York Region District School Board has 110,000 students in 179 schools across nine municipalities, making it among the largest in Canada. Its 10,000 administrative and teaching staff are often at the forefront of new programs and approaches, including online projects that connect classrooms across Canada and internationally for collaborative learning. The Board serves the rapidly growing municipalities north of Toronto, and adds 2,500 new students each year.
In the face of such rapid growth and an increasing demand for bandwidth-intensive teaching and administrative tools, the Board realized in 2004 that its legacy IT systems were not keeping pace. “We would literally have to shut down certain areas of a school’s network to accommodate a video conference,” recalls Bill Hogarth, Director of Education. “More and more our principals, teachers and educational assistants had the technical skills to use advanced tools but were running into the limitations of our technology. We simply needed much bigger pipes.”
Student information, program evaluation, enrollment forecasts and other data-intensive work relied on highly manual, paper-based approaches, which did not allow for quick data analysis or on-demand information for administrators. The Board also wanted to put more computers in classrooms. “The Internet is becoming a very important research tool for our students, and the old model of a centralized computer room just isn’t working anymore,” he explains.
Replacing their outdated cable modems was just the beginning of the plan to overhaul the way the schools communicated with each other and with Board offices. “It wasn’t just about moving data back and forth or even about faster Internet connections,” Mr. Hogarth says. “It was about creating a network that could deliver voice, data, video and all sorts of applications we haven’t even thought of yet.”
In 2005, the Board selected Rogers Business Solutions for a ten-year project to create its new integrated network. Rogers installed an IP (Internet Protocol) fibre optic network in all of the Board’s schools as well as in its two regional headquarters locations and five area offices.
Using advanced MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching), the network delivers 100 Mb into and out of schools and 2 Gb into their headquarters. The Board has also deployed an IP telephony system in its headquarters, which will later extend to all of its schools.
“We selected the Rogers solution because Rogers demonstrated that they understood our mission and our ‘anytime, anywhere access’ vision. We felt their technology would allow us to continue to ensure that the base requirements for implementation and realization of our 21st Century learning objectives would be met,” Mr. Hogarth added.
Since the network went live at the start of the 2006/2007 school year, the results both in the classroom and in the office have been impressive. Collaborative learning programs are allowing classes to work with students in other parts of the region or even other provinces.
The Board uses its video conferencing to deliver a Safe Schools program in partnership with York Regional Police. “With videoconferencing, we can deliver the program simultaneously to many classrooms, instead of requiring officers to visit each class individually. The students can interact with the presenters and with one another in real time,” he says. The Board also participates in ABEL (Advanced Broadband Enabled Learning), a project in partnership with York University that delivers professional development to teachers across Canada.
The Board has also seen a huge impact on the administrative side. Principals now have real-time access to everything from student records to standardized test scores. “Tracking and charting are a big part of education today, and being able to put data into the hands of our principals and, eventually, our teachers, is critical to delivering high quality programs,” Mr. Hogarth explains. “For example, we could look at how ESL (English as a Second Language) students are doing at the board level, the school level and even the class level, and very quickly identify where resources or programs are needed.”
Principals are also able to drill down within individual student records to check progress, a task that previously involved paper files. “People are doing things with data they never would have considered doing a few years ago,” he adds.
“Rogers understood our vision and provided a dedicated account team that not only maintained a seamless transition from our legacy systems to our new network, but set us up to adopt new technologies very quickly as they emerge,” Mr. Hogarth concluded. “Our students benefit through better access to advanced information and the opportunity to meet kids from other parts of the world. And our staff have the ability to find and work with data so they can tailor the learning experience to best meet the needs of their students. “
