A 3-Minute IT Analysis for the non-IT educator

The purpose of this checklist is to identify where your school stands in terms of technology. Is technology improving the quality of education in the classroom? Are teachers and faculty better positioned to educate given your school's technology? Are there any potential pieces your school may be missing? DII Computers is here to help you respond to these questions, starting with this checklist.

The 5 Musts:

____ Data Backup Solution

With years of student records including grades, medical and personal information, as well as faculty information, schools require a strong backup system. The key here is not only in knowing that you have a backup solution, but that it is reliable and accessible to easily recover needed files. Your school needs to be following at least the 3:2:1 backup rule: 3 copies of data, 2 of which are stored locally and 1 which is stored offsite. The cloud may often act as a tool that can help your school achieve this rule.

____ Email and Collaborative Productivity Applications

In today's tech world, cloud-based email solutions like Office 365 or G-Suite dominate the market. With these solutions come online productivity applications, each of which have specific packages designed for student use. Is your school fully utilizing the use of these cloud-based applications to further drive education and enable students and teachers to collaborate? Is your school's accompanying email system reliable, secure, and cost-efficient?

____ Network Firewall and Content Filter

Are your students protected from the harms of the internet and technology? A firewall serves the same purpose for your network as locks serve for your school's doors; it prevents the things you wouldn't want to enter from entering. Many firewalls include content filter services that restrict web access to certain sites to the people on your school's network. Knowing what your students are doing on the web and restricting access to the things they should not be viewing is essential in the 21st century world of education.

____ Antivirus

Piggybacking off of the importance on a firewall and content filter for a school setting, antivirus is needed to protect the devices being used in the school. Whether it be students using desktops in a computer lab, teachers using laptops in their classrooms, or administrative staff using computers in the office, your school's valuable, private information cannot be compromised to outside intruders. A proper antivirus deployment is necessary in order to protect all of the devices from viruses, malware, and outside threats that put your school's information at risk.

____ Strong Wireless Internet

Schools are a hub for high-volume wireless internet usage. Laptops, desktops, Chromebooks, cell-phones, tablets...the list goes on and on. Does your school's wireless internet infrastructure support the volume of devices that are utilizing wireless connections on your network? Don't settle for random dropped connections. Don't settle for slow-buffering videos. Strong wireless internet is a necessity for school's looking for technology to advance education.

We hope after going through this checklist that you have a better idea as to the strengths and weaknesses of your school's IT resources. The DII Computers team is available to help your school further this examination. We provide a no-cost IT Site Survey to help your school determine which lines can be checked off, and which lines can't. We will then present you with a plan of action in response to these results. Call 215-657-5055 to speak with a DII representative who can help.