TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE MEMORANDUM

I have been intending to provide you with an update for some time now. Sorry for the delay.

It has proven impossible, despite numerous gallant attempts by Mrs. Grant , to assemble a reasonable number of Technology Committee members in one place at the same time. I therefore made an executive decision to postpone our next meeting until the new year.

At that meeting, I am hoping to cover the following:

• Features and functions of the Mulgrave network (Bill Maurer)
• Current software / applications inventory (Mrs. Vipond)
• Overview of the major software types (Geoff Wheelwright)
• Current and future trends in the MAC abd PC worlds (Geoff W. & Allen Jones)
• The faculty's perspective (Mrs. Hamer and Mrs. Ferguson)
• Development of a plan for future meeting agendas (All)

In addition, I want to start planning for the information / education sessions we are hoping to hold for the staff and (separately) for parents, at which we will demonstrate some of the software applications that are available -- Mr. Wheelwright has kindly volunteered to lead these sessions and there may be others on the committee who wish to join him.

Equipment update

The wiring for the network is all but complete.

The five Mac's have been upgraded with CD's, extra RAM memory and ethernet cards and are ready for the network. The eight new pentium workstations and the server have also arrived. Bill Maurer and Geoff Wheelwright are busy installing operating systems and software as well as testing and configuring the network. The plan is to have all the computer workstations up and running, in basic configuration, by the start of next term.

Next steps

As soon as the computers are ready, we plan to hold some training sessions for the staff to familiarize them with the basics of the system and introduce the existing software packages (including the library software). I will provide advance notice of these sessions to the Committee in case you wish to participate (not to be confused with the software demonstration sessions already mentioned).

Other News

We met last week with Karen Tizzard of SHL Canada to get a preview of their project with the Ministry of Education to install a province-wide schools network. The network will link schools with the Ministry and will also provide dedicated high-speed access to the internet. It all sounds very interesting, especially since SHL, as a private enterprise themselves, are committed to including private schools in the system.

As soon as the contracts are finalized with the Ministry, Karen will be setting a date to make a detailed presentation to the full Technology Committee. I will keep you all posted.

and finally..........

Since I have had no feedback in response to previous updates, I am hoping that you are all happy with the direction we are taking. However, if you do have any questions, suggestions or concerns, please accost me at the school or contact me by phone, fax or email.

............that's all folks!

Have a wonderful Christmas.

Andrew Woods