Case Study
Grade 11 – System Fundamentals
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Bright Futures Academy is a secondary school [high school] with 500 students, 50 teachers,
and 30 administrative staff. The school is entering a period of new development which the
board of directors hope will improve the quality of education the school provides and prepare
it for 21st century teaching and learning. Underpinning this is an initiative to improve the
school's use of Information Technology. As a representative of the Smiley Face IT Company,
you have been asked to assess the IT situation in the school and make recommendations about
the direction of development.
The Present Situation
The school currently makes use of some Information Technology, but recognises that its use is
10 inconsistent across the school, with some departments having access to more equipment than
others. It also recognises that some teachers do not feel confident using IT in the classroom,
either because they lack knowledge of the systems or because they feel they are not reliable
enough. Reliable Internet access has been a particular problem. The school has the following
resources currently available:
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 One computer laboratory equipped with 8 PCs running Windows XP, purchased 3
years ago. These are connected to the school LAN using Ethernet connections. They
run graphics and video editing software and are used primarily by the school's Art and
Film classes.
 One computer laboratory containing 24 PCs running a mix of Windows 2000 and
Windows XP, purchased at different times over the past 5 years. These are connected
to the school LAN using Ethernet connections. They have Microsoft Office 2003 or
Microsoft Office 2007 installed and are used by many of the classes in the school.
 A set of 20 low specification laptops ('netbooks') which were purchased 2 years ago.
They have Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003 installed, and connect to the
school LAN using the WiFi connections available in some school areas. They are
transported to different classrooms around the school as needed.
 Several school servers which run Windows Server 2008 and store student files and
provide Internet gateway functions. The school's Internet connection is currently a 3
Mbit connection provided by a local ISP.
 WiFi connections using home grade wireless routers in 8 of the 45 classrooms.
Many students, especially those in higher grades, bring their own laptops to school – but not
all. An increasing number also own portable devices and smart phones, which could be used
during lessons but are currently not allowed according to the school rules.
Information Technology in a Global Society www.itgstextbook.com
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Challenges and Questions
 The school requires a reliable and pervasive network infrastructure
 The school director, who describes herself as an enthusiastic amateur, has heard a lot
about Free and Open Source software but is not sure if it would be appropriate for the
school
 A decision needs to be made about whether to use fixed computer rooms or laptops
which can be easily moved around
 A decision needs to be made about student-owned devices: whether they should be
allowed, and whether students should be required to bring them to school
 The school would like to investigate the use of interactive whiteboards
 The school would like to investigate the feasibility of using mobile devices in the
classroom
 The school would like to investigate the use of cloud computing applications and web
2.0 tools
 Training options for teachers need investigating
 The school has a limited budget and cannot afford to simply replace all of its
equipment, so priorities need to be determined
Task
Produce a report for Bright Futures Academy that includes the following:
 Recommendations for purchases of hardware
 Recommendations for purchases of operating system software
 Recommendations for purchases of application software
 Recommendations for the use of existing hardware and software
 A justification for each choice (this includes why you chose the things you chose, and why
you didn't chose some of the other options). For example, if you chose PCs, why? And why
didn't you choose Macs?
 Recommendations for any other purchases or decisions which need to be made
How to get good grades
 Use technical language precisely
 Focus specifically on the information in the Case Study, not a general answer
 or give definitions. You can assume the reader already knows what the terms mean.
 Use a higher level of thinking: discussing, evaluating, and justifying instead of stating and
describing.
For example:
Poor
I recommend they buy ten computers
Too vague
Poor
I recommend they buy ten fast computers
Still too vague
Average
I recommend they buy ten fast computers, with a CPU Better, some technical language
speed of at least 2 GHz and 4 GB RAM
used
Good
I recommend they buy ten fast computers, with a CPU Even better, some justification
speed of at least 2 GHz and 4 GB RAM, because this is
useful for running many programs
Excellent
I recommend they buy ten fast computers, with a CPU Excellent: technical language used,
speed of at least 2 GHz and 4 GB RAM, because this is the choice is justified, and applied
useful for running programs such as graphics and video specifically to the case study.
editors, which will be useful for the Art and Film
teachers at Bright Future Academy.
Information Technology in a Global Society www.itgstextbook.com
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Information Technology in a Global Society www.itgstextbook.com
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Attribution-NonCommercial-