Background
El Dorado County's growth rate is one of the highest in California; the resulting increase in the student population has severely strained school resources. El Dorado High School (El Dorado) serves 1,800 students on a campus built for 1,200. Although portable classrooms have been added, core facilities such as the library are unchanged and are woefully undersized.
In reviewing their predicament, librarian Kate Doyle and several of her colleagues recognized that access to electronic resources would serve the school in several important ways. First, network access would exponentially increase the resources available to students and staff without requiring more space. Second, the network would provide a cost-effective means of helping the school overcome many of the barriers it faces as a result of its geographic isolation Finally, the network was perceived to be a tool which would support the staff in its efforts to inspire academic excellence for all students.
Prior to the initiation of the network project, El Dorado had one computer in the library office which was connected to a modem and a phone line. Doyle and a few teachers had email accounts on CSUNet through the CORE application and were thereby able to access some Internet resources, but many of the teachers experienced dissatisfaction with the limitations of CORE and the dial-up method of connectivity.
Goals/Vision
As one component of its improvement efforts, El Dorado initiated a self-review process involving students, parents, school staff, and community members. As a result of this self-examination, the school identified a shared core belief that students need to be better prepared for a global, dynamic, and information-intensive society. In a separate but related districtwide effort, teachers emphasized more student-centered learning as part of its restructuring goals. Teachers agreed that by capitalizing on students' talents and interests, they would be better able to motivate them academically.
The Internet was agreed to be an ideal resource for assisting the school in addressing all three of these vital issues. It provided a cost-effective means of introducing the students to people and resources worldwide, would be able to support the interests and talents of the widest spectrum of student interests, and, by virtue of its interactive nature, provides an excellent means for helping teachers design curriculum which requires student empowerment.
In addition, Doyle began to advocate for using the Internet as a vehicle for collaborative projects both within and beyond the school. She proposed, for example, that science classes could work with classes from other schools in shared data collection and analysis; literature and English classes could join writing collaboratives; and students and staff could participate in global discussions on almost any topic.
Finally, teachers would be offered the opportunity to join dialogues and conferences and enroll in distance education courses.
Technical Solution
In 1993, El Dorado purchased 25 Macintosh computers and networked these using AppleShare. These stations were set up in a lab, were networked to the library, and were designed to serve as resources to students doing writing and research. The school's goal was to connect this network of computers to the Internet, offering individual email accounts to interested students and staff. The school's Library Media Center installed a UNIX server with a dial-up PPP connection to the Internet through BARRNet (Bay Area Regional Research Network), bringing their goal to fruition.
More recently, SB1510 provided funds for technical improvements, including the installation of a 56Kbps Frame Relay connection to Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE). The school now contracts for Internet service ($1,000 per year) with SCOE, which, in turn, purchases access from SprintNet for a group of Region 3 schools, collectively known as SCOOPNet. The Frame Relay circuit costs $125 per month. Because it is neither distance- nor usage- sensitive, the circuit is a wise choice, considering the distance between the school and an Internet service provider and the goal of providing 24- hour access to staff and students.
The school also used SB1510 funds to upgrade its UNIX server with 16 megabytes of RAM and a 2.2-gigabyte hard drive, and to add a Cisco 2500 series router with two LAN ports so that administrative networks can be added to the system with appropriate firewalls.
The faster and more reliable connection upgrades the performance of the original equipment in the training lab in the library. These machines are used primarily for Gopher text retrieval. Six newer machines with 8MB of RAM and color allow viewing the images available through Gopher and access to the World Wide Web through Netscape. The newer machines are connected directly to the Ethernet network, rather than the Appletalk network in the lab.
A connection of the site administrative network and the district office was scheduled for spring 1995. Future plans include extending Internet access to classrooms. The first stage, also planned for this spring, will implement a fiber optic link to the new science building and then connect to computers in each classroom via Ethernet. Mail lists have been an important source of ongoing education and support for teachers. They can communicate with other teachers at their convenience in an atmosphere that encourages and supports innovation. Science classes will be able to participate in collaborative research projects with other schools as well as access information. Experimentation has just begun with a Web server as a vehicle for publishing student research and other original work.
Funding
In order to accomplish their connectivity goals, El Dorado needed to acquire the following: Gatorbox ($1,700); router ($1,800); UNIX server ($3,000); installation of two phone lines ($142 to Pac Bell and $200 to a contractor to bring the lines to the appropriate inside locations); and BARRNet membership ($1,200 for 12 months). El Dorado additionally anticipated costs of approximately $110 per month for the digital lines.
As a result of a proposal written to BARRNet by the school, BARRNet agreed to provide a UNIX server to El Dorado as a "long-term loan." Brian Lloyd, a BARRNet consultant, personally loaned a Telebit NetBlazer to the school to serve as the router. To finance additional costs of the network, Doyle used $3,300 from the school's federal Chapter 2 funds to pay for the Gatorbox, BARRNet membership, and phone lines (these funds had already been committed for library expenses). In addition, Lloyd donated his time, providing invaluable technical expertise which facilitated the establishment of a technically sound connection.
Training and Support
Doyle has spearheaded the training effort at the school and issues students and faculty email accounts only after they have received her training in Internet procedures, "netiquette," and how to find resources on the net. Given the nature of the tool, Doyle and the school recognize that training will need to be provided on an ongoing basis.
Introductory sessions for staff have been organized by content area, highlighting resources of value for that subject area. Doyle also identifies teachers interested in collaborative projects and provides specialized training for them in order to support their collaborations. Written "cheat sheets" for applications and topic pathfinders provide point-of-use assistance. After-school sessions provide students the opportunity to learn about specific applications and sources of information. In addition, student assistants are assigned specific subject areas in which they are asked to become "experts."
In keeping with the school's overall teaching and learning philosophies, the majority of ongoing Internet training for students is integrated with content instruction through resource-based assignments and projects.
El Dorado envisions itself being able to provide training and demonstrations to other high schools and elementary schools in the district and will engage students as trainers whenever possible.
In March 1995, the district's board of trustees adopted a policy for the acceptable use of electronic resources and a new user contract. Input from students, parents, teachers, librarians, district office staff, and board members helped shape this contract. Staff members who have attended a training session can now dial from home. The new board policy moves the school closer to making this access available to students. However, before such access is feasible on a large scale, there is a need to upgrade the router that handles incoming calls and add more phone lines.
Evaluation
El Dorado collects information on a quarterly basis concerning the numbers of students and staff who participate in training and have active accounts as well as data concerning the number and nature of resources used.
In addition, narrative descriptions of projects and uses of the network is collected from participating teachers. A random sample of students who have email accounts is surveyed regarding specific use patterns and student perceptions of the benefits and drawbacks of computer-mediated communication. Evaluation data is examined for gender differences; one hypothesis that will be tested is that computer-mediated communication and real-world experiences in science foster increased success and improved attitudes for young women in the areas of physical and computer sciences.
To date, Gopher appears to be the most useful application because of its low equipment demands, easy Mac point-and-click interface, keyword search capabilities through veronica, and wide range of full-text resources. Government and history classes find current information regarding Supreme Court decisions, state and federal legislation, census information, and more. Physiology classes research AIDS, cancers, and other diseases. Electronic mail has allowed Chapter 1 students to collaborate in writing projects with students in Australia, Alaska, and other parts of the U.S. Foreign language students can correspond with native speakers and read news in French, Spanish, and German. The location of Internet search stations in the library media center helps students to understand the Internet applications as one set of information processing tools that may or may not be most appropriate for a given task or information need.
Kate Doyle, Librarian
916-622-3624
Email: kdoyle@ehs.eduhsd.k12.ca.us
