May 1996 — Features
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The School Design Model at Brewster Academy: Technology Serving Teaching & Learning
Kee¼ng over 450 PowerBooks, desktop machines and a host of peripherals up and running is a challenge. The technology support staff continues to grow, as d'es the sophistication of the operation of the office. A 10% "loaner pool" is in constant demand as the combination of adolescents and relatively sensitive "high tech" equipment results in a host of major and minor breakdowns. The intensity of use has helped us to identify all sorts of things about kids, parents and technology -- ranging from design needs in machines through how to connect parents to our LAN from home. For every problem there has been an innovative adolescent solution, like using a Velcro patch to reinforce the catch on a PowerBook, an innovative idea developed by a creative 10th grader.
Importantly, building a culture of responsible use is an ongoing process characterized by training on copyright violations, network ethics, and incorporating "computer crime" into the school's disciplinary code. Efforts in this regard have stepped up a level since Internet access is now distributed across campus to every desk and dormitory room.
Consistent with the connections in the School Design Model, the school bases access to the Internet on its program for recognizing student citizenship. Levels of Internet access are provided commensurate with a student's demonstrated capacity to be a responsible user: the assumption being that responsible use is more about working with the attitudes and predispositions of people than it is about building roadblocks and firewalls or generating other technological solutions. Network reliability has been good, and major violations infrequent, although we expect some problems to go with the territory.
We describe kee¼ng up with what has been created at Brewster as the "Black Hole." By last year, 4MB of RAM simply stopped "doing it" for the average user. Opening BrewsterNet E–;Mail, an application, and getting onto the library's CD tower is just not possible with the standard 4MB. For 1996, Apple built us a customized machine with 12MB of RAM. While kee¼ng up with advances in hardware and software will continue to tax the resources of the institution, the fact that the technology is part of a bigger ¼cture of curriculum and teaching brings a sensibility to software selection and evaluation which, given the model program, simply cannot occur in a vacuum.
