Four years ago, the original Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Best Practices Guide was released as WLANs began to be installed in Kindergarten to Grade 12 schools in Alberta. At that time, Alberta Education was launching the Emerge One-to-One Laptop Learning Initiative, and needed to provide technical advice to participating school authorities on best practices for implementing wireless networks. This advice was shared in the format of a best practices guide to allow all school authorities access the information.
Today, the wireless landscape continues to change. A growing number of devices rely on access to wireless networks to access information and run applications. The average user of these mobile devices now expects to have access to information at their fingertips, which is enabled by growing access to free wireless networks. The user who at one time had to pay to use Wi-Fi at airports, coffee shops and other public places now gets it for free with their coffee, groceries or boarding pass.
Within schools, the combination of wireless technology’s relatively low cost and easy deployment has led many districts implementing wireless technology without adequate up front planning and without addressing ongoing support requirements. This has often led to degraded levels of service and significant security exposures, dramatically increasing failure rates of user adoption and hindering seamless usage.
To adequately protect information security and provide reliable service, school districts contemplating WLANs must address their network security and ongoing management practices, including associated tools. The ability to deliver information and resources for education using WLAN technology will be improved by delivering consistent and reliable service.