Overview
     The school experience begins and ends with learning. If we think of our campus as a garden and our students as our flowers, we must continue to nurture the garden to watch the flowers flourish.  If the gardener does not perform all the duties necessary to sustain it, the garden will wither and die.  Technology in our schools today is as important to students as water is to flowers.  If the caretakers tend to this garden with a green thumb of nutrition (technology) and growth (training), it will enable the flowers to reach their full potential.  As the caretakers of student learning, Wellington High School is committed to providing all the necessary tools to enhance the learning situations. Wellington High School wants to provide helpful new technologies to heighten the degree of the learning experience and to provide a lab that will encourage the contructivist approach in some learning circumstances.  We would like to add a multimedia facility to our campus to provide state of the art technology to the students, faculty, and Community School users.  We would like to be able to equip this lab with educational applications that will embellish the learning process of the users.   The multimedia lab we are proposing will include computer-based technology that will allow students to combine text, graphics, animation, sound, and video.  The facility we have designed will allow the user to be able to create multimedia productions, images, and learning activities. The dedicated multimedia lab, will have Ethernet connections to the local area network, the servers and multi-disc Tower Players that we conjoin with the network.   The multimedia lab will enable the students easy access to new technology, and the users can produce productions efficiently in both day and night classes.  The multimedia lab will also remain open after school and when no classes are scheduled for individual use. We believe that the multimedia lab will provide the right educational resources necessary to help users reach their full potential. It will allow for access to multimedia production tools, and in turn,  increase their employability skills of the user after they graduate and/or in their work place.
      At the International Technology Conference in Finland, Dr. Thomas C. Reeves (1997) presented a lecture and PowerPoint demonstration entitled, "The Internet and Multimedia in Teaching and Learning: Cognitive Tools for the 21st Century.  In his presentation he describes multimedia as "the digital integration of media (text, audio, graphics, animation, video, etc.) into some form of communication."  He then goes on to describe the impact of multimedia on education.
     The effectiveness of learning on the multimedia is a function of the skills and experience learners have with it and the degree to which curricula and interactive materials have been designed to support desirable pedagogical dimensions. Educational technologies such as multimedia and the Internet are only delivery systems for the pedagogical dimensions we design for them. Cognitive tools enhance powers of humans during thinking, problem-solving, and learning.  Written language, mathematical notation, and more recently, computer programs are examples of cognitive tools. Students learn "with" technology. Knowledge is constructed represented and shared.  Learners collaborate to tackle problems/tasks.  Interaction is authentic. Instructional design is in the hands of learners guided by teachers.
     The Wellington High School faculty and administrators have seen the successful effect that curriculum rich multimedia instruction and presentation provide to the students. We understand that using the medium properly we can greatly enhance student outcomes.  We propose to offer extensive training classes in the use and care of the hardware and software available in the lab. The training will be available to all those working and attending Wellington High School. We will provide users with lap top computers, digital still cameras, and digital video cameras that will be available for check out through the multimedia lab.  Our goal is to promote the new technologies that are available by providing training and accessibility to the new hardware and software.
     In an article written by Sara Fitzgerald (1999) entitled, "Technology's Real Costs: Protect your investment with Total Cost of Ownership," she describes the stake that a school has in providing operating costs for training and upgrades as necessary in the years that follow the installation of the networking infrastructure and computers.  Wellington High School is aware of the many factors that need to be considered in the total cost of ownership associated with the multimedia lab.  We are committed to making this lab an integral part of our campus.  The gardener's initial cost can be associated with purchasing and planting the flowers.  Once they have accomplished this task, the real work of tending to the garden begins.  This is similar to our multimedia lab situation in that once we have installed the computers with a networking infrastructure the real work of the caretaker begins.  The caretakers must then provide for professional development, software, support personnel, replacement costs and connectivity.  After the initial start up funds are committed, Wellington High School is prepared to supply the other necessary ingredients such as seeking additional funds from grant sources, the school district, state allocations and federal allocations.  With these funds Wellington High school will provide certain upgrades, proper staffing, and intensive training.  This will allow the multimedia lab to be a well maintained, highly used, functional lab for years to come.
Need for facility
     Wellington High School is the located in Palm Beach County Florida.  It is the largest high school with 3,018 students and 214 faculty members.  In addition to these statistics, Wellington High School also offers a full range of classes at night through the Wellington High School Community School. We will begin offering classes that teach the students and faculty how to use and apply scanners, digital still cameras, digital video cameras, read/writeable CD-ROMS, digital audio and Web site development. Although we are the largest high school in the county, we currently do not have a computer lab dedicated to multimedia.  Presently we have eleven computers available for research in the media center.  We also have a computer lab that is primarily in use by the math and science departments who work with specific software applications for their subject areas.  Currently they always book the computer lab and the available computers in the media center in advance.  We simply do not have enough computer-based technology to meet the needs of our large school population. We must often turn down requests because of our lack of equipment.  This lack of proper equipment hinders the faculty's and students' strive for excellence and often excludes many users.  Proper equipment, and software are necessary to give our students an opportunity to advance in this new technological world.  A supporting statement is given by The United States Department of Education (1995).  We know that successful technology-rich schools generate impressive results for students, including improved achievement; higher test scores; improved student attitude, enthusiasm, and engagement; richer classroom content; and improved student retention and job placement rates. A U.S. Department of  Education-funded study of nine technology-rich schools, concluded that the use of  technology resulted in educational gains for all students regardless of age, race, parental income, or other characteristics.
We are in dire need of a multimedia lab that they schedule for all subject area disciplines.  This multimedia lab will lead to the production of multimedia instructional and informational resources.  These can be useful in a classroom setting and on our Web site. By providing the multimedia facility, equipment and training to the users we will promote active learning, critical thinking and  cooperative learning.  We will increase the communication skills of our student body and faculty.
     Presently we have a Wellington High School Web site that students produce.  It allows for a multisensory delivery system to communicate with the other students, parents and the community.  We could amplify the success of our Web site, and student produced information increased, if the campus had the opportunity to have the new technologies in place for use.   Please visit our Web site at: http://www.palmbeach.k12.fl.us/WellingtonHS/ to see an example of the work we are currently producing with limited equipment.  We need to offer our students the best technology tools that are available.  The new technologies that are put in place will  keep challenging their minds, excite their learning process and keep the means of communication interesting and effective.
Equipment and materials
     Several years ago when we put our networking infrastructure in place, we did so with the help of a Retrofit grant that supplied the 10Base5 wiring that we needed throughout the school.  At that time we also purchased a wiring hub to connect all of the components of our LAN together.  We realize that because of the limitations of the 10Base5 wiring that is already in place throughout the school, our lab must be placed within five hundred meters of the file server if we use the existing file server.  The space we have available for this lab is 650 meters away from our current LAN file server. If we tried to use the existing file server we would run into problems with interference. Our existing file server is MS-DOS based and has an 80486 central processor.  It also has a processing speed of 33 MHz.  We have recently upgraded to using the Windows NT platform. We need to have the fastest file server available when using multimedia applications to insure a better overall performance.  We discussed upgrading our current server.  However, we realized that when using multimedia applications in conjunction with this file server some multimedia applications might cause the server to misfunction.  They may permanently take up computer memory and that would reduce the total amount of memory available for other functions.  It is for these reasons that we need to have a dedicated file server in the multimedia lab.
     The file server we propose is the AVID Unity Media Net. It will also use Windows NT as the operating system.  The AVID Unity Media Net has full duplex 1.0625 Gbit/sec data transmission.  It has an Intel 450 MHz Pentium processor. Included is an Avid UnityRAID for complete media redundancy. A  RAID (Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks) system is included to reduce and prevent the possibility of a hard drive failure.  The two hard drives are clones of each other.  If anything happens to one hard drive the other hard drive will take over until the first one can be fixed.  It will be connected to an uninterrupted power source and surge protector.
      We decided to continue using 10Base5 cabling within our multimedia lab so that we can easily add additional workstations in the future.  We also decided to use fiber optic cable as a trunk line to link to the building where the main file server is in place. We want to connect to the file server that is already in place so that we can share applications and software that we license for school-wide use. We also want to connect with the main file server because it then connects us to the WAN, a wide area network, at the Palm Beach County School District with a T1 line.  This T1 line provides point to point access and can transmit digitized video conferences. The multimedia lab software will not be able to be in use school wide because we want to keep our main file server from having problems with available memory. As this software will not be in use school wide, our networking software will block users outside the multimedia lab from using said software. We chose to use the latest version of  Windows NTsoftware for our LAN.  We will be mindful to make sure that the LAN interface board and the LAN workstation software do not interfere with applications that are already on the network. We do however, plan to use the resources that are available on the main file server because we have school wide licensing agreements.  These resources include but are not limited to: Britannica Encyclopedia, NewsBank, and Infotrac. We propose to write a Retrofit grant for the additional 10Base5 and fiber optic cabling that is necessary for the new lab.
     We propose that the multimedia lab be equipped with forty Dell Precision Workstation 220 733MHz Pentium III computers. I will provide 192MB PC800 RDRAM @ 400MHz of memory. Included with these computers are a Matrox G400 graphics card, video capture card, video digitizing board, communications board,controller card, digital sound board, a 13.6GB ATA-66 EIDE hard drive, Windows NT operating system, Logitech First Mouse, Dell UltraScan 19" monitor, Dell QuietKey Keyboard, 3.5" 1.44MB floppy drive, Iomega Zip 250MB, a 4X/2X/24X IDE CD-RW tape drive, V.90 56K Data/Fax modem, and Altec Lansing ACS 340 speakers.  The computer also features a USB port, SCSI port, and two-way communication parallel port. Each of these computers will have an Internet Ethernet-based connection. The forty Ethernet interface cards, one for each new computer in the lab, to allow the new computer to connect to the local area network is included in the computer.  wo Hewlett Packard 4000 color laser printers will also be installed in the lab and shared among the computers.
     We propose to set up the workstation so that it can act as part of the LAN and act as a stand alone computer so that it can be used with the other peripherals in the multimedia lab. As mentioned above each of the computer workstation will be equipped with a CD-RW.  This CD-RW will allow the users many options.  They can read individual CD-ROM discs and interact with them, listen to CD-Audio, record information onto a CD, and rewrite information onto the CD if necessary.
     A zip drive was a necessary commodity for each computer because it will allow the user to store a great deal of information.  Because graphics have such large files, a large storage space is necessary to house them.
     The digital sound board will also allow the user a variety of choices.  The audio board we selected will allow for voice recognition programs. In addition to our regular users, our disabled population can benefit greatly from this new technology. Audio mixing and editing software are also available to the user so that they can manipulate digital sounds.
     A video capture card was included in each computer so that when the video is digitized and captured it can be stored on a computer disk or compact disc.  Then the video can be retrieved from the computer drive and seen on the monitor.  When selecting the video digitizing card we specified that it should have a S-Video input, on-the-fly-compression, multiple video inputs, a digital video output, multiple formats for still-frame capture, video overlay capability, MPEG encorder/decorder device, and  that it accepts television signals directly from television sets.
     A communications board is necessary to enable the user to take advantage of desktop video teleconferencing options.  Also, small, inexpensive, Quick Time color video cameras will also be attached to each computer monitor.  This will allow the user to take advantage of the new CUCME (See You, See Me) technology that is in place.  It will also allow users to take advantage of other desktop video teleconferencing options.   As mentioned above the new file server in the multimedia lab will be routed through the main file server in our school and from there we will branch out to the WAN that has T1 lines in place for use with video conferencing.
     The microphone we have selected for each computer in the lab is the VXI Parrot voice recognition headset microphone.  It is a good quality microphone that can be used effectively with voice recognition software, desktop video conferencing and other multimedia production applications.
     The multimedia lab will have two Microtek Scanmaker X-6 scanners available.  These scanners come equipped with Microtec Light Lid 35.  This allows the user to scan in negatives from 35mm film or slides.
     We will have eleven Sony MVC FD7 digital still cameras available in the multimedia lab.  Ten of these digital cameras will be available for checkout through the lab. These cameras have as many different uses as the traditional conventional cameras but their information is immediate and the quality is amazing.  Digital still cameras will allow teachers a wide variety of uses.  They capture moments in their classrooms, or use them to provide a graphic to a PowerPoint presentation they are working on for an instructional tool.  Students can benefit from their use in many ways also. They can share a concept they learned in the classroom or they can check it out from the multimedia lab to cover an extracurricular activity for the Wellington High School Web site.  All of the information gathered and produced in the multimedia lab can then be shared by using the Wellington High School Web site as a forum.  Interested parents will now have a multisensory delivery system to keep them well informed of campus activities.
     Five Sony DCR-TRV103 digital video cameras will be available in the multimedia lab.  Three of these digital video cameras will be available for check out.  In addition to the digital video cameras, two digital video editing system will be in place.  The digital video editing systems will consist of a digital video player, digital video recorder, a monitor, large hard drive, and AVID digital editing software for the computer.  Each station will also have a video capture board that can capture NTSC video from various sources including a digital video camera or an analog video camera, digital video tape or analog video tape, a television or a videodisc. Digital video can be reproduced without loss of quality.  AVID desktop video editing software allows the digitized images and sound to be easily manipulated.  It allows the user increased interactivity.
Only one monitor is necessary to view video images, computer graphics and the sound track. Another advantage of digital video is the ability to make it available over the Internet. The user can convert their project into one of the common web video formats such as Quicktime, or places it on a server and it can be seen by anyone who has a web browser.
      We also propose to purchase the fastest hard drive presently available at the time this request is granted.  This additional hard drive will be daisy-chained to a port in the existing file server from our new server to expand the network and include the multimedia lab. After the networking infrastructure is in place, the lab will be part of the already existing local area network, but it will have a dedicated file server to insure maximum efficiency of multimedia software.
     We will install forty-two desk top computers in the multimedia lab.  Forty of the computers will have the specifications detailed above.  The other two computer workstations will be complete video editing systems.  We selected two Avid Xpress systems to be used in our multimedia lab and they will be dedicated to desktop video editing.  We will purchase forty software licenses for the software that is to be used in the computer lab and placed on the dedicated file server.
     We will have an additional equipment available for check out through the multimedia lab. This additional equipment will include: forty lap top computers, ten digital still cameras, two zip drives, and three digital video cameras.
     Also housed in the multimedia lab will be a video presentation unit that will allow what is on the computer screen to be seen on a 32" monitor mounted in the front of the room.  A laser disc player will allow teachers and students access to the large collection of video discs available from our Palm Beach County School District ITV.  Two analog VCR's will be available for students to use while incorporating analog video into multimedia production and for viewing of analog videotape.  Two televisions provided by Channel One will be available for use with the VCR's.  These two televisions will provide Channel One programming at the appropriate time.
     Two Hewlett Packard 4000n color laser printers will be used in the multimedia lab.  They will be located at opposite ends of the room to ensure ease of use.
     The multimedia lab will have a variety of software to choose from for the development of multimedia productions.  The lab will include the following titles but will not be limited to: PowerPoint, Harvard Graphics, Adobe Graphic Studio, Corel Draw 8, Headline Studio, Norton System Works, Macopener, Adobe Acrobat 4.0, AVID video editing software, Corel Word Perfect Suite 8, Microsoft Windows 98, Carbon Copy, SAW Plus, and Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred.  We will also equip the teachers' workstation in the lab with Boca Video's Communications Suite to allow the user to conduct a conference with anyone who has a web browser.
     Lastly we must include the furniture that will house the equipment.  Because it is a large room, we can have forty cubicles set up to hold the forty computers that will be in use.  We plan to have  multi-level shelves custom built in the back of the room for the two desktop digital video editing systems.  They will provide enough space and power outlets to use other equipment as input devices.  A very secure lockable equipment storage room will be adjacent to the multimedia lab.  The left and right sides of the multimedia lab will each have a printer and a scanner.  The videodisc player, VCRs, presentation unit, will all be available upon request. As stated above the printers will be on opposite sides of the room so users will have easy access to them.
Training Plan for students/workers and teachers/trainers
     The training that will be provided will take the form of orientation classes. Training classes will be held for teachers during pre school, post school, summer institutes, in service days, planning periods, and weekly after school workshops.  Wellington High School staff  must be trained using each type of hardware and software contained in the lab if they plan to use the lab with their class.  The teachers may choose the time that is most convenient for them.  Teachers are also encouraged to come into the multimedia lab to view the tutorials anytime on their own.
      PowerPoint presentations will detail in sequence directions and rules for proper steps to be taken when turning the computers and peripherals off and on.  The students will view the PowerPoint presentations on the monitor connected to the technology specialists' work station.  The users will then be asked to follow the steps provided.  Wellington High School operates using block scheduling so each session would be two hours in length. Each time a class comes in for an orientation session they will be introduced to a new piece of hardware.  A digital video taped production will show the user actual footage of a student describing step by step directions for a particular piece of hardware.  Guides for each piece of hardware will be available on the Wellington High School Web site. The teachers and students would then be asked to go to the Wellington High School Web site and click on the tutorial site. Each piece of hardware and all software applications will have a tutorial linked to their name.  Each teacher and  student must complete the tutorial for the hardware and specific software.  An on-line test will be administered at the end of the tutorial.  All users passing the test on a specific piece of hardware with 90% accuracy, will have their names added to the management software listing them as a user for that specific piece of hardware.  All users passing the software tutorial with 90% accuracy, they will then be given a personal password to have access to that software.
     We will allow users to save their work directly to computer discs only if they purchase new discs from the multimedia lab and keep them in the lab until their production is complete.  If a student wishes to use a disc that they have created using a borrowed, they must initially purchase a disc from the multimedia lab that will contain a special marking.  We will run those discs through a virus checker if a student wishes to use one of those. We have this restriction to prevent viruses from being spread on the network.  Any user found abusing the equipment or making illegal copies will permanently give up their privilege to use the equipment.  The policy of the multimedia lab is "one strike and your out."
     The perfect monitoring software to be used in conjunction with the training strategies for the multimedia lab is Carbon Copy for Windows by Microcom Software.  This software would allow the technology specialist direct access to a student's workstation.  Carbon Copy enables the technology specialist to control the applications, files and peripherals of all of the work stations on the network. It also allows the technology specialist  to see the screen of the user and provide direction instantaneously.  This will allow the technology specialist to point out the user's problem and then have the user correct the problem.  If a user has a problem with the tutorial, the technology specialist can pinpoint the problem and provide direct instruction to the user. It is a direct method of training that would be valuable in any computer lab.  It is like having a help desk at your fingertips.  Another great feature of this product is that it allows the technology specialist to dispense software upgrades to the computers all at once. This software application is also useful with video conferencing as it can also work through modems.
Plan for monitoring the program
     To evaluate and monitor our program we must first define the objectives of the project.
1. Our students will be able to use multimedia applications provided to them by a new multimedia facility.
2. Our new multimedia facility will allow the user to combine text, graphics, animation, sound and video to create multimedia productions, presentations, images, and learning activities.
3. We will provide training to the entire staff and interested classrooms and individuals who wish to use the multimedia lab.
In our management software we will keep records detailing how often machines are used daily and the types of software applications that are in use daily.  We will ask the user to sign in with their password and at this screen we will ask them to click on the software application and the type of project on which they will be working.  We will have a counter register with each link to keep an account.  We will also monitor the training of each individual user using the software management program.  We will also have a counter register to each link in the tutorial.  When a user has completed the tutorial successfully, they will click on a link that will allow them to register their name.
Wellington High School understands that making this multimedia lab a reality is a big undertaking at the inception and an even bigger undertaking in realizing the total cost of ownership. We put a
great deal of thought into each piece of hardware and software we have chosen.  After the correct hardware is put in place and the software is installed the multimedia lab will not work to full potential until the users are properly trained to use it. We will put a maximum effort forth to design the best tutorials possible for the individual pieces of hardware and software that make up the facility.  We plan to use this lab for years with great success.

References

        Fitzgerald, S. (1999). Technology's Real Costs: Technology's Real Costs:
             ProtectYourInvestment with Total Cost of Owernership.
             Available: http://www.electronic-school.com/199909/0999sbot.html [1999, November 18].

       Reeves, Dr. T., (1997).  The Internet and Multimedia in Teaching and Learning: Cognitive
            Tools for the 21st Century. Proceedings of the ITK Conference, April 5, 1997.
            Available: http://www.uta.fi/konferenssi/itk97/luentomateriaalia/reeves-2/sld001.htm
            [1999, November 14].

     U.S. Department of Education. (1995). How Does Technology Enhance Student
          Achievemnet?. Available: Http://www.nsba.org/sbot/tooklit/tiol.html#Effects [1999, November 18].

Appendix I
Equipment prices change daily due to the quick speed with which new technologies emerge.  A detailed list of the equipment to be used in the lab will give us a rough idea of the cost to be incurred intially.  Wellinton High School is very aware of the total cost of ownership of this equipment, and is willing to commit to keeping the new multimedia lab in use for years to come.  The equipment that is actually purchased will reflect the prices at that given time.  These prices will go down significantly in a six month time period.  Contacts are listed below to give an estimate of the total cost for initial equipment.
The fiber optic cable that will be used to connect the multimedia lab server and the existing file server will be provided by a retrofit grant.  Therefore, it is not included in the total cost of the project we are proposing here.

     Assistive Technologies. (1999). Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred. [On-line]. Available: http://www.astvtech.com/
          [1999, November 20].

     Avid. (1999). Unity Media Net Server. [On-line]. Available: http://avid.com/products/storage/MediaNet 2.html
          [1999,   November 20].

     Avid. (1999). Avid Express. [On-line]. Available: http://www.avid.com/products/avidxpressdv/index.html
          [1999, November 20].

     Avid. (1999). Avid Software. [On-line]. Available: http://www.avid.com/ [1999, November 20].

     Carbon Copy. (1999). Carbon Copy for Windows. [On-line]. Available:
          http://computers.softwaredirectory.com/software2.cdprod1/003/469.Carbon.Copy.for.Windows.25.shtml
          [1999, November 20].

     Corel. (1999). Corel Word Perfect Suite 8. [On-line]. Available:
          http://www.corel.com/Office2000/ [1999, November 20].

     Corel. (1999). Corel Draw 8. [On-line]. Available: http://www.corel.com/Office2000/ [1999, November 20].

     Dell. (1999). Dell Precision Workstation 220. [On-line]. Available:
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     MajorPower. (1999) Lightening & Surge Protection. [On-line]. Available: Http://www.azap.com./telsurge.html [1999,
          November 20].

     Media4 Productions. (1999) Macopener. [On-line]. Available: http://www.mediafour.com/ [1999, November 20].

     Metacreations. (1999). Headline Studio. [On-line]. Available: http://www.metacreations.com/ [1999, November 20].

     Microsoft. (1999) Microsoft Windows 2000. [On-line]. Available: http://www.microsoftproduct.com/?source=goto [1999,
           November 20].

     Microtek. (1999). Microtek Scanmaker X-6 & Microtek Light Lid 35. [On-line]. Available:
           http://www.microtekusa.com/usi-smx62.html [1999, November 20].

     Software Audio Workshop. (1999) Software Audio Workshop Plus. [On-line]. Available:
          http://www.idimagic.com/digital/audio/audio-r/softstore/sawplus/ [1999, November 20].

     Softwareoasis. (1999). Norton System Works. [On-line]. Available: http://www.softwareoasis.com/ [1999, November 20].

     Sencomm. (1999). VXI Parrott Voice Recognition Headset. [On-line]. Available:
           http://www.sencomm.com/shoppro/parrotcts10-3.htm

     Turboguide. (1999). Harvard Graphics. [On-line]. Available:
           http://software-guide.com/cdprod1/swhrec/011/564.shtml [1999, November 20].
 

     Turboguide. (1999). PowerPoint. [On-line]. Available:
           http://software-guide.com/cdprod1/swhrec/011/564.shtml [1999, November 20].
 

     Turboguide. (1999). Software. [On-line]. Available: http://turboguide.com/cdprod1/cgi/tshqry01 [1999, November 20].

     Universal Brands. (1999). Sony MVC FD7 Digital Still Camera. [On-line]. Available:
           http://www.universalbrands.com/trv103-110.html [1999, November 20].
 

     Webshopper. (1999). Adobe Acrobat 4.0. [On-line]. Available:
           http://www.idg.net/new_docids/graphicstudio/webshopper/w95/98/nt/graphic/studio/adobe/powerhouse/solutions/
           new_docid_9-103677.html [1999, November 20].


     Webshopper. (1999). Adobe Graphics Suite. [On-line]. Available: 
             http://www.idg.net/new_docids/graphicstudio/webshopper/w95/98/nt/graphic/studio/adobe/powerhouse/solutions/
             new_docid_9-103677.html [1999, November 20].