Streamlining Campus Wireless Management

Handling the many wireless devices that must access a campus WiFi network at once is a common challenge in higher education, where the increasing proliferation of wireless devices can raise capacity issues. A related problem is IP address exhaustion, brought on by the tendency of devices such as smart phones to tie up and then fail to relinquish available IP addresses. Many campus wireless networks also need to maintain complex tracking records on who is accessing the wireless network, for budgetary and funding reasons.

To address those issues, and to make network access both easier and more secure for users, the University of California, Berkeley's Electrical Engineering; Computer Science (EECS) department moved late last year to new security appliances from Avenda Systems that help differentiate user access and better manage IP addresses and security. The department is the largest on campus and includes more than 2,400 undergraduates, 400 graduate students, and more than 100 faculty members.


The complex wireless environment within the department supports a variety of connection methods, including an internal wireless network specifically for the department, several portals that require user authentication, and the campuswide wireless network. The networks, all of which are open to users and running the wireless standard 802.11n, which supports devices using the a, b, g and n wireless standards, did not offer any sort of encryption for security purposes.

Security was one of the main reasons for the change to 802.1x, an authentication standard that can be used in either wired or wireless networking. The 802.1x standard provides better security because it uses the stronger WPA2 (WiFi Protected Access) encryption standard rather than the older WPA. The WPA2 standard is part of the 802.11n standard, but must be properly configured on a network in order to work. And WPA2 must use 802.1x for authentication, leading to the move to 802.1x.

The EECS department decided to make the move to the new appliances in order to address some additional complex challenges in managing its wireless network, according to Computing Infrastructure expert Mr. Fred Archibald. In a setup that is not uncommon on college campuses, Archibald was using two directory management systems, LDAP and Active Directory, to manage user authentication and authorization on the wireless network.

The dual-directory design is intended to help with user tracking needs related to budgeting, but it introduced complexities because the wireless network system must support two types of directory management schemes. Under the department's funding model, different members of the department are granted different types of access, Archibald explained, so users need to be first authenticated against Active Directory, then authorized against LDAP. That required a product that could easily handle both types of directories--a capability that Avenda offered.

Adding to the complexity was an IP address exhaustion issue. With the previous authentication scheme on the department's 802.11 network, powered-up mobile devices within reach of the wireless network, even those that weren't in use, could claim and then retain an IP address, eventually leading to address exhaustion. Use of the 802.1x standard helps rectify the IP address exhaustion issue, since 802.1x does not assigned an IP address until both authentication and authorization take place. Thus, wireless devices that are within wireless network range, and able to achieve authentication but not authorization, do not tie up an IP address.

In addressing the wireless issues, Archibald specifically wanted a solution in appliance form, he said, to replace the current appliance, and in order to have a single vendor providing both hardware and software. "We have limited IT staff, and they all wear a lot of hats, so we wanted to get [a vendor] in place who was really good," Archibald said. In choosing appliances from Avenda, he said, he hoped to obtain a solution that could be dropped into place relatively quickly. And with limited IT staff, he specifically wanted a vendor that could be relied upon for support as needed, with responsiveness a key factor.

Testing the new system began 15 months ago, and the appliances went into production a year ago. The department supports about 150 access points--Berkeley overall has close to 10 times that number of APs--using two Avenda appliances in a high-availability configuration should one unit fail.

If there is a downside to the new network, Archibald said it has to do with increased support. "When it works, it generally works well and is more convenient for users," Archibald said. With 802.1x, users have to authenticate much less--credentials are usually cached after the first use and so authentication can occur transparently.

However, getting clients configured at the start of a school year results in more help desk calls initially, Archibald said. "The initial setup sometime can be a bit of a roadblock because of all the different clients," he said. "Once you get it to work, however, it works really well."

Campus Infrastructure: Instructional Video for the Budget-Constrained Classroom

A Texas college taps into YouTube as a teaching aid and saves money and time in the process.

On any given day at Panola College in Carthage, TX, you'll find Deborah Edwards using YouTube videos to provide her nursing students with "visual" interpretations of her lectures, or Freddy Mason videotaping his speech class, uploading the best speeches to YouTube, and then using those clips as classroom teaching tools.

On the other side of the school's campus, Cheri Lambert might be using a mix of YouTube and podcasting in her occupational therapy course, while Curtis Odom is supplementing his history class discussions with online videos and PowerPoint presentations.


These instructors' affinity for online videos and other tech-based visual tools dates back about 2-and-a-half years, when their institution introduced a curriculum tool focused on how to locate "good YouTube educational videos online," said Ann Morris, dean of distance education. "Our goal was to show professors how to find those videos and then incorporate them into the curriculum."

At the time, Morris said, she was lured in by the "free" nature of YouTube and wasn't really looking to pioneer a trend that would grow by leaps and bounds over the next two years. In July, for example, roughly 178 million Internet users in the United States watched online video content for an average of 14.7 hours per viewer, according to Internet research firm comScore.

"The service was available, and it was free, so we went for it," said Morris. Also making YouTube attractive was its user-friendly interface and its vast library of educational videos. "There are literally tens of thousands of videos out there that we can use," she said. "Why reinvent the wheel when someone else has already created content that our instructors can use with little time or energy investment?"

To get its online video initiative rolling, Panola College needed no additional equipment, but it did institute a training program for instructors who needed help finding the most appropriate videos for their courses. The institution's business learning department handled the training, most of which was administered by an individual in charge of professional development and training.

Morris said the training component played an important role in the initiative's success. "We've always prided ourselves in delivering a high level of faculty support," said Morris, "knowing that you can't just create a new program, throw it out there and let the instructors flounder around in it."

During the training sessions, faculty learned how to identify quality videos that would be most applicable to the educational environment. Additional Web resources were also introduced as "excellent tools that teachers could incorporate into their curriculums," said Morris. Once a few instructors got back to class and started experimenting with online videos, word quickly spread to the rest of the campus.

"We had a few early adopters who started using the videos and telling others about the free, online resources," said Morris. "Things just spread from there."

Lambert was one of those early adopters and today employs YouTube and podcasts for most of her lessons. She uses YouTube videos of occupational therapy sessions, for example, and has her students practice writing therapy notes based on those videos. Lambert said the online videos provide a bridge between offsite fieldwork and the related documentation that students have to prepare.

"We used to try to make sense of and give students feedback about the documentation for fieldwork that was occurring offsite, but we never knew exactly what each of them was seeing," said Lambert. "With the videos, we can now all look at the same treatment session."

In Lambert's class, students are also required to incorporate YouTube videos in their presentations of various diagnoses to help peers get a visual for how the condition affects the person's everyday occupations. "There are so many personal testimonials and occupational therapy treatment sessions on YouTube," said Lambert, who allocates some of her time to sorting out the most relevant of those videos.

"Some of the videos are good, and others are not so good, but they are all useful," Lambert explained, noting that the "not so good" ones help sharpen students' critical thinking skills, "as they are challenged to identify what could be done more effectively."

Morris said the school's use of online video also helps it get on the same page as its students, most of which are already using YouTube and other online video portals on their own time. "Students are already accustomed to social networking and are comfortable using YouTube and watching videos online," said Morris. "By adopting it in the classroom, we're able to bring a part of their world into the educational experience."

Nearly three years after the first YouTube video was used in a Panola College classroom, Morris said the service's "free" nature continues to be its biggest advantage. The fact that school budgets have shrunk since 2007 makes the online video resource even more important for Texas' smaller colleges, which have seen "funding taken away after it was awarded to us," said Morris.

"The great thing about integrating online video into the classroom is that you don't need a large budget to do it," she said. "You can get these IT projects done with freeware and/or inexpensive software, and by taking the time to search around for resources that can help you get these initiatives rolling."

PerfectForms Releases Education Version of Workflow Tool

PerfectForms, which develops applications that help organizations automate paper-based processes, has created a version of its workflow management product that caters specifically to the education market. PerfectForms for Education lets K-12 and higher ed customers create custom workflows or use 58 pre-built templates to address common tasks. The templates can be customized to reflect school colors and use logos and typeface.

The program is intended to be used not just by IT staff but also by business and administrative staff. The company makes video tutorials available online to walk the user through the effort of planning how the new workflow should proceed; how the form should be laid out and constructed to do data collection; and how to add triggers, such as calculations and conditional actions.


The 17 templates specific to higher education address admissions, tuition, change requests, tech requests, and other categories. The company has also developed templates for human resources and finance.

The University of Tennessee at Martin has used PerfectForms for creating new processes in admissions, registration, and healthcare areas. One implementation involved the creation of an online student ID request form to replace a process whereby freshmen students would stand in line to have their pictures taken on move-in day and then wait for an ID to be created. Now, new students upload a picture of themselves online while registering for summer orientation; their ID cards are waiting for them when they arrive on campus.

"PerfectForms is the most user-friendly process implementation tool I've come across," said Mike Abney, process improvement facilitator at the university.

The application can be hosted by PerfectForms or on customer servers. The "starter" version of the on-demand option is $30 per month per user; an advanced version that includes report design is $40 per month. The on-premise edition is $5,000 per year for a single server license.

Purdue University Deploying 4G Network as Part of Wireless Rollout

Purdue University will be one of the early recipients of Verizon Wireless' rollout of a 4G network starting this year. This fourth generation data network, which is using Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology, is expected to provide four to 10 times the transmission speeds currently available in 3G networks.

The institution was chosen to participate in the deployment based on its track record with using mobile technology to enhance learning, according to Lowell McAdam, president and chief operating officer of Verizon. Recent technologies developed at Purdue include Mixable, an academic integration with Facebook; a student discussion tool, HotSeat, which allows students to interact with classmates and faculty with Twitter and text messages; and eStadium, to deliver athletic game services to spectators.


The university also contracted with Verizon Business to implement a campuswide 802.11n wireless network, which will encompass 6,000 access points in 256 buildings. That project is expected to be completed in the 2010-2011 academic year.

Verizon said the broader rollout of 4G will include 38 metropolitan areas and 60 commercial airports, including Indianapolis International Airport, located within 90 minutes of the West Lafayette-based university. The company is currently installing LTE equipment at existing cell sites and switching centers around the United States.

According to Mr. McAdam, the partnership with Purdue will explore the next phase of how 4G technology can improve education across our nation. Verizon Wireless said it expects 4G LTE average data rates to be 5 Mbps to 12 Mbps on the downlink and 2 Mbps to 5 Mbps on the uplink in real-world, loaded network environments.

"At Purdue, the advancement of mobile technology is critically important--both to students and faculty. The addition of Verizon's 4G network will contribute in a noticeable way to their success," said Gerry McCartney, Purdue's CIO and vice president for IT.