Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless for Exams

2010-08-19 Thread Ryan Holland 
Neil,

We have a couple of professors that are spearheading a move towards using 
wireless for exams. We have added additional capacity to several classrooms to 
facilitate this endeavor. The professors have said this has been largely 
successful. In a class of ~250-300 students, the students are given 5 module 
competency exams as well as the final exam using 'Carmen' (our implementation 
of Desire2Learn) as well as the Respondus lock-down browser plus password 
protection. They have found that 85-90% of students have a functional laptop on 
which to take the exam. For those without a laptop or if their laptop battery 
is drained, they have a backup location staffed with a teaching assistant and 
approximately 20 computers.

I agree with Chuck Enfield at PSU in that this usage of wireless is coming and 
we, as wlan professionals, should prepare ourselves for this. Students expect 
mobility, and as such, wireless networking. Wireless solutions (we use Aruba) 
are capable enough to provide sufficient performance and resiliency on 
wireless. Anything that has previously been done with wired networks are going 
to need to be supported on wireless. Technology in the classroom is becoming 
more and more prevalent, and we cannot simply ignore or refuse the need to 
support such uses of wireless LANs. If we are fearful that the wireless network 
cannot handle the load or cannot be relied upon, then perhaps we need to 
approach these as problems to solve and not problems to accept.

Is our job more difficult? Yes. Is it more exciting? Yes. 

==
Ryan Holland
Network Engineer, Wireless
Office of the Chief Information Officer
The Ohio State University
614-292-9906   holland@osu.edu

On Aug 18, 2010, at 12:54 PM, Johnson, Neil M wrote:

 We are getting inquiries concerning the use of the wireless network for 
 computer based exams in large lecture halls.
  
 Although we provide coverage in most of our lecture halls, our current policy 
 states that given the unlicensed nature of 802.11 spectrum we can’t guarantee 
 network availability and performance and therefore don’t recommend using the 
 wireless network for this type of testing.
  
 I was wondering how other institutions approach this.
  
 Thanks.
 -Neil
  
  
 --
 Neil Johnson
 Network Engineer
 Information Technology Services
 The University of Iowa
 Work: 319 384-0938
 Mobile: 319 540-2081
 Fax: 319 355-2618
 E-mail: neil-john...@uiowa.edu
  
 
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Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless for Exams

2010-08-18 Thread heath.barnhart 
We are not doing it here, but if asked I would advise against it do to 
wireless networks being a shared contentious medium. If you could 
confine the signal to a specific area were the testing would be going 
on, then it might be ok, as only the people in the testing area would 
have access to the resource.


Another issue though would be ensuring user integrity. Unless you are 
providing the laptops for the users and restricting access locally, 
someone will have to be actively checking to make sure they are not 
using online resources during the testing time. You could create a new 
network with access restrictions, though managing it might be tough if 
the area is used for general lecture as well.


Heath

On 8/18/2010 11:54 AM, Johnson, Neil M wrote:


We are getting inquiries concerning the use of the wireless network 
for computer based exams in large lecture halls.


Although we provide coverage in most of our lecture halls, our current 
policy states that given the unlicensed nature of 802.11 spectrum we 
can't guarantee network availability and performance and therefore 
don't recommend using the wireless network for this type of testing.


I was wondering how other institutions approach this.

Thanks.

-Neil

--

Neil Johnson

Network Engineer

Information Technology Services

The University of Iowa

Work: 319 384-0938

Mobile: 319 540-2081

Fax: 319 355-2618

E-mail: neil-john...@uiowa.edu

** Participation and subscription information for this 
EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at 
http://www.educause.edu/groups/.





--
Heath Barnhart, CCNA
Network Administrator
Information Systems and Services
Washburn University
Topeka, KS 66621


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