Bringing Down Classroom Walls: Technology Proves Pivotal for California School District
像全国许多K-12地区一样，Elk Grove Unified学区（Egusd）正在不断追求教育平等，知道这对于学生的成功是必不可少的。课堂技术在帮助实现这些目标方面发挥了主角。
近年来，该地区增加了50,000份Chromebook，以提高公平性，并支持采用课程，数字公民，媒体素养和州在线测试要求的目标。
当是时候替换我们的无线网络时，我们需要一个可以处理当前系统需求并随着地区发展而发展的基础架构。我们还必须使用有限的人员，美元和停机时间来做到这一点。阿鲁巴能够做到这一切。Steve Mate,Chief Technology Officer, Elk Grove Unified School District
On top of 63,000 students, the IT team at EGUSD supports 6,210 employees, nearly all of which rely on the wireless network. In fact, it’s tough to think of a department that doesn’t depend on wireless.
“We often joke about what isn't coming on to the network,” says Scott Blaney, Senior Network Administrator. “Everything from students in the classroom to VoIP phones to maintenance and operations using it for alarms and HVAC. Even the electricians and bus mechanics…it's getting to the point where they can't do their jobs without a laptop anymore.”
鉴于无线的增长，该地区较旧的接入点的性能问题迅速将网络升级移至IT团队愿望清单的顶部。此外，该团队还需要工具才能保持绩效和安全性，并基于802.11ac APS支持更快的无线。
Time-Savings for a Stretched IT Team
麋鹿格罗夫（Elk Grove）的IT团队以RFP的身份向前迈进，并计划使用电子利率资金完成网络的完整替换。在选择Aruba获得节省时间的好处以及一套集成网络和管理解决方案之前，他们比较了5至10个供应商。
“Aruba delivered a one-two punch for deploying its Instant access points, and solutions such as ClearPass and AirWave,” Blaney says. “The way it all integrates together allowed my small team to deploy and manage the system more efficiently.”
In choosing Aruba Instant APs, it was all about control and high availability.
“When we compared dedicated controllers versus Aruba Instant, our team preferred the Instant access points,” Blaney adds. “We get centralized control while sites remain relatively independent.”
3,000 APs in Just Two Months
While the District chose Instant APs largely for high availability, deployment speed quickly emerged as a major benefit. From June to August, the team rolled out more than 3,000 APs with the help of Aruba partner,CDW.
“We were expecting it to take a year or more to deploy nearly 3,000 Instant APs, but we ended up getting it done in two months,” Blaney says.
Shortcutting the schedule by more than a year erased the worry associated with the District’s previously unstable controllers, and eased the spring testing season considerably. Instead, they could focus on other priorities.
After the migration, Blaney noticed a surprising number of laptops connecting at 802.11ac speeds. He anticipates Chromebooks to show similar performance gains when using web-based applications.
Hands-Off Traffic Segmentation
At the same time, Elk Grove deployed Aruba ClearPass to fortify Wi-Fi security and improve visibility. By setting policies for usage, access control has become easier for IT and getting end users online. The new guest portal enables guests to access the Internet easily while ClearPass-defined policies protect the network by dynamically segmenting guest traffic from school traffic.
“如果一个老师带一台笔记本电脑在家,profile recognizes the user but not the device. The teacher can login but is segmented from the rest of the network,” Blaney explained. “Someone with a District-owned laptop will go on another segment while guests are on yet another.”
在追求Blaney的最终目标方面，这是值得注意的进展：网络上任何设备的安全，自动访问 - 无需IT团队的干预。最终用户可以自由进行创新，而不必担心应用程序是否获得批准。
Blaney says they now envision a dozen or more VLANs per site, given the ability to segment that traffic intelligently.
Since adding ClearPass, the team can likewise respond more quickly to alerts. When someone calls regarding an account lockout, ClearPass helps the team pinpoint the reason. Looking ahead, Blaney foresees ClearPass being even more valuable for BYOD and as they extend it to cover full MAC-based, wired authentication as well.
更快地隔离问题
借助Aruba Airwave，团队立即知道APS何时下降，可以监视信号质量，并查看谁登录了通过哪些AP来查明问题。他们还使用解决方案来管理Aruba开关。
Blaney说：“ Airwave减少了隔离和解决问题的时间，并使我们能够在无线网络上做更多的事情，因为我们对正在发生的事情有更好的了解。”
Blaney发现Clearpass和Airwave共同提供了前所未有的可见性。特别是，他们通过查明特定设备及其位置来帮助用户帐户锁定 - 节省了主要时间。仅使用用户的登录名，它们解锁了所有相关活动，这大大削减了故障排除时间。
“With the AirWave/ClearPass combination, we now have ways to measure network service that just was not possible with the old system,” he said.
技术Brings Down Classroom Walls
连通性的影响在Egusd迅速而遥远。现在，教室进行了“虚拟实地考察”，在公园护林员那里听到有关淘金热的消息或听作家阅读和讨论他或她的书是新常态。九年级学生最近由Skype与卡尔·威尔肯斯（Carl Wilkens）发表讲话，卡尔·威尔肯斯（Carl Wilkens）是该国的种族灭绝危机期间最后一次留在卢旺达的美国人。
“We were able to bring down classroom walls and connect with experts anywhere in ways not possible before,” said Gail Desler, Technology Integration Specialist and a digital citizenship coordinator. “The world is now open to us for learning.”
与Skype的视频会议带来了巨大的变化。以前，老师必须带来沉重且昂贵的相机设备来做这种性质的事情。
Desler指出，学生远远超出了在线消费信息；他们现在创建，协作和分享 - 就像有一天在工作场所一样。例如，学生记录自己讲述和分享故事以寻求反馈。然后，老师借此机会提供了有关知识产权和版权法的文章中的教训。
In three Title I schools, EGUSD studied the use of technology to improve student writing. A professor from nearby UC Davis measured results.
Desler说：“当我们测量学生的写作时，那些使用技术的人取得了可观的收益。”“我们知道我们正在努力改善教育公平的努力。”
As Desler and others pursue their vision of getting more technology into the hands of teachers and students, Aruba has become an essential partner.
“We’ve pushed very hard to get technology into the classrooms, from Chromebooks to applications for teachers,” Blaney says. “Aruba is helping us get there faster, more securely, and with less of a burden on our team.”
