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December 1, 2002
Networking Home and School with Thin-Client Technology
By Douglas E. Evilsizor
Rehoboth Christian School in McKinley County, New Mexico, enrolls students from many rural communities on neighboring Indian reservations, both in the northeastern part of the Navajo Nation and in Zuni Pueblo, where utilities and services often are not available. Many of these students' homes do not have a computer or Internet connection, and some do not have regular phone service.
Rehoboth has a vision for overcoming these digital divide barriers by connecting underserved students' rural homes directly with the school network through a thin-client system. The school believes that this enhanced home-school connection will enable at-risk students to excel more than ever before. Through the use of old computers and high-powered centralized servers, the network will give students access to programs and applications, to homework assignments, and to ongoing projects at home and will create opportunities for them to collaborate with peers and teachers. The system also will allow parents to communicate easily with staff and check on their students' assignments, grades, and the school calendar.
The project uses funds provided through the Thin Client @ Schoolę contest, co-sponsored by thin-client technology leaders National Semiconductor Corporation, Wyse Technology and Citrix Systems, Inc. It involves installing three new Citrix servers at the school, which will serve 45 Wyse thin-clients, 20 "fat-clients," and 70 legacy Macintosh computers scattered throughout the school's computer labs, classrooms and commons areas. This is in addition to 30 mobile laptop "fat-clients" that are running on a wireless network throughout the school.
In the evenings, the Rehoboth Citrix servers will support an additional 50 to 100 terminals installed in student homes up to 60 miles away and will communicate via slow 28.8 modem connections. Since these terminals will be provided free to low-income students, they will be legacy Pentium I computers donated by businesses and individuals. These old computers will be configured so that they no longer run their own programs and applications but simply display the programs being run on high-powered centralized servers. In Rehoboth's system, almost all maintenance will be done at the school on the servers and does not require trouble-shooting on the individual terminals, thus enabling Rehoboth to maintain the extensive network on and off campus with its current tech support staff.
A closer look at one particular assignment currently in use in the high school science curriculum illustrates how Rehoboth's new thin-client network will revolutionize learning and teaching at the small rural school. In Rehoboth's botany course, students learn about the local environment through a semester-long project in which they gather, research, and catalogue native plant specimens and then present their findings to their classmates. Their research involves talking with Native American elders about traditional uses and names of the plants, consulting with members of the business community about economic uses of the plants, and representing the plants in their native environments through sketches, paintings, or photographs.
Rehoboth's new home-school Citrix network will enable botany students to record all of their research digitally, using charts, graphs, images, and even sound bytes; store the projects on one of the school's servers; and access projects from home or school at any time. The learning process will be extended as students use technology to prepare professional-quality presentations on their projects. In addition, students will be able to access the school's online interactive database of native plants from home or school via the thin-client system. Botany and the learning process itself will come to life for students as the database grows each year with new student contributions.
Rehoboth's goal is to achieve a 1:1 student to thin-client computing device ratio at home and 1:2 student to thin-client computing device ratio at school in order to bridge the digital divide that often contributes to low-income students' poor performance in school. Acknowledging that the presence of thin-client computing devices alone does not help students succeed, Rehoboth staff believe that giving at-risk students opportunities to use cutting-edge technology helps prepare them for higher education and careers by teaching practical, applicable skills and strategies for learning new skills. Rehoboth hopes that through regular use of the new thin-client network, each and every student can develop the level of technology literacy required for success in today's academic and professional worlds.
Email: Douglas E. Evilsizor
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