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By Mona R. Litt The ever-present question on teachers' minds is how to get students to learn and have fun at the same time. Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., boarding high school encourages its students to expand their horizons and reach out to the world around them by accessing the school's high-speed ATM network. "Our campus network runs on an ATM backbone, spans over 22 buildings and connects close to 1,000 nodes," explains John Waterworth Jr., the academy's network services administrator. ATM directly connects 10 buildings, with the rest running 10-Mbps or 100-Mbps Ethernet. "As the months go on, 44 more buildings will be added to the network and all buildings will be connected by fiber." Waterworth cites the core of the academy's networking infrastructure as Bay Networks' Centillion 100 Ethernet-to-ATM switches. Bay Networks' Access Stackable Node (ASN) and Backbone Link Node (BLN) routers handle the traffic over the school's network. The academic network includes the learning labs, while the administrative network handles school business. The campus intranet provides both students and faculty with e-mail and Internet access. Between 1,500 and 1,700 users have access to the network, including 1,200 pupils. "Our greatest challenge is distinguishing among everyone's priorities and deciding which are most important," Waterworth n otes. "The best feature [of the network] is its ability to have a high-speed ATM backbone and still use the old shared Ethernet technology. We did not have to buy any special gear. We use the Centillion with everything else." Teachers use vide o technology to bring foreign languages alive to students in the Language Learning Center. The Network Co.'s Cheetah video server takes the place of ordinary cassette tapes and lets 43 workstations view interactive language lessons. The server also lets students at different terminals watch the same movie at the same time. Students watch these movies and answer questions during the lesson. Art courses take place in the Polk Electronic Imaging Center. Students use Adobe Photoshop and Premiere to create movies and other art projects. The Computer Center houses 70 workstations, where programming and social science classes are held, according to Waterworth. People also may use the public labs for word processing, e-mail and Internet research. Furthermore, Philli ps Academy uses Project Software and Development's Maximo application on a SQL database server to administer the campus' physical plant, electricity and grounds maintenance. Waterworth is experimenting with several videoconferencing software packages as distance-learning tools. The community and parents can find out information regarding all aspects of the Phillips Academy from its Web site. In addition, alumni can contact the admission office via the site. |
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Updated January 24, 1997 |
