Hillcrest High School

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

The History of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at Hillcrest High School

Computers were first introduced into the school by Mr Ross, who taught Biology here and also started a Computer Club. The computers were mostly privately-owned Commodores. In 1987 the State supplied the school with six Apple IIE computers and a printer. These did not have hard drives and were supplied with unreliable 5,25 inch floppy disk drives.  In 1992 the State supplied the school with sixteen ICL Elf computers. These came with two 720KB stiffy drives, but again there were no hard drives! The State also fitted power trunking in the General Purpose Room housing the Elfs, as well as in the adjacent General Purpose Room (the present-day Computer and Computyping Rooms). None of these computers were ever networked.  In 1994 the school received another sixteen 486 PCs running Windows 3.11 from the state, and these were networked for the first time using Lantastic. The Computer Room was upgraded at the school's own expense to the present-day standard.

At the initiative of the school's newly-formed Governing Body, 32 new PCs were purchased for the Computer Room in 1997, and in 1998 a further 28 PCs were purchased for Computyping. Initially these all ran Windows 95, an operating system which allowed us to dispense with the rather troublesome Lantastic networking software. Students now have almost 100 PCs available for their use, there are another 30 reserved for staff use, and these are served by 10 dedicated servers.

The school was amongst the first in KZN to use computers for marks and library administration. We now run FrontOffice and Papyrus for these purposes respectively, and use Pastel Accounting as our finance software. The school is a signatory to the Microsoft School License Agreement, so we have been able to install some of the latest Microsoft products at no extra cost. This allows students to use industry-standard software (viz. the Microsoft Office suite), as well as MS Publisher, MS FrontPage and MS Encarta, giving them exposure to a wide range of different application types.

The rapid growth in our ICT infrastructure led the Governing Body to appoint a Network Technician in 1994. In 2001 the additional position of ICT Manager was created since it was impossible for just one person to manage strategic planning, sourcing, contracts, repairs, backups, printing, staff training, Help Desk and software support on their own. The two network administrators have their own portfolios, although some tasks are shared. In addition to the general maintenance of hardware, software and user accounts and data, the school's management software - viz. FrontOffice, Papyrus and Pastel Accounting - require a lot of support. The provision of email and this web-site have added further responsibilities that together give the network administrators an indispensable role in the administration of the school.

Internet access has been problematic over the years, mainly because of the prohibitive cost of providing sufficient bandwidth to make it practical for students and staff to use simultaneously. Years of frustration were spent experimenting with standard dial-up access, ISDN and capped ADSL, all of which had severe limitations. The school now enjoys uncapped ADSL which provides sufficient bandwidth to allow whole-class web-browsing. We also host our own web-sites. Students have unlimited Internet access at no extra cost to themselves, and they may use web-based email if they need an email account.

The school is fortunate in that the members of its Governing Body and School Management Team are acutely aware of the importance of information technology in the workplace, and are therefore very supportive of the school's administration needs and encourage the development of student computer literacy. Computer Literacy lessons are part of the Grade 8 and 9 curriculum, and CAT and IT are offered as fourth-phase subjects. All students are required to make use of the ICT facilities on a regular basis, using them for research, projects, guidance counselling and even extra-mural activities such as Debating.

Goals of the IT Department

The short-term goal of Hillcrest High School's ICT Department is to achieve the highest availability and reliability of computers, servers, printers, e-mail and Internet access.

Our long-term goals are:

To encourage the integration of information and communication technology into all subject areas as a means of achieving computer literacy throughout the school and emphasising the importance of this technology in the modern workplace. We aim to achieve this by:

• maximising the utilisation of existing facilities both during and after school hours;
• expanding existing facilities and keep abreast of new technology;
• making our computer facilities available for community training;
• encouraging the use of our computer facilities in the development of entrepreneurial skills and small businesses such as typing CVs, architectural drafting, web-site design and hosting, and the assembly and repair of computer hardware;
• achieving 100% computer literacy amongst staff.

• All CAT students should complete the ICDL qualification by the end of their Matric year.
• As many other pupils as possible should be encouraged to obtain the ICDL qualification.
• All IT students should successfully pass the A+ examinations.
• All EGD students should be capable of using CAD by the time they matriculate.
• All students should, by the end of their school career, be totally familiar with word processing and the use of spreadsheets.
• All research assignments, projects and creative writing should be submitted in word-processed form.
• All students should leave school with at least one marketable, IT-based skill.

Software

Hillcrest High School is a signatory to Microsoft's South African School Agreement, and as such we are able to upgrade to the latest versions of most of Microsoft's software without any cost to the school. We are currently running the following Microsoft software on all our student workstations:

• Windows XP Professional
• Office 2003 / 2007 Professional
• Encarta 2009 Reference Suite