On Aug 14, 2010, at 6:29 PM, "Aaron Souza" <[email protected]> wrote:
> All, > > We just left our old benchmarking software and signed up with NWEA Map > testing. I'm looking for any lessons learned in deployment, both from a tech > side and from an actual classroom side. > > One of my biggest concerns is the use of wireless laptops. At two of our > schools, we only have wireless laptop "mobile carts" to test on. These carts > are 30 laptops with a negear wg302 (dual attena) access point. > > According to a pdf I found on nwea's website, they recommend 15 clients per > access point. > > #1: Should I split all my wireless labs to use two seperate access points for > more bandwidth? If your access points can handle a lab full of students browsing the web or doing other typical activities, they can probably handle MAP testing. In my experience, the TestTaker software operates pretty efficiently. That said, if you're doing the primary grade or foreign language tests, I'm pretty sure they contain multimedia files along with the test questions, so bandwidth would probably be more important. I've never been involved with either, so I don't have any first-hand knowledge. When we first started with MAP testing in my former district, we used spare switches and created temporary wired testing labs each season. Looking back, that might have been overkill, but it worked. In my district now, we use a combination of wired labs with iMacs and carts of iBooks or MacBooks, and connectivity hasn't been a problem. Bottom line, though, is take everyting we tell you with a grain of salt. You know your infrastructure and you have to be comfortable with your set-up, and if that involves erring on the side of extra bandwidth, by all means go for it. > > #2: Does everyone install the software on each machine or run it off a > share? I have a couple hundred machines I'd have to visit / reimage if people > have horrible experiences with running the application off a central > server/share. I've heard both ways. If you have a way to install software remotely (and you should), it's easy to copy TestTaker to each machine. On the Mac side, its possible to copy the application itself, along with a preference file, to each machine. No need to run an installer. And depending on how you set up the connection to the NTE share, you it's possible to avoid physically touching individual machines altogether. > > #3: We have mulitple buildings and I plan on installing the map server > software at each building. Anything that I should be aware of in terms of > sending data to NWEA because of this deployment model? The only implication is time. If you have enough bandwidth between your buildings and wherever you are, and can mount the NTE shared folders on a single PC (it has to be a Windows PC) you can run NWEA's NTE Administration app, which allows you to manage uploading and downloading to multiple NTEs from one workstation. The TAA is still needed for working with individual student records during testing, but NTE Admin is the way to go for up/downloading. Worst case is that you have to connect to each local MAP server in turn to do the nightly uploads of testing data. Regarding data backups: One thing I learned from NWEA a while back is that once the results are uploaded successfully to NWEA each day after testing completes, there is no need to back up the NTE folder(s). The only risk we face is if an NTE server tanks in the middle of a testing day, causing loss of testing data from earlier in that same day. In that scenario, you would have to take a backup *during* that day, say over lunch time, to be able to recover. Under any other circumstances, provided you upload nightly, any problem that occurs would involve setting up a fresh NTE, downloading the agency, student, and test data and picking up where you left off. The most you could lose is a single day of testing. While that's not insignificant, it helps to know that up front, before you spend a lot of time worrying about backing up your NTE folders. > > #4: Anything else I should know about deploying a successful nwea map cycle? > I'd say one of the most important things from the logistics perspective is for everyone involved--techs, proctors, teachers and administrators--to have a clear idea of what to do when problems arise during testing. Techs need to have extra machines available--in other words, your testing labs should have a few more computers than the largest class that will be coming in. The proctor can then have a kid switch machines to minimize disruption. Be prepared to move the NTE to another server in case of server issues. Be prepared with a spare access point. Etc, etc. You know your infrastructure, so you know where your weak links are. While proctors need to be able to handle a situation where a whole class can't test at their scheduled time, it's more likely that individual student issues will come up. Things like a new student not being in the system, a student who races through the test, making it invalid, or of course students who complete the test ahead of their classmates. Also, decide how to handle a problems with individual students during testing. Often, the least disruptive thing to do is postpone that student's test until later, rather than trying to troubleshoot the problem on the spot. Make sure your schedule includes time for make-up tests, and gaps for classes to be postponed in case of technical problems. One thing that we try to do is schedule a small number of classes on the first day, so that if there are problems initially, fewer student are effected and we can adjust before the full schedule kicks in. Regarding new students, make sure you have a procedure for whoever uses the TAA to be notified of every new student who enrolls after you send in the class roster file, because those students will have to be added one by one if you want them to test. For a system with as many moving pieces (network share, client software, downloading and uploading), I have been impressed with the robustness. I cannot remember ever having a data problem that involved more than an individual student, and very often, all it took to resolve it was contacting tech support and following their instructions. There is no single best way to do things--we all ultimately settle on the set of procedures that work for us, so keep asking questions. There is a lot of experience among the members of this list. -Tom | Subscription info at http://www.tech-geeks.org |
