WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY IN SCHOOLS

 

"Subnet continues to architect and develop solutions to keep our community connected.”

Craig Raines, IT Manager, Valley View Secondary School

Valley View is a public secondary school located in Para Vista, South Australia with a focus on maximising the potential of all its students through teaching and learning support structures. For the past 12 years, Subnet has worked alongside their staff to create, build and execute an efficient IT infrastructure. This has been in pursuit of Valley View’s mission to realise their vision of being an ICT innovator delivering exceptional curriculum innovation.

Concern:

Previous IT infrastructure and policies affected the way teachers delivered learning materials as well as how students accessed and interacted with them. Certain areas in the school, like the science labs, had no wireless connectivity thus limiting teaching methods and increasing the frequency of overbooked rooms.

 With 270 students and 40 members of staff, all connected to the school’s aging wireless network, the school felt that they weren’t fully equipped to meet their growing technological needs.

The Subnet Solution:

Subnet performed a wireless audit of the site and assessed what was required to transform the school’s current infrastructure to make it more reliable and efficient. Subnet then proceeded to build a new AC wireless network across the school with the help of the on-site IT Manager. We worked together to replace any out of warranty infrastructure and reduce the risk of loss of data by upgrading the core infrastructure – the hosts, storage and backup.

Valley View Secondary School engaged Subnet for our specialist services and help delivering an updated filtering solution. A ContentKeeper filtering appliance was installed allowing the school to deliver a better connection to its clients while keeping the online safety of the school community a priority.

Result:

Valley View Secondary School has seen a positive improvement in the user experience of all its students, teachers and visitors. Facilities are not overbooked meaning teachers have more flexibility, allowing them to teach in their own classrooms with a multitude of resources. The students freely move between rooms with their laptops remaining connected.

The school now has more bandwidth and speed as well the ability to make simultaneous backups and upgrades faster and more efficient.

This has allowed their IT managers better management opportunities and time to focus on other tasks.

In future, the school hopes to continue to invest in wireless digital displays thus allowing teachers and students to connect and collaborate in the learning spaces. With Subnet’s help, they hope to enable more teachers to share and mirror their screens without having to disconnect their devices. They hope to focus on digital media and invest in flip learning thus cementing themselves as one of the most innovative schools in South Australia.

 Paul Jacques

Account Manager