Home » About Us » Articles

Wireless Networking in Schools

Wireless networking works well in all types of school – and can bring major educational benefits. This is the powerful central message of this publication. Given a well thought-through strategy for its introduction, and especially when used in combination with portable computers, a wireless network extends the benefits of ICT for learning:

• To more children;
• In more subjects;
• In more areas of the school;
• For a wider range of purposes.

A wireless network can help teachers to:

• Work more efficiently;
• Better support their pupils’ learning through their own use of ICT;
• Use ICT to extract greater value from their teaching;
• Work wherever and whenever suits them best, in their school.

The flexibility of wireless networks and portable computers means that lessons using ICT in depth can take place in ordinary classrooms, allowing it to serve children’s learning needs and not dominate them, and to improve teachers’ confidence in innovating. Schools have found that the flexibility of wireless networks supports both teachers’ teaching and administration responsibilities highly effectively. For smaller schools, wireless networking can offer a cheaper, more rapidly installed way of giving increased access to ICT school-wide. For larger schools, wireless extensions to existing wired networks can bring campus-wide coverage with the flexibility to provide temporary additional coverage in unusual areas.

What is wireless networking?

Wireless networks connect computers to each other like a traditional network – and can connect them to the internet – via radio waves, without wires, using technology built into each user’s computer. Increasingly, the technology is built into laptop and handheld computers and if not, it can be added by installing a card and some operating software. All the benefits of the connectivity that networks bring are then available wherever the computer is used or installed, as long as it is within range of an access point. These are installed in the building either permanently or temporarily. To extend the network beyond the school, one access point has to be connected to the internet. Increasingly, we are seeing homes with more than one computer in use. For teachers’ or pupils’ home use (more likely to be feasible as laptops etc have wireless networking fitted as standard) their mobile computer can be linked wirelessly to a desktop PC by fitting a wireless adapter to the latter (cost about £60) and/or to the internet through a modem or internet gateway. The last mentioned is the most appropriate method when a home is connected to ADSL broadband – which is also becoming more common.

Click here to read the original article

Source: British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) - www.becta.org.uk