. The new administration building, slated for occupancy in summer 2012 will be the first implementation of the district’s new VOIP system.
Technical Support
Overall technical support for the telecommunications, networks, and servers in the district consists of the Technology Director, 2.0 FTE computer technicians and a 1.0 FTE Network Engineer. In addition, sites have the technicians as described below. Helpdesk tickets are created by users at a website. Technicians log in and work on the tickets as needed at the sites they support.
Berkeley High School: 2.8 FTE of computer technicians support the high School. 1.0 FTE is devoted to a small learning community program with a substantial digital video program. Average response time to Helpdesk requests is less than 36 hours.
Berkeley Technology Academy (continuation high school)/Independent Studies: 0.2 FTE support. Average response time to Helpdesk requests is less than 48 hours.
Middle Schools: 0.6 FTE of computer technicians support the middle schools. Average response time to Helpdesk requests is less than 48 hours.
Elementary Schools: 0.2 FTE of computer technicians support the elementary schools. Technicians visit each school at least once per week.
In addition to the above support, the 1.0 FTE Network Engineer mentioned above is on-‐call to support the technicians.
5b. Describe the technology hardware, electronic learning resources, networking and telecommunications infrastructure, physical plant modifications, and technical support needed by the district’s teachers, students, and administrators to support the activities in the Curriculum and Professional Development Components of the plan.
As described above, the district has a robust fiber-‐based WAN, 100 mbit network to every desktop, internet in every classroom, so no physical plant modifications are necessary. Improvements in the speed of overall access to the internet, currently at 50 Mbs will be likely be needed during the term of this plan.
Likewise, the technology hardware, networking and telecommunications infrastructure presently in place are largely sufficient to support the plan, with only the replacement of obsolete equipment (as described below) is necessary to continue the work of the plan.
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Many of the electronic learning resources needed are available, and it is expected that many more will be available through the internet during the lifetime of this plan. Also, textbook publishers for the recent science and math adoptions have web sites and DVDs supporting the curriculum available for teacher and student use, and subsequent adoptions will likely have more resources included as part of the textbook purchases. Software site licenses for certain application may improve the ability to deliver the program.
5c. Benchmarks and timeline for obtaining the needed hardware, infrastructure, learning resources and technical support.
The following table identifies the hardware and software that will need to be in place in order to achieve the goals described in this plan:
Goal 5c.1
Upgrade infrastructure and hardware at all schools to meet curricular and professional development goals.
Timeline Annual Benchmarks Person/Team Responsible
Monitoring and Evaluation
Year 1 Improve computer work
stations Technology Services and Fiscal Services
Technology and Fiscal Services will continuously monitor the development and
implementation of all infrastructure upgrade and hardware/ software, and technical support activities and accomplishments with input from district stakeholders and provide annual progress reports to the Cabinet and School Board. The
infrastructure upgrade and hardware/ software, and technical support plan will be modified as needed to maintain an infrastructure adequate to support plan objectives. Year 2 The District’s Internet
connection will be upgraded from the current 50 MB
Technology Services
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connection. Years 1,
2, 3
Advanced training for Technology Services staff will be
implemented to support the new infrastructure.
Technology Providers As above Years 1, 2, 3 K-‐12 schools will purchase or upgrade computers, and
peripherals so that they are capable of
supporting the baseline package of hardware and software as outlined in Section 3h.
Site Administrators, Technology Services As above Goal 5c.2
Provide approved technology applications, electronic learning resources, and enabling technologies needed to support other components of the plan.
Year 1, 2, 3
Identify approved technology applications, and enabling
technologies that will support the
instructional strategies, and interventions consistent with district goals, school site plans, and activities detailed in this plan. Instructional Services, Technology Team, and Site Administrators
District instructional services, evaluation and assessment, technology, and school site administrators will
continuously track the development and
implementation of all activities and accomplishments and provide annual progress reports to the Cabinet and School Board. The program will be modified as needed to maintain a cycle of
improvement that supports program objectives.
Berkeley Unified School District Page 66 Year 1 Implement new Student
Information System Technology Team, and Assessment and Evaluation office As above Year 1, 2, 3 Annually review,
update, and disseminate technology resources and adaptive and assistive technology tools that support the needs of special and diverse learners. Technology Services Department, Instructional Services, Special Education As above Years 1, 2, 3 K-‐12 schools will purchase or upgrade computers, and
peripherals so that they are capable of
supporting the baseline package of hardware and software as outlined in Section 3h.
Site
Administrators, Technology Services
As above
5d. Description of the process that will be used to monitor whether the annual benchmarks including roles and responsibilities.
The Technology and Fiscal Services Departments have the responsibility for monitoring the progress of this component. While monitoring of many of these items is built into other plan components, the ongoing monitoring of infrastructure, bandwidth, and networking needs is accomplished through the utilization of network management software reports that are reviewed at department meetings. Technology support needs are monitored and evaluated through the help desk.
Berkeley Unified School District Page 67 6. Funding and Budget
6a. List of established and potential funding sources.
Currently, the technology budget is comprised of several funding sources: General Funds of the Berkeley Unified School District, site based coordinated programs, Facilities bonds, bond interest, E-‐rate at a 60% discount, grants from the Berkeley Public Education Foundation, site PTAs, EETT, ROP, and donations. Two special taxes contribute to the district’s ability to maintain well-‐equipped schools. Technology is directly funded by the Berkeley Schools Excellence Project (BSEP), which funds all site computer techs, 0.4 FTE of a district tech, and 0.2 FTE of the Technology Director. BSEP also funds $15/student in technology equipment.
Measure I of 2010, which passed with 80% of the vote in November 2012. The new
facilities bond provides a source of funds for technology hardware, smart classrooms, and other educational priorities for 10 years. The currently allocated funds are $253,000/year for the next three years and $556,000 for 6 succeeding years.
The Technology Department will help to identify and alert school sites of federal and private grant opportunities as they become available. The department will explore and develop partnerships with businesses and/or other organizations for funding of technology initiatives or donation of technology.
6b. Estimate annual implementation costs for the term of the plan. (3 years)
The table below includes only includes only microcomputer technicians assigned to sites, it does not include the portions of the director, network engineer, or district techs that works on
instructional projects.
Component Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Possible Funding Source
Professional Development
Teacher technology PD $5,000 $5,000 $5,000 EETT Formula grant New Student
Achievement System PD
$25,000 $10,000 $5,0000 A combination of Measure A, and other one-‐time funds
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Wireless in secondary schools
$5,000 $5,000 $5,000 This project is 95% complete. Funds for new buildings, etc from bond
Wireless in elementary schools
$30,000 $5,000 $2,000 facilities bond Hardware
Elementary and middle school classroom
computer replacement (Roughly 250 *
$3000)$16/student
$200,000 $200,000 $200,000 Mostly bond funds, site funds, Measure A, and one-‐time funds
Secondary technology classrooms (10
classrooms, 2 per year)
$50,000 $50,000 $50,000 Mostly bond funds, site funds, Measure A, and one-‐time funds Electronic Resources
Various electronic databases
$20,000 $20,000 $20,000 Measure A library and technology funds Software licenses $20,000 $45,000 $20,000 Various one-‐time
funds. Other software costs are included with hardware costs. Technical Support School Technicians 6.4 FTE $450,000 $468,000 $486,270 Measure A
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6c. Describe the district’s replacement policy for obsolete equipment.
One of the first priorities of the district in these times of both economic hardship and increased concern for the environment is to ensure that computer hardware be useful for as many years as possible, before needing to be declared obsolete.
It is unfortunate that Google and Apple seems to implementing a three-‐year cycle for hardware. One sales model for Google Chromebooks is for school districts to pay
$20/month for a Chromebook, with the physical device replaced every 36 months. While this built-‐in replacement cycle is beneficial, the cost implications for schools, which commonly use equipment for 6-‐10 years, is expensive. Apple iPads are released annually, and the risk that device bought to use with textbooks in year 1 will be obsolete by year 4. Certainly that is our test experience with interactive textbooks on the iPad, where new textbooks work fine on the new iPad (iPad “3”), but not on an iPad “1”.
That said, the computing power and interactive capabilities of a $500 device are
astonishing. Even more astonishing will be if the device is not found in electronic waste bin in year 4, and has a useful life of 6-‐8 years, like its predecessors from the same
manufacturer.
On the infrastructure front, district switches adequately support network traffic and have been replaced throughout the district in 2011. The new switches come with a “lifetime” warranty. While it is unclear what “lifetime” means in an era when 80-‐year-‐old companies disintegrate in the space of a few months (see Bear Stearns), it does indicate a belief that the equipment will still be viable in 2020.
Our experience with pseudo-‐thin clients using nComputing technology has been very favorable. Despite these efforts, some equipment needs to be replaced as it is no longer functional. Funding for these purchases is described in section 6.b. The district aims to be as efficient as possible in these efforts. For example, in elementary schools, a standard classroom has 4 desktop computers, the original cost of which was approximately $7200 including AppleCare or other warranty and software. A new 4-‐seat nComputing installation can replace this setup, offer improved functionality, and cost less than $2500 per
classroom.
Through the use of cost-‐efficient replacement strategies as described above, obsolete technology can be replaced with improved technology at a cost that can be budgeted annually. Funding sources for computer replacement is described above.
As equipment is ready to be retired from active use, the district policy calls for site personnel to inventory serial numbers and call the distribution center for personnel to pick-‐up any obsolete technology items. In their annual site plans for school improvement, sites identify funding sources to enable them to replace obsolete equipment, maintain baseline standards and acquire additional technology to support curricular and professional development programs
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6d. Describe the process that will be used to monitor Ed Tech funding,
implementation costs and new funding opportunities and to adjust budgets as necessary.
The Director of Technology and the Deputy Superintendent will monitor and update
funding and budget decisions on a yearly basis. The technology budget has been integrated into the general fund, with substantial portions being provided by special local tax dollars. All budget decisions are reviewed annually.
General Fund expenditures for technology are reviewed annually as a necessary part of the district budgeting process. School Plans include technology components, which require