AVONDALE COLLEGE BUYS 220 CANZ PCS – APRIL 2006
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One of Avondale College's new classroom computing fitouts,
combining refurbished CANZ computers and the school's flexible
computer furniture and cabling system. |
Student:computer ratios at Avondale College improved significantly
when 220 additional machines were installed over the summer holidays.
The 2750-roll school now has around 700 computers, giving a ratio of
one computer for every 3.9 students – a big improvement though still
less than ideal. The latest upgrade was done very cost-effectively with
refurbished machines from CANZ recycler, Remarkit Solutions.
The deal worked well for both parties. Remarkit had a large stock of
these Compaq computers, which had been donated to the CANZ programme by
a government department. The small-form-factor machines had no CD drives
and Remarkit had been worried if there was a market for so many of them.
Fortunately the machines were ideal for Avondale College, where
information from CD-ROMs is read by server computers and distributed to
students' machines through the ICT network.
A basic computing requirement for Avondale College is that all
computers should run Windows XP and these Pentium III-600 machines do
the job adequately.
Ewan Thompson, director of network management for the school and also
an ICT teacher, says the new computers have been highly successful and
fitted well with the school's computing philosophy.
"We put new high performance machines in specialist areas such as
art, music and ICT, and we've always trickled them down to other
classrooms until there was no more life in them," Thompson says.
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Switch cabinets made from inexpensive plastic clothes boxes. |
"We were starting to have problems with this policy because our
oldest machines couldn't run XP. The computers from Remarkit all have XP
and that's improved our minimum spec."
The new machines do the school's bread and butter work: "They handle
Microsoft Office applications well, and they work well with the
Internet, which the students use a lot. They often put assignments
together with a combination of browser research, Word and Excel."
The school uses three levels of broadband internet access: most
traffic goes through radio provider Compass Communications, while Xtra
Jetstream provides backup. E-mail is handled by an older ISDN
connection. There is also a developing school intranet which teachers
access from home as well as within the school.
Maintaining the ICT network
From Thompson's point of view, the availability of a large number of
identical computers was a real attraction.
"We need to keep the costs and hassles of ICT management down. Buying
large batches of identical computers means we can treat them all the
same way."
"Keeping configurations relatively streamlined is useful as well. We
use Ghost imaging and keep the images small."
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One of Avondale College's systems for keeping cables tidy -
using PVC house spouting. |
Avondale College is also able to reduce ICT maintenance costs through
a spin-off benefit from the Cisco Networking Academy Programme it runs
for year 12 and year 13 students. Students can leave school with a CCNA
qualification and some are invited back to further their experience by
helping as technicians for the school network – usually for three or
four years.
The school has an innovative and low-cost approach to ICT furniture
that makes it easier to change classroom configurations. Computer
tables, each holding two computers, have built-in cable trays, and
network switches in off-the-shelf plastic boxes. The tables can be
readily moved around and their switches can be readily hooked into
computer outlets installed in each room.
For more information, contact Ewan at
thm@avcol.school.nz.
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