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February 2013

Is Your School Ready for the EdTech It Needs?

By | EdTech | No Comments

schooltechAs a Columbus IT service provider, our goal is to do more than simply provide a one-time solution and then walk away. We want to engage in a partnership to make sure our clients receive the technology, technological support, and security they need in the most economical way. Recently, there has been a huge push to move towards one-to-one technology deployments using iPads and other iOS devices as well as to increase the physical security at schools. EdTech is the future of education. But is your infrastructure ready to handle these changes?

Because we work quite often with people in the education sector, budget constraints are always at the forefront. The struggle for administrators is that while budgets are shrinking, the tech requirements school administrators are being asked to implement keep increasing. And sometimes these devices are being deployed before the infrastructure is ready to handle them. In helping one school prepare for the purchase and deployment of 1700 iPads, we asked the following questions:

  • Do you have enough bandwidth and enough wireless access points?
  • What is the management policy you are implementing?
  • How will you use these devices to deliver curriculum?
  • How will you filter content?

Sometimes the people tasked with deciding whether to adopt these devices may not fully understand the underlying technological requirements for a successful implementation. And since most schools have limited IT staff (if they have any IT staff at all), a Columbus IT service provider can help facilitate the introduction of the technology in a way that is the most cost effective without sacrificing security. From networking to ensuring you have enough bandwidth to handle the connection of that many devices, thinkCSC partners with education providers to overcome challenges like content filtering. Have you considered the complications of filtering content on an iPad? It’s almost impossible to manage if it’s being taken off school grounds. We help schools create workable solutions to these and other infrastructure issues.