NWSC Technology Meeting

Agenda for NWSC Tech Meeting 2/16/2010
9:30- 11:30 Tech Check and LIGHTSPEED
Join us for a two hour mini training with Lightspeed and Tech Check. Areas that will be covered include:
• Using the Lightspeed User Guide for laptops that leave the district buildings
• Customizing Lightspeed Reports
• Using the Lightspeed Wiki
• How does Lightspeed proactively combat proxy servers
• Lightspeed Roadmaps….. what’s coming down the road
• Summer one day training in Bagley
• 5 day certification course in St. Cloud

We’ll also tackle a number of submitted questions from schools that currently use the product.
11:30 – 12:30 Lunch and Discussion
12:30 -1:45 Tangent is conducting workshops with Education Associations in Minnesota regarding: "Email Archival and e-Discovery Regulations and Best Practices" for Education.
2:00-3:30 Erik Thrawl /Central Region Manager/ Xirrus
“Instruction IT and education have a long standing partnership which over just the last 5 years has enhanced educational services via distance learning, collaboration, multimedia, Computers on Wheels, One-to-One initiatives, digital libraries, etc. But you've seen nothing yet; the next 5 years will see an explosion in the use of not just digital services, but Web 2.0 and Peer to Peer instruction in the classroom. Which begs the question, in what classrooms, in what buildings and on whose schedule? Pervasive Wi-Fi eliminates these location restrictions and provides for campus-wide instruction.

Traditional Wi-Fi challenges including, range, security and performance have been addressed with significant technology improvements to the point that today's Wi-Fi is no longer considered an overlay to wired networks, but a peer, and in many cases a significantly less expensive replacement. With 802.11n and the advent of multi-radio architectures the capacity and performance for wireless networking has increased dramatically.

The presentation will discuss how Wi-Fi can offer the performance and mobility required to allow campus wide educational services. Examining the features, requirements and challenges to planning and deploying high-performance Wi-Fi networks in educational institutions will be covered.