Page 108 - Lakeland Catholic Technology Plan

12.3 Computers - Mac OS Based
The District does not have a large number of Macintosh computers, but their deployment and implementation is really poor. None of the Macintosh computers have Ethernet cards in them, and none of them are connected to the school LAN. They don’t have access to the Internet, network resources, file servers, or any- thing. In fact, in many schools a common complaint was that the technical sup- port department wouldn’t work on or even touch the Macs.
In one of the schools, the Mac Lab wasn’t even properly wired for the LocalTalk network. Most of the Macs have been phased out because they don’t “network properly, or are not very useful.” This is the answer of someone who has little knowledge or experience with the Macintosh. These machines are far easier to network than the Windows 95/98 based machines, and have a much lower thresh- old of knowledge required to adequately use and integrate into the classroom.
Even if the Macs are phased out of the Labs, they can serve a great purpose in each classroom as distributed workstations. Students could work on activities, access the nternet, read e-mail, and even access the Library system, or share files with their counterparts on various computers via the file servers.
Additionally, there is a large pent-up force of Macintosh knowledge that the Dis- trict is not recognizing, and is essentially throwing out. Does it make any sense that in an age of declining funding, and reduced spending, that we tell our teach- ers and staff to throw out years of computer experience with the Macintosh, and start learning from scratch with Windows computers? No it doesn’t. Why not make life easier on the staff and students, by allowing them to grow in their knowl- edge.
There are some excellent software packages that make administration of Macin- tosh computers more than simple, just easy. Two schools are putting in iMac
Labs, these Labs should be supplemented with Mac OS X Servers which are ca- pable of NetBooting the Lab. This NetBooting allows each iMac to boot from the network server, thus avoiding the use of their internal hard drives altogether. Essen- tially, all processing and computer operations take place on the local iMac, but the storage and hard drive structure is on the network. This means that each time the iMac is restarted, it gets a fresh load. (Students and staff cannot make changes to the computer, as each time the computer is restarted, all the changes are thrown out.) This creates a ‘maintenance free’ computing environment.
In areas where Mac OS X Server is not an option, the Apple Network Administrator Toolkit can be utilized. This prevents unauthorized use of the computers, the abil- ity to prevent various classes of users from making changes that will affect other users of the same computer. Besides these features, they also allow group teach- ing with screen-sharing capabilities, and remote loading of all software. Essen- tially, an administrator can copy a hard drive onto every computer in the Lab in minutes, thus completely reloading each machine inside an hour. (That’s every ma- chine in one hour, not one hour per machine!)
Recommendations:
1. All Macintosh computers should have an Ethernet card installed and con- nected to the network.
2. Printers should be redistributed so that high-powered Apple printers are avail- able to the entire school, and not just the Lab. (i.e. connected to the Ethernet net- work)
3. Client software should be loaded on the Macintosh computers to allow staff and students to access file storage areas on the Novell servers.
4. Technical Support staff should undertake some Apple training and seminars, and should not demonstrate any prejudice to any platform, whether Mac OS or Windows.
5. Utilization of software like Mac OS X Server, Apple Network Administrator Toolkit, and the Macintosh Manager or At Ease for Workgroups should be imple- mented to manage and maintain the Macintosh computers.
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