ICT infrastructure provides a technology foundation within a school. It enables students, teachers and school staff to access a wide range of tools, services and digital resources to support teaching, learning and school administration.
A school’s ICT infrastructure typically has many hundreds of interconnected technology components.
Access devices
Access devices are the items of ICT equipment (including the associated operating software) that are directly used by students, teachers and school staff.
The first priority for funding under the NSSCF program is to ensure that the computer to student ratio for Year 9–12 students is 1:2 for the following types of access devices:
Other access devices that are valuable for teaching and learning include:
Network infrastructure
Network infrastructure connects the access devices in the school to the required tools, services and digital resources. Many of these tools, services and digital resources will be external to the school. The network infrastructure components include:
- internal communications services, cabling and equipment
- telecommunications services
- server computers and associated storage devices
- environmental management equipment
- operating software for server computers, communications equipment and related hardware.
In some schools, the overall school network infrastructure is divided into:
- curriculum networks, providing tools and services that are primarily for teaching and learning
- administration networks, providing tools and services that are primarily for school administration.
In those cases, most of the individual network components belong to either the curriculum network or the administration network. The networks usually need to be connected in some way with shared components, including common telecommunications services.
Application software
Application software provides specific functionality for teaching, learning or administration. The application software required by Australian schools includes:
- content management systems
- learning systems
- finance and assets systems
- staff and student management systems
- assessment and reporting systems
Application software products in schools can generally be accessed through the network infrastructure from many different computers. Often application software products are hosted on server computers located within the schools. In some school systems and sectors, particularly many government school systems, key application software products are hosted in regional or central facilities and are accessed by individual schools through telecommunications services.
Support resources
Meeting school goals and needs
ICT infrastructure needs to support the school’s agreed vision, objectives, priorities and needs for teaching, learning and administration, as described in key plans, including the school’s:
Basic infrastructure management principles
ICT infrastructure needs to be robust. Becta has identified a set of five management principles for schools in the United Kingdom, which are also relevant to Australian schools, namely:
- reliability—ICT infrastructure needs to be reliable and available for use when required
- coherence—with the variety of technologies on offer, it is important that technologies work together and fit with the overall ICT strategy
- affordability and sustainability—in addition to the immediate costs of technology products and services, the total cost of ownership must be considered so that the infrastructure can be sustained
- planning—upgrades and enhancements to current infrastructure need to be planned in response to both short-term needs and long-term goals
- management and support—the overall ICT infrastructure needs to be technically managed and supported by a group with a sufficient range of technical skills and a proven set of technical management practices.
Functional requirements
It is useful for schools to identify their functional requirements for the ICT infrastructure. These requirements are generally expressed as a series of functional statements; for example, ‘All students, teachers and school staff will have access to a secure email service’.
Some school systems and sectors now provide advice on functional requirements to their schools. They group requirements under headings such as:
- flexible working and mobility
- security
- access to key application software packages
- information and data management.
Interoperability
A growing challenge is to ensure interoperability between the technical products that make up a school’s ICT infrastructure. It is good practice to:
- ensure technical components meet relevant international and national standards
- follow advice on interoperability and standards from the school system or sector to which the school belongs
- follow national advice on interoperability, including that published by AICTEC
- adopt standardised approaches to configuring ICT components, including standard operating environments
- ensure decision-making processes exist to safeguard the interoperability of the ICT infrastructure.
Developing good ICT management practices
Using ICT planning frameworks, such as the Digital education—making change happen framework, enables schools to assess their readiness to apply ICT to support teaching, learning and administration. Schools are able to:
- assess their current level of readiness for each element
- establish their target level of readiness for the next year (or other time period)
- identify what needs to be done to attain that target level.
Digital education—making change happen highlights the following areas of good practice for ICT infrastructure:
- deployment of connected access devices within relevant learning spaces to meet teaching, learning and administrative requirements
- provision of access to required curriculum and administrative digital resources
- development of planning approaches for maintaining and upgrading ICT infrastructure
- development of procurement approaches for ICT products and services that meet school needs
- development of effective approaches to technical support.
Occupational Health and Safety
Occupational health and safety (OHS) involves the prevention of injury and disease caused by workplace influences.
In schools, OHS legislation covers only employees. Although not directly applicable to classrooms, the advice given by OHS authorities on the set-up and management of offices contains useful information on work environment design, office layout, workstations, furniture, working with computers, exercises and manual handling that could usefully be applied by any person in a school. See the Office of the Australian Safety and Compensation Council for the workplace safety and compensation authorities in each jurisdiction.
Some jurisdictions provide specific advice, such as WorkSafe Victoria lists relevant information.
The school’s broad OHS policies and practices should cover ICT in the school setting. Some specific OHS considerations for ICT in schools are:
- comfort—users should be comfortable, and plan breaks from ICT use
- workstation design and position—there should be space around workstations for papers
- desks should be at an appropriate height and of adequate size for the equipment (screen, desktop, keyboard, mouse, etc.) and access by the teacher
- cables should be managed safely
- seating, including seat backs, should be adjustable and use hygienic, durable coverings; coaching should be provided for users on the correct posture and height at keyboard; footstools should be supplied where the chair is adjustable but desk height is set; chairs should meet Australian design standards; depending on the floor surface, gliders versus castors should be considered.
- monitors should allow tilt to cater for individual users’ needs; window glare and reflection should be managed; speakers should be positioned away from monitors; breaks should be planned to avoid eyestrain
- keyboards—flat or tilted position; correct typing technique, regular breaks to avoid hand and wrist strain, and varied keyboard work should be encouraged
- mouse—positioned with adequate space; regular breaks from use
- noise—use of headphones, partitioning or both should be considered
- heat and light—ventilation often required to keep temperature between 18°C and 24°C; air-conditioning may be needed; blinds are important; light over the user’s shoulder is better than light in front of or behind them
- personal safety—watch for entrapment of hair or jewellery; running repairs or untrained handling of toners or inks should not be allowed; personal safety awareness and practices should be encouraged among students carrying equipment
- electrical safety—electrical equipment should be monitored, maintained and repaired regularly by qualified experts; avoid tripping hazards from electric cables crossing the floor; ensure that appropriate fire extinguishers are available for use with electrical equipment; make students aware of the dangers of electrical equipment
- mobile equipment—assess risks and limit lifting of heavy or awkward equipment; use trolleys
- hazardous substances—assess risks of toners, inks and fluid cleaners; adopt good housekeeping (labelling, storage, managing spills, etc.); ensure that laser printers and other peripherals are maintained good operating order
- manual handling—observe standards and guidelines, particularly in awkward situations, such as lifting loads into car boots
- cyber-safety.
Jurisdictional resources