Executive Summary for Active Directory/Exchange Upgrade in School Districts
Overview:
Over the past few years, students, staff and educators across the state have become increasingly familiar with technology and how it can and should be used. Across Kentucky, we’re very proud that we currently rank fifth nationally in technology use, according to Education Week magazine. In order to ensure our students remain competitive and to maintain our status as a national leader in education, we must continue to deliver technology tools that better represent the current and relevant needs of today’s educational culture and learning environments.
Within the last two years, we have expanded and modernized the end-user experience with the implementation of new student and teacher workstations. Additionally, the statewide education network, which provides access to all online resources, was enhanced to provide for more bandwidth in support of all instructional and administrative applications. We also have implemented the next-generation Student Information System, which utilizes the latest in Web-based technologies to provide access to teachers, administrators and parents. Each of these upgrades or enhancements has been targeted to meet the core goals of the Kentucky Education Technology System (KETS) Master Plan, which addresses anytime, anywhere, always-on teaching and learning.
The next step in this ongoing evolution is the required upgrade to the existing KETS Directory Service (Active Directory) and messaging service (e-mail). The underpinning hardware (servers) for both of these critical systems will reach its effective end-of-life in calendar year 2009 and must be replaced statewide. The remainder of this notification will serve as an overview of this upcoming project.
Directory Services Upgrade
In Kentucky, we have always taken an enterprise or team approach to education technology initiatives. Because of our state and district partnership, Directory Services play a critical role in user administration, user security, network access and core network services. In 2003, the Kentucky Department of Education implemented the largest P-12 Directory Service in the world, based on Microsoft’s Active Directory platform. This solution was implemented in all of the state’s public school districts and at the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) and required that two file servers be placed in each district, which were owned and operated by KDE as managed services.
The KETS Active Directory service provides all districts and KDE the required access to all local applications, printers, electronic mail, Internet sites, Web-based applications, Infinite Campus (both local and hosted), MUNIS, all shared resources, EncycloMedia, the Individual Learning Plan and any other system that end users access while utilizing a KDE- or school district-owned machine at either a KDE or school district site.
This criticality requires that all components (hardware & software) have very robust maintenance/warranty agreements and that the proper operational resources are assigned to insure 24 x 7 x 365 availability. The warranty for the original hardware purchased and implemented in 2003 expired in April 2009. Therefore, to insure the continued operations of these core services, the server hardware in all districts will be replaced with new hardware running Windows Server 2008 starting in June 2009 and ending in October 2009.
E-Mail and Collaborative Tools
Electronic mail continues to represent one of the primary applications that all organizations use for communication and collaboration. Since the introduction of e-mail into Kentucky’s P-12 KETS in 1994, e-mail has evolved into a critical communications medium with the same level of expectations as the telephone. However, today’s end users – both students and staff – utilize far more than just e-mail to collaborate. The proliferation of collaborative tools throughout education such as Content or Course Management Systems (Moodle, SharePoint, Blackboard, etc.), social networking sites, Instant Messaging, texting, Twitter, Skype, Wikis, concept mapping, in-browser document creation tools and blogs are evidence that, just as individuals have differentiated learning styles, there also are different methods for communication and collaboration that today’s culture has grown dependent upon and have consequently proven to be very efficient and successful. Therefore the goals of this upgrade are twofold: to deliver an e-mail solution that is feature-rich and highly supportable and to provide a manageable set of collaborative tools for the entire P-12 education community.
Because of a strong relationship and Kentucky’s reputation for innovation, Microsoft has presented KDE with the opportunity to implement the next generation collaborative suite for all students, teachers and administrators. This solution consists of a hosted e-mail offering for students and staff and a future suite of modern, Web-based collaborative tools. Kentucky is positioned to be the first state to adopt this exciting platform for the P-12 environment on a statewide basis, and because of this, we have the opportunity to provide critical input into the ongoing development and refinement of the offering.
Based on the input and feedback from our assembled District Advisory Committee, KDE has opted to take advantage of this opportunity and will begin the statewide migration of the existing KETS e-mail system to the hosted Microsoft Outlook Live e-mail service in October 2009. Implementation of the aforementioned collaborative tools, which will be piloted later this year, is targeted for the spring/summer of 2010. For additional details regarding Outlook Live, please visit the following link: http://www.microsoft.com/liveatedu
Next Steps
More information and details regarding when and how this change will be made is coming soon. A District Deployment Guide will be distributed to each district’s CIO/DTC soon after the Active Directory pilot phase, which is currently slated for early June 2009. This document will contain specifics on features and functionality along with guidance in preparation for the transition to the new systems. The KETS Field Staff (KETS Engineers) also will continue to include monthly updates in the regional leadership meetings on the e-mail transition, network upgrade and all related tasks.
Of immediate concern is the required update to each district’s acceptable use policy (AUP), which must occur prior to the adoption of the previously mentioned hosted solution. Federal law requires that any child age 13 and under have parental consent to access online services, such as the Microsoft Live@edu offering. Of the variety of methods required of any online service provider, Microsoft has chosen – at Kentucky’s request – to rely on the respective districts to obtain such consent via the local AUP and accompanying procedures. We are working to ensure that districts have ample time to prepare for this local policy update, since the vast majority of districts have students sign the required AUPs at the start of the school year. We ask that each district begin the process of updating their respective local AUPs with the language provided below in preparation for the 2009-10 school year:
The Outlook Live e-mail solution is provided to your child by the district as part of the Live@edu service from Microsoft. By signing this form, you hereby accept and agree that your child’s rights to use the Outlook Live e-mail service, and other Live@edu services as the Kentucky Department of Education may provide over time, are subject to the terms and conditions set forth in district policy/procedure as provided and that the data stored in such Live@edu services, including the Outlook Live e-mail service, are managed by the district pursuant to policy 08.2323 and accompanying procedures. You also understand that the Windows Live ID provided to your child also can be used to access other electronic services that provide features such as online storage and instant messaging. Use of those Microsoft services is subject to Microsoft’s standard consumer terms of use (the Windows Live Service Agreement), and data stored in those systems are managed pursuant to the Windows Live Service Agreement and the Microsoft Online Privacy Statement. Before your child can use those Microsoft services, he/she must accept the Windows Live Service Agreement and, in certain cases, obtain your consent.
Policy staff from the Kentucky School Boards Association (KSBA) have reviewed this proposed addition and stand ready to assist districts in getting it added to the AUP parent permission form. Districts that belong to the KSBA Procedure Service should contact their consultants to request a customized draft:
kim.barker@ksba.org
dara.bass@ksba.org
janet.jeanes@ksba.org
katrina.kinman@ksba.org
steve.wilson@ksba.org
Districts that do not belong to that service may contact Director Dara Bass (dara.bass@ksba.org) to request a sample form that will include the provision.
Again, we are very excited to provide all Kentucky P-12 users with opportunities to engage in 21st century teaching and learning skills and initiatives. Not only is our goal to continue providing the basic required functionality in a more efficient and cost-effective manner, but also to enable access to a collaborative environment targeted at today’s instructional culture. Please contact your local KETS Engineer or Advisory Committee member for any questions you may have.