The Golden Era of Education Technology Solutions

The life of a student sure has changed over the years. The tools used for learning and research have evolved from cumbersome textbooks to bulky classroom computers to the today’s slim mobile devices. As we enter the era of technology solutions that enable lifelong learning and development, teachers are incorporating digital learning into the curriculum through videos, online learning, flipped classrooms, blogs, articles and books. Digitized learning is taking a huge leap forward toward “always on” lifelong learning. Lesson plans depend on both skilled educators and a consistent, reliable and secure network. Frustrated with an aging network that was designed for supporting teacher laptops rather than one-to-one mobile learning for students, Victor Central School District (VCSD), located approximately 12 miles outside of Rochester, New York, was looking to upgrade its infrastructure so that it would be easier to scale, manage and secure by its lean IT team. Teachers and students were frustrated with the failing network, which the IT department found challenging to manage. Many schools face the same problem. Legacy networks combined with  burdened IT staffs and high expectations on the part of parents and students are forcing schools to modernize their network infrastructures. With the help of E-Rate and New York State’s Smart School Initiative, VCSD made plans to move to 802.11ac Wave 2. VCSD researched five different vendors and narrowed it down to two—Ruckus and Aruba. A 10-hour bake-off ensued, where both vendors were tested to the limit. The result? Ruckus outperformed Aruba in the proof of concept and proved to be much easier to manage. Shortly after the bake-off, VCSD decided to deploy indoor and outdoor access points (APs) from Ruckus, the virtual Ruckus SmartZone (vSZ) for redundancy and Ruckus Cloudpath for security. This increased VCSD’s network bandwidth, capacity and reliability. Students and teachers now have seamless coverage, and the network is future-proofed, so it can grow as the school system grows. With security being such a huge concern for schools, Ruckus Cloudpath enables IT to keep track of who is on the network at all times. Having a reliable network in place is essential in the education sector. Schools need to be able provide students with tools to ensure their success. Check out the  VCSD case study and video to learn how Ruckus can elevate the classroom experience at your school. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srj6qlyZI6c