Public vs. Private networks in our Schools
Apparently (hopefully there will be a public transcript at some point) there was an interesting discussion thread in the 7/11/14 FCC E-Rate reform meeting concerning public wireless networks vs. wired private networks in schools. For the last 15 years or so, school and district networks were primarily designed as private networks with leased point to point special external connections and external connections to an ISP all with common end user resources. These private networks allowed for a designed/tested/secured common platform within the classroom, the school and the district. This design supported the goal of digital equality for each student and helped prevent a digital divide between desks, classrooms and schools within a district. Every student and every teacher started with the same opportunity. Instruction planners had a level playing field to formulate strategies across schools. District digital infrastructure planners had the advantage of designing for common platforms and devices. The institutionally acquired end user tools provided a known resource to support. As those secured private networks became more robust, thanks to programs like the original E-Rate program, all ships within the district rose with the tide equally. A concept that seems fundamental to the American Public School System. This designed strategy evolved to embrace differentiation through the benefits of assistive hardware and targeted software.
Now it seems some reformists embrace the concept of dismantling those designed, secured, adaptable and faster internal systems with slower externally based systems (the cloud) that may rely on a variety of individual platforms provided by the student's family (think of students being responsible for providing textbooks and materials at the preK-12 level). This thread of reform is based on the home scenario (the pj syndrome) fully impressed upon a system that services a vastly larger user base and answerable to multiple levels of regulation and responsibility. The home/coffee shop model does not translate.
It is time to pull out the mirror and ask some hard questions. Are we really using the power of what we currently have effectively and efficiently everyday in the classroom? Have we provided real user development strategies? Have we developed any usage analysis tools at the district level? Do we really have any idea where we have been before we condemn, demolish and rebuild? Then there is the hardest question of all, will the digital tail at some point begin to wag the dog?