Page 11 - THE Journal, March/April 2018

NETWORKS FOR EDUCATION
TEACHING AND TECHNOLOGY EVOLVING TOGETHER
BUILD THE 21ST CENTURY CLASSROOM INFRASTRUCTURE
When it comes to supporting modern educational practices, the network is critical.
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There is a revolution underway
in K-12 classrooms as school districts and boards move to adopt a new style of classrooms and pedagogy focused on mobile learning. In order to succeed, the move to anywhere, anytime learning must be supported by a strong foundation in technology, particularly network infrastructure.
The shifts in educational philosophy and practice are based on the idea students should be prepared to
enter a workforce as young adults
who have embraced technology and collaborative working; but there’s a catch. Technological advances gaining traction in education, such as flipped classrooms, require a powerful network in the classroom and across the K12 campus, as well as connectivity at home. Collaborative classrooms require not only furniture grouped to facilitate clusters of learners, but also a strong Wi-Fi signal that assures students of anywhere, anytime connectivity for a range of devices. Many mobile devices in classrooms are those students bring themselves under BYOD policies. Some issued by the school or district.
“We’re definitely seeing the style of education changing,” says Dan Rivera, product marketing manager for K-12 at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. “We’re moving to a more personalized learning style, where educators meet the learners where they are, rather than forcing students to adapt.”
The sort of mobile, group-centric, and project-based learning K-12 educators are moving toward includes collaborative planning like grouping students and giving each an assigned role within group research projects. Students use mobile devices in small groups, learn how to conduct research, learn to work well within a group,
and master skills such as giving a presentation to a group of people. And they will need all of these skills in
the work environment they’ll enter as young adults.
“When it comes to true 21st-century learning, it’s all about collaboration,” says Rivera. That doesn’t mean replacing teachers, but shifting
them from the role of teacher to that
of facilitator. In this new learning equation, the student drives the learning. The teacher facilitates the learning
process. New approaches to learning that support this change in roles, which might include virtual and augmented reality, need to be supported in classrooms via sophisticated high-speed Wi-Fi networks.
These factors all point to the need for an always-on, always-connected network environment throughout classrooms and school districts. A highly robust network infrastructure has become a critical component— and also a huge challenge. In many ways, educators need to build network infrastructures to support technologies that don’t even yet exist. All that being the case, here are several tips for school districts working to ensure their network will meet tomorrow’s needs as well as today’s.
Beef up the focus on network security: K-12 networks have slipped
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