Technology Vision Statements

In 1999 ISD decided to invest time, money and energy into technology for ISD staff and students. To begin the process, we developed 12 point vision statements which is shown below. You will also find "current status" for each vision to find out where we are with our goals.

VISION 1:
All staff and students (pre school through 12th grade) will have their own accounts and passwords to access our new ISDNet. Anyone will be able to use any computer on the campus, sign in with your account and password, and be able to see your files. Your files "travel" with you wherever you are. Students can create and preserve their coursework throughout grades.

CURRENT STATUS: Completed! Over 325 network accounts have been created for every single ISD staff. During the implementation, we decided that students will not receive their own accounts for several reasons. All teachers received "dual" accounts: personal and classroom accounts.

VISION 2:
All staff and students (pre school through 12th grade) will have their own Email accounts. Everyone can communicate with anyone anytime. Parents can keep in touch with their children in our dorms. Students can question teachers or vice versa.

CURRENT STATUS: Completed! All staff have their own email accounts. On request by certain teachers, for certain class projects, some students also receive their own email accounts. For the rest of our students, they use whatever Internet-based email providers they choose (Yahoo, MSN, AOL, etc.) as their email systems.

VISION 3:
All computers on the campus will be networked, managed, and standardized. All software and CDs will be centralized to avoid distribution and reinstalls of each individual machine. More resources (e.g., printers, etc.) can be shared. Everyone will be using similar software and hardware.

CURRENT STATUS: Completed! We use various technologies such as Novell ZENworks, Symantec Ghost, CD Tower, etc., to distribute and manage software and computer environments. Additional software are being added on an on-going basis.

VISION 4:
All computers will be secured and locked down. Through use of certain products, all computers will be secured from unwanted changes.

CURRENT STATUS: Partly Completed. Although we use Novell ZENworks and Symantec Ghost to help secure our computers, there continue to be more features and controls waiting for us to take advantage of. There are still more opportunities to lock down our computers a bit more.

VISION 5:
A new intranet will be formed to better facilitate information. An "internal internet" (aka., @ISD) will be created and used by our staff and students. @ISD will be used to provide forms, news, procedures, document repository, human resource information, and many other information.

CURRENT STATUS: Completed! @ISD () has been created and made available to our ISD community. Daily Bulletins and other information have been placed on the intranet. More and more content such as menu lists, interpreter requests, work orders, etc., will be added to the intranet.

VISION 6:
A new centralized database system will be formed to bridge various islands of information. Various information are created and maintained by various areas within ISD. A lot of redundant information exists and are very time-consuming to maintain. A centralized database system will absorb all those information into a single location, but accessed by anywhere on the ISDNet.

CURRENT STATUS: Partly Completed. Although we now have a centralized database server, it is not yet maximized. As of this writing the server is currently being used by our Problem Reporting and Tracking (PRAT) system and Campus Police Log system.

VISION 7:
A new World Wide Web will be formed. To promote ISD to the world, we need to put up a World Wide Web (WWW). Check out our new site at http://www.deafhoosiers.com!

CURRENT STATUS: Completed! First generation web site have been operational for nearly 2 years now. We are now about to roll out second generation web site.

VISION 8:
Introduce students to technology. Other than using technology as tools for their education, we want to introduce hardware repairs and software development. We may introduce programs that allow our students to earn certifications.

CURRENT STATUS: Not Started. During our first year, a couple of students worked with us in the Technology Center, but this due to staff availability and scheduling, it was not possible to continue this program. We will re-introduce the concept of providing some technical training to allow students (and staff) to earn certifications.

VISION 9:
Be self-sufficient and independent. To maximize our efficiency, and to be able to react and move rapidly to changes in technology, we thrive to be self-sufficient and independent. We will build most of our network and maintain most of these technologies ourselves, through our staff, students, and our contractors.

CURRENT STATUS: Completed! The Technology Center and its staff have been providing every possible service required to maintain and enhance our technology. We continue to work with State's Department of Information Technology (DoIT) for the network backbone and Internet access.

VISION 10:
Help make ISD World-Class School! With your help, we can make this school a world class!

CURRENT STATUS: On-going! Visitors from various schools and locations continue to be impressed with the level of technology available at the school.

VISION 11:
A new media-retrieval system will be built to enhance our education delivery through visual medium. This vision involves use of TV, and various video inputs (cameras, cable, VCRs, etc.). The visual presentations can be delivered to you through networked TVs, and on your computers in your classrooms or in your hallways.

CURRENT STATUS: Partly Completed. We are now able to broadcast our TV programming to our 35 wall-mounted TV monitors all over the campus. We are also able to broadcast recorded programming to any of our 500 computers. However, a new TV cabling infrastructure have been placed on hold due to budget cuts.

Vision 12:
An on-campus video-based telephone system will be formed to improve intra-staff communications. We would like to take advantage of monitor-mounted cameras and computers to have true face-to-face phone conversations

CURRENT STATUS: Partly Completed. 100 web cams have been installed on many of our computers around the campus. We are now able to "web cam" each other for visual one-on-one conversations. We are now working with State DoIT to enhance this technology to include access to Video Relay now available on the Internet.

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