Overview

Many of the questions about technology that schools or districts must answer concern the types and amounts of equipment and infrastructure that a school has. Schools and districts need to count and keep track of hardware in order to answer such questions. This chapter provides guidance for responding to these kinds of questions, including equipment availability to users. It also addresses the connection of computers and video equipment to networks and to the Internet-the requisite infrastructure that allows users to share information electronically.

Much information can be drawn from a school district's inventory system. If an inventory system is set up with the capacity to produce useful reports, and is maintained routinely, surveys may take minutes instead of days to complete. The information that should be included in a database system to provide this capacity follows.

Indicators are provided both for the presence of computers and other technology resources in school administrative and instructional settings and for the availability of these resources to teachers, students, and administrative staff.

Indicators do not cover all the possible kinds of equipment that one might find in schools because the intent of this handbook is to describe and suggest, not prescribe. Enough are provided to serve as examples for developing other indicators, as well as data elements. Obviously, the list of indicators will require updating over time, to allow for new technologies and types of equipment that diffuse into school settings.

Defining Equipment and Infrastructure

The terms equipment and infrastructure in this chapter refer to computer hardware and associated communications equipment and cabling, as well as other technology-related equipment regularly used in schools. Indicators address the availability, capabilities, and connectivity of computer equipment and infrastructure.

Computer equipment refers to both computers and associated peripheral equipment, such as:

• computers, including desktop and laptop machines, but extending to handheld computers (also known as Personal Digital Assistants, or PDAs), mainframe machines, and other specialized computing devices; and
• peripheral equipment that may be attached to computers, such as monitors, keyboards, disk drives, modems, printers, scanners, cameras, and speakers.

Other technology resources in the school setting are also included, such as:

• network devices-routers, hubs, switches, access servers;
• communications support, such as fax-back and voice-mail resources in regular use by instructional and administrative staff;
• videoconferencing and other distance education tools, including satellite transmitters and receivers, cable-based receivers, and modem or codec-based video equipment;
• projection devices, from transparent and opaque projectors to video monitors; and
• graphing calculators and other specialized computational aids.

The term infrastructure covers both devices and cabling. Devices supporting technology in schools include specialized equipment (such as switches, routers, modems, or codecs) that link computers or video hardware to networks. Infrastructure also refers to cabling, whether wire, fiber optic, or coaxial. In newer systems, links between computers are wireless, in which case infrastructure refers to receivers and transmitters.

For schools to use technology, they must first have it and make it available for students, teachers, and administrative staff. Acquiring that technology, from computers to modems to two-way conferencing equipment, is only one step in facilitating student learning. Curriculum integration and professional development are also essential components in this process.