Students Unplugged But Well Connected

Computerworld - (Second in a two-part series)
Mariam Carroll is a ninth-grader at Palmer Trinity School in Miami. Like most of her peers, she carries a laptop to hook into the school's intranet and the public Internet via a wireless Ethernet card.
"Before school, I sometimes go to the library and check my homework, and during lunch, I can go outside and still be connected," she explains.
As in higher education [Part 1, Sept. 4], wireless connectivity in primary and secondary schools brings technology to older buildings without cables and integrates the computer into the classroom.
Yet the biggest challenge for these schools is using technology to enhance learning instead of seeing it as something else that needs to be taught, according to educational consultant Greg Butler.
"Technology amplifies what kids can do, and wireless amplifies it even further," said Butler, president of In Touch With Learning in Seattle.
Take Frank Ruston Elementary School in Kansas City, Kan. "When we study dinosaurs, the kids now use the computers at their desks to go to various Web sites and research the subject online," said Bruce Haber, technology facilitator at the school, which uses a motorized mobile cart to take notebook computers to where teachers and students need them.
At the Mount Rainier, Md., elementary school, computerized "smart boards" sometimes substitute for blackboards and allow teachers and students to create documents or search the Web together. The touch-sensitive screen is visible to all students in the room, said Pauline Carey, technology co-coordinator at the school.
Elementary students in the Douglas County school district between Denver and Colorado Springs check out wireless-enabled notebook computers from a central depository and take them to gym class. From there, they can tap into the school network and track their exercise routines, said Gary Murphy, the school district's director of information and technology services.
Murphy said each of the school district's three primary schools now has four wireless Ethernet access points. He said he likes the ease of installation and the overall reliability of his school's 11M bit/sec. wireless Ethernet.
And compared with last year, when the cost to install wireless Ethernet was 10% to 15% more than installing a wired system using Category 5 copper cable, wired and wireless cost about the same today, said Murphy.
Palmer Trinity estimates it will have spent $750,000 on its wireless network when the three-year project is finished next year. Its 24 - soon to become 35 - wireless Ethernet access points link Palmer's 600 middle and high school students across eight