created over the past 24 months that require little to no local area =
network storage. I might also add that they've managed to do so using =
tools that are mostly free. I can't help but think that these kinds of =
projects will only proliferate going forward. Most of the large, media =
projects that our students create (movies, audio files, working on raw =
images) all get saved to the local hard drive of the iMacs anyway. =
Students then archive their finished pieces to their wikis, YouTube, =
DVDs, etc if they want to keep their project when they are done with it.
Most of the things that students save on network file servers include =
things like word files and powerpoints, and we've been transitioning the =
students to google docs for these types of things over the past year.
Here are a few projects that have required zero data storage on the LAN:
1. 5th grade school tour podcasts-students took pictures, wrote scripts =
in google docs, and then recorded their narration in garage band. With =
the exception of the google doc script, all media was saved to the local =
hard drive. Completed projects were then uploaded to my .mac account =
at: http://web.mac.com/mjmonty/Site/Podcast/Podcast.html
2. 7th grade booktalk voicethread projects...all media, including =
pictures and audio, is saved on voicethread.com. To view some of these =
projects, visit: =
http://usmenglish7.blogspot.com/2008/01/seventh-periods-book-talks.html
3. Famous Faces of Slavery projects completed by teams of 8th grade =
students in english class...all files saved on a wiki: =
http://famousfacesofslavery.wikispaces.com
4. 8th grade french class voicethread projects...students created their =
voicethreads and embedded them on their teacher's wiki page as a way to =
turn in their projects. Again, everything saved in voicethread and the =
wiki:
http://usmfrench.wikispaces.com/Les+voicethreads
5. 8th Grade Washington DC Blog...we used this to chronicle our trip to =
DC this past spring. We uploaded gigs and gigs worth of photos and =
video to our middle school flickr account on a nightly basis. We also =
had a few students post cell phone photos live as they experienced the =
trip (this was really cool). See the blog at: =
http://usmdc2008.blogspot.com/
6. French class oral language samples recorded on portable voice =
recorders (Olympus WS110s) and posted to the class wiki: =
http://usmfrench.wikispaces.com/Interro+orale+15-4
7. Students in film class created an "Office" parody featuring many of =
the teachers at my school. They worked locally on the file and then =
posted to YouTube to share: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dg5k6pfNHQno =
Students in the same class did a digital story about the Lincoln's =
assassination with the "Captain O Captain" poem by Whitman: =
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3DQBfq_6eVzBM
8. Students in 7th grade art class worked in teams to research an =
artist and genre and then created a collaborative google doc =
presentation to share with the class.=20
9. For their final unit of the year in American History class, students =
in Chuck Taft's 8th grade US history teacher maintained their =
traditional 3 ring binder with a wiki. Students created oral histories, =
videos, voicethread stories, participated in a "Civil Rights Era =
Facebook Community, etc using web based tools. Project home page: =
http://turningpoints08.wikispaces.com/
I could go on and on and on here, but you get the point. None of these =
projects required any network storage at all. Derrel's idea of =
purchasing as much bandwidth as possible makes a great deal of sense. =
All of the money saved by not having to purchase expensive LAN storage =
systems could be diverted to paying for increased bandwidth. Perhaps =
even some of that could be used for professional development and/or =
faculty enhancement!!!
Going forward, we are currently working with a consultant to setup an =
off site hosted Word Press MU network which will give all interested =
students and teachers a blog space with powerful podcasting =
capabilities. After the audio files are created, students and teachers =
will be able to upload them to their blogs as a podcast file. The audio =
files will live on a server in California. This system gives us 100 GB =
of storage with 1 TB of monthly bandwidth throughput...all for the very =
reasonable cost of $600 annually!!!
I've enjoyed this thread. Thanks for sharing everyone.
Cheers!!
Matt Montagne
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for independent school educators on behalf of Derrel =
Fincher
Sent: Thu 6/12/2008 5:06 AM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Eliminating Servers Re: Best Platform for a New School
=20
1. We just turned on our new website, hosted by FinalSite
2. We are converting from SASI internally for student information to =
Veracross and they only do hosted solutions. Access by most (including =
faculty, parents and students to their portals) is through a browser; =
heavy users (admissions, registrar, etc.) also use a client.=20
3. Veracross also can host the full financial needs of a school, but =
that's "in the future" for us because of language issues.
4.We have Moodle hosted by a Moodle partner in the US
5. Our school help desk system is hosted.=20
6. Our antispam is hosted and, if I had the bandwidth (incredibly =
expensive here) I would move email off campus.=20
7. Next year, I intend to use Wikispaces private label for providing =
wikis.=20
We still run Novell with it's e-directory and associated overhead but we =
are an "established" school so anything else we move to is a conversion. =
A new school could start with modern tools for file sharing and =
exchange. Novell does provide us a single point of authentication with =
LDAP for our hosted services, but you can get that from any number of =
systems. We do have an Aruba wireless system installed so students can =
bring their personal laptops and authenticate to the student portal. =
That just gives them Internet access and printer access, but all of our =
file servers can be accesses through WebDAV or through a browser =
(NetStorage).
We do still have an IIS server for test sites, but our reliance on that =
is rapidly falling.=20
For all of our hosted services, I don't worry about backup, 24/7 access, =
hardware, or finding experts in all of those arcane systems to keep them =
running and updated. =20
Derrel
>>> On Thu, Jun 12, 2008 at 6:30 AM, in message
<45d35f0a0806120230l5793b65ei1bb5522780aba27b@mail.gmail.com>, Norman =
Maynard
<nmaynard@thorntonfriends.org> wrote:
>>=20
>>
>> 3. Plan on eliminating all servers. Difficult, if not impossible, =
but go
>> in with the ideas that you don't need them. Instead, look for hosted
>> solutions (ASP) for your needs. Most are designed to be accessed =
through a
>> browser for most functions so the platform for the majority of your =
users is
>> irrelevant. For the few power users that need a client instead of a =
browser,
>> buy whatever the client supports. (Hosted may look like it costs =
more, but
>> you don't need IT people with really deep skills--you need those with =
broad
>> skills).
>>
>=20
> This is intriguing.
>=20
> Any specific examples?
>=20
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