The way the each school's network is set up is a lot like that of Anoka-Ramsey Community College. After hearing the speaker, from the technology department at Anoka-Ramsey, I was able to use this knowledge in my interview with the technology head at a middle school. All data is stored on the main Novell server. The main hardware resources are Apple Macintosh and Hewlett Packard. The main software resources are Appleworks, Microsoft, Mathkeys and Hyperstudio. The district uses TCP/IP as their main protocol. There is both a student network and an administrative/faculty network in each school. There is one campus switch for every workstation, which connects the workstation to the server. From the campus switch information is then transferred through a VLAN router, which moves IP traffic from one place to another. Next in line is the firewall. The firewall protects each school from outside intrusion. Lastly, they have the Internet router. The World Wide Web has become a very important tool in education. .
The Osiris program was used by the school district for many years to handle student database management. This program worked with the network described above. It, however, only worked with the Windows operating systems. This created a problem since many of the school's in the district use a Macintosh based operating system. .
The Osiris program had many uses, which accommodated a multitude of users. The main users of this program included: administration, guidance personnel, TIES support (TIES is the main source used by the district as an information system), office workers, parking lot attendants, teaching staff, attendance secretary's, and media center staff. Some of the main uses of the program include: maintaining student database, building the master schedule, recording attendance, maintaining student discipline infractions, recording grades and courses taken, preparing grade reports, building room use schedules and teacher schedules, along with many other things.
