Abuse problems are reported to WISD as owner of the IP address space for the county. We utilize several types of forensics tools and have staffs that are trained in this type of discovery to help identify and resolve these problems.
The WISD hosts Application Software and Databases for area school districts. Responsible personnel at the districts remotely access these applications and data through secure connections set up and maintained by the WISD. The WISD takes the responsibility for maintaining the server, the server's security and access rights, application updates and backups of the data.
The WISD owns and operates a Barracuda Spam and Virus Filter that services most of Washtenaw’s school districts. All inbound e-mail flowing to participating district e-mail servers is first filtered through the Barracuda filter for spam and known viruses.
WISD installed head-end fiber equipment at each school district, lit the fiber back to the WISD and contracted with Merit Network, Inc. to provide internet access for all local school districts in Washtenaw County. WISD is the intermediary ISP for our local districts. WISD manages all the class C IP address assignments for the local districts. It provides network management and control services and is the primary contact for internet related issues for our local districts.
Upon request, the WISD provides technical and data consulting services to its local school districts in a variety of different areas.
Data Scanner Requirements for Data Director
Getting Started with Data Scanner: Installation Instructions
In 1999 WISD installed over 100 miles of fiber that covers the county providing access from the WISD campus to each of its local school districts. Each of our local school districts and the ISD are provided with high speed internet access, along with data, voice and video capabilities as needed.
Bandwidth for internet access is made available to all our local districts and WISD by contract with Merit Networks, Inc. The bandwidth usage is monitored monthly and the contract is adjusted annually as necessary.
On recommendation from the Washtenaw County Superintendents an Internet Content Filtering partnership begin in the Fall, 2007.
Recommendations for county level filtering were made by participating districts and WISD in accordance with CIPA guidelines. Each local district also has the ability to access and manage filters on a more granular level for their respective districts.
WISD is operating Destiny Library System for several of our local districts. The pricing for a consortium system was roughly half of the cost of districts running their own stand alone systems. It also allowed local districts to upgrade older library software with a top notch web-based library system, which is available day or night from anywhere and also can be used for asset and text book tracking.
Moodle is a free, open source, online course system. With this technology, teachers can build courses that can be accessed anywhere at anytime.
Using the WISD as its central access location, a Moodle server system is provided for districts in Washtenaw and Livingston County. Each district can configure their portion of the Moodle server independent of other districts, utilizing their own administrators, users, themes and course offerings. The WISD is providing training and templates for courses to local district staff and coordinating new uses and collaboration between all the districts.
Additional Information for Moodle:
WISD Instructional Technology and Digital Resources - Moodle Info
In Dec. of 2008, WISD contracted with Merit’s NOC to do after hours equipment monitoring for all local districts and WISD. WISD in conjunction with Merit wrote the procedures for this and created a technical contact rotation for after hours support.
WISD also manages a Packetshaper that provides the ability to manage our bandwidth proactively while providing our districts with reports of individual usage. This has been an invaluable tool in determining our bandwidth contract purchases and in providing us with immediate views of network utilization summaries.
WISD manages a consortium model for several local districts. This has allowed us to share server space, centralized administration and provide a dedicated technical adviser for troubleshooting and customization of the resource. PowerSchool is a secure web-based system that allows greater collaboration between Teachers, Students and Parents.
WISD has many practices in place to help manage risks. In 2009 we will begin a new initiative to help districts and WISD to better understand, mitigate and manage these types of risks.
Creating a Technology Plan
Technology planning is federally mandated for local school agencies seeking technology funding from federal programs, including the Universal Service Fund (E-Rate) and Technology Literacy Challenge Fund grants.
As a result, technology plans must meet federally established criteria and be approved by the state. In addition, the State Technology Plan (2000) has specific recommendations relating to planning and implementation that need to be accomplished.
The Technology Plan Reviewer for Washtenaw County is:
Karen Erhardt-Domino
Director of Technology Services
994-8100 x 1281
kdomino@wash.k12.mi.us
Technology Plan Requirements
ISD/REMC technology plan reviewers will review each plan for consistency with the following statutory requirements.
Technology Plan Templates
Michigan Model Plan Template - Sample Technology Plan Template- Michigan Model Plan Template in PDF format - Sample Technology Plan Template
- Planning and Practice Seminars - Tools, examples, and stories by chapter in Adobe PDF downloadable files
Technology Plan Resources
- Tech Plan Supporting Resources
Includes: Getting Started, Resources, Needs Assessment, Infrastructure, Curriculum Integration, Collaborations, Professional Development & Technical Support
District Technology Plan Status