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Home > News Achive > English Press |
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| A truly networked school |
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By ANITA MATTHEWS |
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This month,
we focus once again on a single school, SMJK Dindings, and how it will
join the Smart School league although it is not among the 90 schools selected
under the pilot project that will kick off next January.
SURROUNDED by coconut trees and kampung houses in the middle of a palm
oil plantation is Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan Dindings in Pundut,
Lumut.
At first glance, the Grade B school which lies 95 kilometres from the
city of Ipoh strikes one as a quaint sekolah papan, with a new building
block located behind the array of wooden classrooms.
But it has become the envy of other schools in the Manjung district since
secondary school principal Tiong Ting Ming managed to secure the support
and funds to turn it into a "cyberschool.''
Public perception of the school has changed as parents of kids studying
at the primary school next door now prefer to send their children to SMJK
Dindings than move them elsewhere.
Within the new building block at SMJK Dindings, a transformation of sorts
of is taking place. The block -- which houses 21 classrooms including
a library, staffroom, computer room and science labs -- is "network ready.''
The floor trunking and conduit piping has been built with UTP Cat 5 (Untwisted
Pair Category 5) cables and other networking equipment, making up a large
part of the building's facade. Each room has a RJ-45 connector that gives
it instant virtual access to the rest of the world.
The new block was designed, and its building process supervised, by Tiong
(see sidebar). SMJK Dindings intends to act as a role model of the networked
school of the future.
Net syllabus
The school's efforts are centered on creating a breed of students who
are computer-savvy, using the Internet as a learning tool.
"Right now, we are training students and teachers about the Internet
to teach them how to search for information, how to use it and how to
communicate with others,'' says Tiong.
He readily admits he is biased towards the Net, arguing that the goal
of education is to prepare students to become fully functioning participants
in society.
"As IT becomes more pervasive, students need more than traditional skills
to participate -- they must be technologically-literate,'' he says.
He adds that students need to be more independent in finding information,
and that teachers should serve only as moderators to provide guidance.
Tiong has designed a "network-centric'' syllabus that emphasises maximising
the power and potential of a network. Students also learn how to troubleshoot
a network, cabling construction work, basic network systems and the type
of networks available.
"The network is important as it allows us to work collaboratively and
share resources, as well as communicate with each other,'' Tiong says.
Building the base
With the help of a network-savvy former student, Tiong set out to link
all the computers at the school and create different servers for different
purposes. The Internet router is housed on a PowerPC connected to a PSTN
(Public Switch Telephone Network) line and a 56K modem for external access.
The network systems run Ethernet using the basic Star topology, and
AppleTalk on a bus topology hooked to PCs via network interface cards.
Other hardware comprise an 8.3GB Windows NT server (the school will be
adding a 12GB hard disk soon) running off a 266MHz Pentium II PC with
128MB RAM; and a Linux Red Hat 5.1 server powered by a 166MHz Pentium
MMX PC with 64MB RAM and 6.4GB hard disk space.
The Linux machine has been divided to house an UUCP mail server, Apache
webserver, news, chat and proxy server. The Windows NT machine operates
as file and print server.
Recently, the school successfully migrated its file and print server out
of the Windows NT platform to the Linux server.
"This saves us a considerable amount of money in terms of software licensing,''
he says, adding that the school is using Samba Version 1.9 in Linux to
provide the Session Message Block protocol to Windows95
clients.
The SMB protocol, also known as NetBIOS or LAN Manager protocol, is used
by Microsoft Windows 3.11, NT and 95 to share disks and printers.
"We are using the Samba suite of tools so that the Linux server can share
its disk and driver printers with Windows clients, since our workstations
are Windows 95 compliant,'' Tiong says.
Now that the school has upgraded the IDE hard disk in its Linux server
to an ultra-wide SCSI-2 hard disk capable of transferring up to 40MB per
second, Tiong is well on his way with his plan to set up a Linux lab at
the school.
"One of my ex-students has agreed to train some pupils on all there is
to know about Linux,'' he adds.
The school's computer room is equipped with 20 units of 166MHz Pentium
MMX PCs packed with 32MB RAM and 2.1GB hard disks; seven units of Apple
Macintosh PowerPCs packed with 48MB RAM and 1.6GB hard disks; and six
units of 68K Macintosh CPUs.
Other tools at the lab include stackable hubs, a Kodak digital camera,
an LCD projector, an HP LaserJet 4000N network printer with RJ-45 and
AppleTalk interface, an HP Deskjet 690C colour inkjet printer, a SCSI
colour scanner, a Yamaha CD-RW recorder and loads of network interface
cards.
Of course, PK Electronics UPS units are there to prevent damage in case
of power glitches.
The school recently added an SSL secured server to provide secured web
services, an HP tape SCSI backup drive to hold 4GB of data to backup students'
and teachers' data, besides mirroring data to other hard disks; and a
fax server to provide email-to-fax services.
With the rewritable CD-RW unit at hand, Tiong hopes that eventually all
students will carry compact disks instead of diskettes.
He also believes in using original software, and has invested in Clarisworks
5.0, FileMaker Pro 4.0, Claris Home Page 3.0, Adobe PhotoShop 4.0, Eudora
Pro 4.0, and the Windows 95 and Macintosh 8.1 operating Systems.
The network, he adds, is maintained by five students led by Year One student
Tiong Hsien Qing. Liew Kok Ming and Liew Toh Seng
make up the trio of Unix administrators at SMJK Dindings.
Students have also been given an e-mail address each and allocated web
space for design work. They are also able to log on to the Net from any
machine.
"Red Hat's Linux allows us to assign individual e-mail accounts to students,''
says Tiong.
Net gain
Despite the limited number of PCs and Macintosh units, Tiong went ahead
with his plans by training a core group of 40 students and teachers on
the basics of using computers.
This group today forms the teaching, support and maintenance crew for
SMJK Dindings' computer classes.
About 80% of the 660 students from Year 1 to Year 5 -- making up 19 classes
-- undergo a 40-minute weekly session on IT. Held in the mornings, the
lessons cover the basics of operating systems, PC hardware, software,
the Internet and communications. All 36 teachers also undergo one and
a half hours of computer instruction weekly.
Tiong is assisted by computer teacher Zazalee Ramli. According to Tiong,
Zazalee, a graduate from Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, is the only
person in the school with formal training in computers.
Students pay RM10 a month for the classes. And they need to pay 50 sen
per hour each time they surf after school.
Saturdays are reserved for computer club activities, with over 170 members.
Club members and school teachers have been divided into 11 groups and
instructions are through web-based sessions. They spend about 1.5 hours
a week learning more about networking systems, e-mail programs, Internet
navigation tools, webpage design, manipulating pictures and how to handle
hardware such as the scanner, CD-RW and digital camera, says Tiong.
He adds that some students have been roped in to learn how to install
operating systems and applications.
Words to action
After spending a year building this foundation, Tiong expects students
to begin utilising the tools they have mastered.
The enterprising headmaster also managed to get the public and some corporations
to donate obsolete PCs and Apple computers for the students to use as
classroom models.
"We take them apart so they can learn each part of a computer,'' he says.
Everyone learns the basics of e-mail, webpage design, file transfer protocol
(FTP), Ethernet cabling as well as bread and butter applications.
"We also plan to introduce Tamil and Jawi desktop publishing (DTP) on
the Windows platform, and Chinese DTP on the Mac platform,'' he says,
adding that the lab is equipped with a range of computer books as reading
material.
In addition, Tiong also hopes to increase the network speed by upgrading
from 10BaseT to 100BaseT switching hubs next year, and add more CPU power
to the PCs and Macs in place.
"We hope to install an ISDN line and establish links with schools abroad,
as well as host our own website,'' he says.
Also in the pipeline are plans to introduce a video splitter as a tool
to teach English using CD-ROMs.
"We also hope to migrate to Smart School status as soon as we're permitted,''
he quips.
© In.Tech, Star Publications (M) Berhad.
All Rights Reserved
e-mail intech@thestar.com.my
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