Milestone Report

Project: SchoolWeb

Milestone No. 4 & 5 Completed

Date: 31 March 2001

1.0 Deliverables

There are 9 major objectives in Milestones 4 & 5. Comments on each of these objectives are given below:

1.1 Technical Systems (equipment) assembled and installed at 9 more schools Done

During the past 5 months, 9 SchoolWeb caching severs have been installed at the following 9 schools:

North Peace Secondary, Dr. Kearney Junior secondary, Fort Nelson Secondary, RL Angus Elementary, Westview Secondary, Mountain Elementary, Burnaby North Secondary, Topham Elementary, and Fulford Elementary.

SchoolWeb servers have now been installed at the following nineteen (19) schools:

	School Name	Locations In BC	# Students	# Computers Connected to SchoolWeb Server
	Secondary Schools
1.	Gladstone Secondary	Vancouver	1500	120 PCs
2.	Revelstoke Secondary	Revelstoke	650	46 PCs, 64 Macs
3.	Boundary Central Secondary	Midway	224	125+ PCs, & Macs
4.	Nakusp Secondary	Nakusp	263	46 PCs
5.	Burnaby South Secondary	Burnaby	2650 + 250 staff	500+ PCs
6.	Burnaby North Secondary	Burnaby	2019	200+ PCs
7.	North Peace Secondary	Fort St. John	880	124 PCs
8.	Dr. Kearney Junior Secondary	Fort St. John	640	50 PCs
9.	Fort Nelson Secondary	Fort Nelson	480	100 Macs
10.	Westview Secondary	Maple Ridge	1100	200 Macs, 50 PCs

	Elementary Schools
11.	Fort Rupert Elementary	Fort Rupert	122	15 PCs
12.	Big Eddy Elementary	Revelstoke	110	32 Macs
13.	John A. Hutton Elementary	Grand Forks	360	80 Macs, 5 PC’s
14.	RL Angus Elementary	Fort Nelson	260	80 Macs
15.	Mountain Elementary	Abbottsford	431	50 Macs
16.	Fulford Elementary	Fulford Harbour	127	50 Macs, 5 PCs
17.	Topham Elementary	Langley	320	60 Macs

	Special Schools
18.	Robson Community School	Robson	175 + Community	35 PCs
19.	Port Hardy District Office*	Port Hardy	< 1000	< 200 PCs, + few Macs

* This office Server is a proxy for:

North Island Secondary school, 500 students, 100+ PC’s – via T1 line

Port Hardy Secondary School, 500 students, 100+ PCs – via T1 line

Woss Elementary School, 60 students, 12 PCs – via slow wireless

Data is being transmitted to all the schools using their PLNet line connection and by data inserted in the VBI of the Knowledge Network. The inserted data is recovered from the received television signal and cached in files on SchoolWeb servers.

This is the final group of schools to be installed. The project concentration will now be on adding software features to enhance and test different caching concepts.

The SchoolWeb project has chosen a good mix of Secondary and Elementary schools that will allow us to gather appropriate information on the use of caching servers. The mix contains 10 Secondary Schools, 8 Elementary Schools, and 1 District Office feeding several schools as a regional center. There are also some special tests to be made regarding:

(a) Port Hardy District Office, is using its Server as a Proxy server for two secondary schools, each connected by a T1 (1.544Mbps) link, and an elementary school connected by a slow link.

(b) Robson Community School, which allows extensive use of their system by the community during non-school hours.

(c) Boundary Central Secondary School, which carries out a significant distance education program, and could possibly use caching to a greater extent for distance education to students in their homes.

(d) Burnaby South Secondary School, the largest and most diverse school in the Province, with an average of 200+ clients active for much of the day. The school experiences record hits on the server, which handles a record number of files transferred from the Internet. This high level of activity will test the capacity and speed of the server to handle such a load.

(e) Westview Secondary will test the caching throughput through an additional proxy server. The second proxy server is specifically used for site filtering. Other techniques may also be tested, such as lookup tables located on the SchoolWeb server.

Both ‘Dynamic’ and ‘Policy’ caching is employed.

1.2 Data line caching and broadcast caching to all possible schools. Statistics of early cache monitoring reviewed and reported. Done

All schools now have both a PLNet line and a KNOW TV connection. Internet sites and data files are passed to the SchoolWeb servers using both of these connections. The connections operate 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.

Periodically checked in the past, but now routinely scheduled, and commencing at the start of the year, each SchoolWeb system is interrogated for statistics of use for the preceding month. Advanced Interactive recovers the raw data and places the statistics into a single file and chart for easy examination. The statistics are now being made available monthly to the schools in order for them to assess their own performance.

The following information is made available:

Number of MB transferred from the Internet in the month

Number of MB transferred from the SchoolWeb cache in the month

Average time to transfer 1MB from the Internet

Average time to transfer 1MB from the SchoolWeb cache

Time saved by using the caching server

Number of Client machines connected

Since there is much more data gathered by the statistics package, there are more monitoring statistics that could be transferred to the schools. The schools are informed that they can also ask for, and receive any other data that we collect. However, our feedback to date indicates that the above list meets their needs.

Early in March, Advanced Interactive sent a sample of the statistics-monitoring file to the first 10 systems installed, along with some insights into their use, and asked for their feedback. The response was very positive. Several schools expressed delight with the excellent results that they were getting, while others observed that they could see ways of improving, and resolved to do so. The exercise also allowed us to emphasize the value of ensuring that all clients were pointed to the caching server; and that the power of “policy-based” (pre-planned) caching was being effectively employed.

Now we, and each of the schools, will be able to look at their performance monthly, by visiting our server and accessing the statistics to assess their progress.

A sample of one of the statistics files that would go to schools is attached.

1.3 Operations Group completes the School (client) Alpha version of management Software Done

The software development team completed SchoolWeb V1.2 of the software for release on the 19 SchoolWeb servers.

HIGH RELIABILITY DATA WITH COMPRESSION

SchoolWeb V1.1 added FEC coding to the data transmitted to the schools. Soon after the system was installed and tested, it was realized that occasionally, a complete data packet in the video line was lost and the FEC code alone could not replace the lost packet. Therefore, it was decided to add bundled FEC coding to the data transmission. The bundled FEC code effectively eliminates the missed data lines by replacing them with the redundant data contained in the bundled FEC code. The bundled FEC code reduces the effective data rate by approximately 14%. However, the additional 14% redundant data reduces the errors providing a much improved bit error rate. The bit error rate with the bundled FEC is better than 10^-9.

Once the data at the schools could be received with high reliability we added a file compression feature that effectively compresses by two to four times. The compressed files are then transmitted to the SchoolWeb Server via the Knowledge Network TV signal. At the schools, the received files are de-compressed and added to the squid cache.

WEBSITE FILTERING

When SchoolWeb servers were initially installed we were relying exclusively on PLNet’s website filtering to prevent restricted websites from being accessed through SchoolWeb servers. At a few of the schools, access to the Internet is not through the PLNet but directly to the Internet via the local Internet Service Provider (ISP). This was causing concern to these schools since pornographic sites could be accesses by students. Therefore, we have enabled a website filter in the squid cache along with a list of restricted websites. The list is not a list of pornographic sites, but rather some general catchall rules that filter out sites, and a second list of sites that would be blocked by this list, that are in fact really legitimate web sites. The school administrators are given the capability of adding restricted sites and/or legitimate websites to the appropriate lists to suit their needs.

We also provide the website filtering utilizing the DNS (Domain Name Service) based filtering provided by the BC Government. The two DNS servers we use for this service are located at:

DNS1.GOV.BC.CA IP: 192.75.26.15

DNS2.GOV.BC.CA IP: 142.22.250.77

Both services are available on our SchoolWeb servers. The school administrator at each school can decide which service(s) they would like to utilize on the SchoolWeb server located at their school.

AUTOMATED STATICTICS COLLECTION SYSYEM

A completely automated system of collecting SchoolWeb statistics for each of the SchoolWeb servers was developed. Each weekday night the Squid log files are rotated and the old files are sent to AIC’s main server via e-mail for analysis. On receipt of the files, the log files are analyzed with an analysis tool and the summary of the analysis is posted on a Member-only website where the summary of the statistics for each of the schools is maintained. This information is available for the SchoolWeb server administrators/teachers to review. On a monthly basis, a complete month’s statistics are analyzed and a summary of the information is made available on the website. (i.e. http://www.advancedinteractive.com/secure)

POLICY BASED WEBSITE ORDERING

One of the main features of a SchoolWeb server is to allow teachers/librarians/school administrators to pre-order websites based on the curriculum in effect at the time. By pre-ordering websites it was felt that we would be able to provide substantially higher speed access to curriculum-based websites, at the school.

A system of ordering policy-based websites was developed and has been made available for test to selected School Teachers and Administrators to pre-order complete websites that would be cached at the SchoolWeb server. An example of a screen showing the ‘Ordering’ of a site is shown below. Again, this site is only accessible to Teachers/Librarians/Administrators that have been provided with a username and password to access the site. Teachers ordering the websites are asked to provide some information that would help in categorizing the ordered website. Information such as:

1. Applicable Grade

2. Subject(s)

3. Keyword(s)

4. Notes

5. Period of Time the website is cache on the SchoolWeb Server

Once a website is ordered, the main server at AIC collects the complete website, indexes it, and then sends each of the files to our Broadcast server at KNOW, for transmission to SchoolWeb servers via the Knowledge Network TV signal, or by line connection in off-hours. The AIC server remembers the files transmitted, and checks each night to see if there has been an update. If so, the new file is sent to all respective SchoolWeb servers.

Soon after this service was put into effect it was realized that a better method of categorizing each of the webpages on the websites was needed. The limited amount of information provided by the Teacher(s) on the WebSite Order page, while helpful, was not a sufficient way of cataloguing a complete website.

Trevor Schofield, the head librarian at Burnaby South Secondary School suggested that an automated way of cataloguing each of the html pages on each of the websites would overcome the problem. One way of doing this was to utilize the metadata contained in the html pages. This method would allow us to extract ‘library types’ of information from the metadata contained in the webpages, and build an automated Library Indexing system. After extensive discussion with Trevor and with additional research, it was decided to use the DUBLIN CORE METADATA INITIATIVE (http://www.dublincore.org) to automatically categorize each of the webpages that are pre-ordered by Teacher(s)/Librarian(s) via our Website Order form.

The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative is an open forum engaged in the development of interoperable online metadata standards that support a broad range of purposes and business models. DCMI's activities include consensus-driven working groups, global workshops, conferences, standards liaison, and educational efforts to promote widespread acceptance of metadata standards and practices.

The DUBLIN CORE contains the following information Elements:

Element: Title

Name: Title

Identifier: Title

Definition: A name given to the resource.

Comment: Typically, a Title will be a name by which the resource is

formally known.

Element: Creator

Name: Creator

Identifier: Creator

Definition: An entity primarily responsible for making the content of

the resource.

Comment: Examples of a Creator include a person, an organization,

or a service.

Typically, the name of a Creator should be used to

indicate the entity.

Element: Subject

Name: Subject and Keywords

Identifier: Subject

Definition: The topic of the content of the resource.

Comment: Typically, a Subject will be expressed as keywords,

key phrases or classification codes that describe a topic

of the resource.

Recommended best practice is to select a value from a

controlled vocabulary or formal classification scheme.

Element: Description

Name: Description

Identifier: Description

Definition: An account of the content of the resource.

Comment: Description may include but is not limited to: an abstract,

table of contents, reference to a graphical representation

of content or a free-text account of the content.

Element: Publisher

Name: Publisher

Identifier: Publisher

Definition: An entity responsible for making the resource available

Comment: Examples of a Publisher include a person, an organisation,

or a service.

Typically, the name of a Publisher should be used to

indicate the entity.

Element: Contributor

Name: Contributor

Identifier: Contributor

Definition: An entity responsible for making contributions to the

content of the resource.

Comment: Examples of a Contributor include a person, an organization,

or a service.

Typically, the name of a Contributor should be used to

indicate the entity.

Element: Date

Name: Date

Identifier: Date

Definition: A date associated with an event in the life cycle of the

resource.

Comment: Typically, Date will be associated with the creation or

availability of the resource. Recommended best practice

for encoding the date value is defined in a profile of

ISO 8601, and follows the YYYY-MM-DD format.

Element: Type

Name: Resource Type

Identifier: Type

Definition: The nature or genre of the content of the resource.

Comment: Type includes terms describing general categories, functions,

genres, or aggregation levels for content. Recommended best

practice is to select a value from a controlled vocabulary

(for example, the working draft list of Dublin Core Types ). To describe the physical or digital manifestation of the resource, use the FORMAT element.

Element: Format

Name: Format

Identifier: Format

Definition: The physical or digital manifestation of the resource.

Comment: Typically, Format may include the media-type or dimensions of

the resource. Format may be used to determine the software,

hardware or other equipment needed to display or operate the

resource. Examples of dimensions include size and duration.

Recommended best practice is to select a value from a

controlled vocabulary (for example, the list of Internet Media

Types defining computer media formats).

Element: Identifier

Name: Resource Identifier

Identifier: Identifier

Definition: An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context.

Comment: Recommended best practice is to identify the resource by means

of a string or number conforming to a formal identification

system.

Example formal identification systems include the Uniform

Resource Identifier (URI) (including the Uniform Resource

Locator (URL)), the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and the

International Standard Book Number (ISBN).

Element: Source

Name: Source

Identifier: Source

Definition: A Reference to a resource from which the present resource

is derived.

Comment: The present resource may be derived from the Source resource

in whole or in part. Recommended best practice is to reference

the resource by means of a string or number conforming to a

formal identification system.

Element: Language

Name: Language

Identifier: Language

Definition: A language of the intellectual content of the resource.

Comment: Recommended best practice for the values of the Language

element is defined by RFC 1766 which includes

a two-letter Language Code (taken from the ISO 639

standard, followed optionally, by a two-letter

Country Code (taken from the ISO 3166 standard.

For example, 'en' for English, 'fr' for French, or

'en-uk' for English used in the United Kingdom.

Element: Relation

Name: Relation

Identifier: Relation

Definition: A reference to a related resource.

Comment: Recommended best practice is to reference the resource by means

of a string or number conforming to a formal identification

system.

Element: Coverage

Name: Coverage

Identifier: Coverage

Definition: The extent or scope of the content of the resource.

Comment: Coverage will typically include spatial location (a place name

or geographic coordinates), temporal period (a period label,

date, or date range) or jurisdiction (such as a named

administrative entity).

Recommended best practice is to select a value from a

controlled vocabulary (for example, the Thesaurus of Geographic

Names [TGN]) and that, where appropriate, named places or time

periods be used in preference to numeric identifiers such as

sets of coordinates or date ranges.

Element: Rights

Name: Rights Management

Identifier: Rights

Definition: Information about rights held in and over the resource.

Comment: Typically, a Rights element will contain a rights

management statement for the resource, or reference

a service providing such information. Rights information

often encompasses Intellectual Property Rights (IPR),

If the Rights element is absent, no assumptions can be made

about the status of these and other rights with respect to

the resource.

All the elements contained in the DUBLIN CORE plus the additional information provided by the Teachers, will be entered into an Automated Library Indexing System. Once this information is entered into a proper database it will be made available to Student(s)/Teacher(s) on each of the SchoolWeb servers. The Library Index will be searchable in a way similar most Search sites on the Internet. It is felt that this particular indexing system would not contain all the extraneous information present in the regular Search Websites since the information in the Database would be more related to School and School Curriculum activities.

1.4 Evaluation Committee reviews progress and verifies the value of present and proposed services to schools Done

Each school was asked to assign one or two persons to an evaluation Committee. The Evaluation Committee is to provide ongoing critical review of the use and operation of the caching server service, and any related services. The objectives of the Caching Program were reviewed and committee members were asked to document any results and concerns as the project proceeds.

The following persons have agreed to participate on the Evaluation Committee:

	School	Member
	Secondary Schools
1.	Gladstone Secondary	Barbara Baker, Principal Philip Arnold, Computer Science Teacher
2.	Revelstoke Secondary	Ann Cooper, Superintendent Earl Woodhurst, Technical Support
3.	Boundary Central Secondary	Walter Osalleme, Principal Sean Anderson, Teacher
4.	Nakusp Secondary	Ken Davies, Principal Ernie Knecht, Teacher
5.	Burnaby South Secondary	Jeremy Meharg, Technical Support Trevor Schofield, Librarian
6.	Burnaby North Secondary	Ann Willcocks, Principal Clyde Sokugawa, Technical Support
7.	North Peace Secondary	Doug Boyd, Principal David Vandergugten, Principal, Technology Services
8.	Dr. Kearney Junior Secondary	Barry Eyre, Principal David Vandergugten, Principal, Technology Services
9.	Fort Nelson Secondary	Bill Doane, Principal Mike Gilbert, Technical Co-ordinator
10	Westview Secondary	Bob Schnider, District Principal, IS Dave Squires, Teacher
	Elementary Schools
11	Fort Rupert Elementary	Malcolm Fleeton, Principal Steve Gray, District Administrator, Technology
12	Big Eddy Elementary	Anne Cooper, Superintendent Earl Woodhurst, Technical support
13	John A. Hutton Elementary	Michael Strukoff, Principal Autumn Abrams, Technical support
14	RL Angus Elementary	Bruce Weiker, Principal Mike Gilbert, Technical Co-ordinator
15	Mountain Elementary	Jack Smithe, Principal Ray Jung, District VP for Technology
16	Fulford Elementary	Judy Raddysh, Principal Kevin Vine, Technology Co-ordinator
17	Topham Elementary	Robin Mott, Principal Cheryl Fernandes, Manager, Information Systems

	Special Schools
18	Robson Community School	Michael Balahura, Principal Brenda Balahura, Information Technology Coordinator
19	Port Hardy District Office	Gary Doi, Superintendent Steve Gray, District Administrator – Technology

In conversations with Evaluation Committee members, the following views were recorded:

1. Committee Members praised the design of the SchoolWeb server, its reliability and particularly the logging and presenting of monitoring statistics on the use of caching at their school. Several mentioned that this kind of information was very powerful, was new to them, and they could see where this type of feedback would allow them to test useful caching concepts and monitor the results.

2. Several teachers have given the Committee positive feedback on how
SchoolWeb caching has renewed their interest in using the Internet more generally in their courses. The previous lack of availability of files for a class during an allotted period had turned them off this use.

3. A few members requested that we add a statistic that would show the ratio of academic sites coming directly from the Internet VS. from the cache. Their contention was that there is a great deal of recreational use of the Internet coming through the server, which if this activity were not added to the total, would show much more dramatic use of the cache for academic purposes. We have a solution to this request, and we will implement it in a future software release.

4. On systems where there is a full userID and password login required, sites visited, frequency and time of access, etc. can also be tracked. This is useful to System Administrators if they suspect that some users are abusing their privileges. However, it was expressed that care be taken to ensure that this information is only available to the System Administrator.

5. During conversations with Committee members about the monitoring statistics, information was passed to Members about a soon-to-be-released library-type indexing of internet sites, fully searchable, and related to curriculum use. This is the number one request by users, and the greatest focus of our present software development.

6. Many members said that our system was transparent to them and to the majority of school users. They felt instinctively that they were getting much better service, but most did not know how much or why. Now with logging and presenting suitable statistics, they will have accurate numbers to discuss when questions from users arise.

7. Half of the members mentioned that the sessions they were having with teachers to encourage Policy-based caching were starting to pay off. They predicted that more progress will be seen in the months ahead

1.5 Contact made with non-technical resource groups such as Industry Canada, NFB, and BC-ETMA for assistance in listing of good caching sites and multi-media content. Done

During this Milestone period contact has been made with National Film Board, Industry Canada, Burnaby South Secondary School, OLA’s Open Schools, and BC Ministry of Education.

A. National Film Board (NFB)

A discussion was held with Robert Gendron, Chief Information Officer, Networks and Infomatics, (514) 283-9077, to provide an overview of the SchoolWeb project, and to solicit his help with technical matters related to streaming media, over the coming months. He expressed an interest in assisting with our caching and streaming model, and suggested that we contact Linda Cesaratto, who was more in charge of special projects such as we were proposing.

A discussion with Linda Cesaratto, Project Leader, (514) 496-6301 was most informative. NFB has about 800 titles in their digital library, available to a select group of University and College users through high-speed connection on CA*NET3. They have had a request, similar to ours, from Telesat, who also wish to participate in a caching/streaming trial. Now that we have added our interest, Linda will put our request forward to see if NFB should support such a trial to schools.

I suggested that our trial could be to 19 schools, but in particular to Burnaby South Secondary School, which has a fiber optic distribution system from a central server location to all classrooms and auditorium, and which could be capable of distributing MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and perhaps even HDTV streaming outputs.

AIC proposes to cache digital files at our SchoolWeb server located at Burnaby South Secondary School, and stream the files to end users in classrooms or auditorium throughout the building. The trial could take place in the fall of 2001.

B. Industry Canada

Harry Davis spoke at length with David McCallum, (613) 237-5208, regarding the SchoolNet Project, and the extensive work that SchoolNet has been doing for over three years in building a site where teachers can go to find excellent, professionally vetted and indexed information that would be useful in a learning environment. However, the files are not indexed in a full multimedia way, and David hesitates to recommend a template for such indexing, since the standards are evolving with many options being proposed.

After listening to our approach, David thought that there was merit in grasping the ‘window of opportunity’ provided by our ’unique 19 school online laboratory’, in which to carry out experiments on how to improve access and use of multimedia teaching and learning materials to schools.

One early suggestion was to export the SchoolNet data to the cache of each of our SchoolWeb servers, and see if we could use a search engine to access the data at LAN speeds to local users. It was also suggested that we obtain input from Elise Boisjoly and Jamie Rossiter regarding their views on standards.

C. CANARIE

Jamie Rossiter, CANARIE, (613) 995-4335 was helpful in directing our attention to CANARIE’s Learning Program, and suggesting that we make contact with several other groups with whom we might share information and assistance. He suggested we contact the POOL project with NEWMIC in Vancouver, and CANCORE with TelEd New Brunswick and UNB.

D. Burnaby South Secondary School (BSS)

Several discussions and meetings were held with Trevor Schofield, Librarian, (604) 664-8560, ext. 2219, of Burnaby South Secondary School.

Trevor has a keen interest in developing a library-type indexing system that could be automatically generated to categorize Internet sties and multimedia files as they are fetched and cached on the SchoolWeb server. The objective is to follow one of the more-established indexing formats (such as Dublin core) and have a powerful search engine to find and present the results. It is also particularly important to have the categories tuned to known curriculum needs, and the files to be easy to find and retrieve.

Meetings were also held with Jeremy Meharg, Technical Services, (604) 664-8560, ext. 4138, regarding the use of Burnaby South Secondary School fiber optic distribution system as a test site for a Caching and Streaming trial. BSS has a TV production facility, high-speed Internet access, 12 GHz satellite receiving system, and a co-ax/fiber distribution system to classrooms and auditoria. Coupling this facility with a SchoolWeb server and an MPEG-1/2 Encoder, would allow BSS to test and use various options for video / audio streaming. We hope to use this facility to test the effectiveness of various qualities of video caching and streaming in different student/classroom settings.

E. Open Learning Agency – Open Schools

In discussion with Peter Donkers, Director – Field Operations, OLA Open School, (250) 953-7422, Peter felt that OLA would consider making the CLN network information available for use on SchoolWeb systems in BC. He also could see merit in having a number of OLA’s online courses on the server and more available to local students who need them. OLA is also interested in Library Indexing, and could possibly assist in these areas over the next year.

F. BC – Ministry of Education

We reviewed our progress on the SchoolWeb project with Rick Withers, Manager, Learning and Education Branch, MOE (250) 387-4473 and passed on some of the feedback that we received from teachers. The message was that teachers need better coordination between curriculum IRPs (learning outcomes, etc.) Lesson plans, Learning objects and resources … including credible Internet sites. They also need all of this on their SchoolWeb server, available for fast access.

Rick outlined the BC-MOE’s plan for a “Portal” which will, if funded, fill much of this need.

We look forward to being part of a plan to deliver such a service to SchoolWeb equipped schools.

1.6 AIC completes the first year hardware and software upgrades to schools, and completes school maintenance as required. Done

Hardware upgrades have been very minor over the course of purchasing and installing SchoolWeb systems. An attempt was made to keep the systems similar so that, if the software ran well on one system, it would likely run equally well on all of them.

Rather than save software upgrades to be presented at a specific time and occasion, software upgrades have been made as features have been released or changed. However, the present version of software (V1.2) will now be the standard until new upgrade releases are made in Phase 2 (Version 2.)

Maintenance of software and systems is ongoing. Thus far, there has been one instance of a hard drive failure, and very few power shutdowns.

1.7 AIC completes test delivery of caching files to students at home

Done

Four staff/students that have a Linux Computer, a cable connection and dial-up or dedicated Internet connection at home, have been provide with Data-in-Video Decoder cards that plug into their computer to receive Broadcast Websites files. They have also been provided with software to receive the Broadcast files and add them to the Squid Cache enabled on their computers. In the initial test, all students received the same information as the SchoolWeb servers. This caused an immediate problem since the amount of information received was quite large, and not targeted specifically to each student's needs.

The software now needs to be modified to allow ‘profiling’ of the student so that all the Broadcast files are not received on all student computers. How to profile the student’s requirements will have to be discussed, and a technique will have to be devised that meets the needs of both students and educators.

Eventually the software will have to be changed to work with a Windows operating system, since most of the students contacted had Windows Computers at home rather than a Linux Computer.

The data-in-video decoder cards can be purchased from local retail outlets for approximately $70/each. The decoder cards have the additional capability of allows the computer to work as a TV with a 125 channel tuner. We are hoping that students, especially distance education students, can justify the cost of Decoder cards.

The overall concept works, and is fully functional. However, additional work will have to be done to determine how to send only the necessary information to each student. At the proposed June review meeting with Teachers/Administrators/Librarians, we will be addressing these opportunities and looking for feedback from the group. Another area that we are exploring is Distance Education Students receiving web-based information without the need for any Internet connection.

1.8 Operations group completes tests of the full Alpha version of Management Software

Done

Section 1.3 outlines most of the new features added to Version 1.1 of the software. Version 1.2 is now stable and features such as Ordering Websites, Looking at statistics, etc can all be seen at http://www.advancedinteractive.com/secure/

All the SchoolWeb servers installed at each of the schools have Version 1.2 of the software installed and operational. We have not experienced any problems that would cause any disruption in service at any of the schools. We are working on tightening up the security, and this will continue to be done. Most of the enhanced security features do not required major software changes. Most of the changes are being done by modifying the configuration files to limit access to the servers from only the local area network. Access from the Internet is continually being monitored.

We are now working on software modules that will allow us to upgrade the software automatically. This can be done via the broadcast system on the Internet connections.

The management software will be continually upgraded as we receive feedback from the Teachers/Administrators/Librarians at each of the schools. The last set of changes suggested are being worked on now; and new changes will continue to be implemented as they become available over the remainder of the project period.

1.9 Evaluation Committee approves the Alpha version and suggests refinements

Done

The Evaluation Committee has approved the V1.2 software, and has had many good things to say about the whole operation of the SchoolWeb servers. These comments are incorporated into the comments of 1.3 above.

Evaluation Committee members are now able to comment more directly, as they gain experience

2 Schedule ( see revised Gantt Chart)

Several changes have been made to the schedule as reflected in the attached Gantt Chart V7, revised to 31 March 2001. The changes are noted below:

1. Item 11 – Assessment of School requirements. This assessment was extended from December 15, 2000 to March 31, 2001 to allow the last 9 schools to provide their input into the process.

2. Item 25 – Assemble Phase 1 Software and Test. The finalization of Phase 1 Software (Version 1.2) was extended from September 1, 2000 to March 31, 2001 to accommodate many changes and improvements in software features. The expectation is that this version will remain static, while we move into development of Version 2.1

3. Item 27 – Phase 2 Software Development will commence April 1, 2001

4. Item 33 – Training of School Personnel. This activity continued up to March 31, 2001 as new schools were added to the Project.

5. Item 36 – PLNet, BCNet, CA*Net interconnection. This work was extended to March 31, 2001 and is complete except for the PLNet – CA*Net interconnection.

3.0 Budget

We recommend that the Worksheets and Budgets remain as revised in October 2000, and that further adjustments be made after Milestone 7 to ensure that the actuals and budget will be very close at the end of the Project.

4.0 Marketing and sales

Advanced Interactive Canada Inc. (AIC) is pleased to announce that we have entered into an Agreement with SchoolWeb Systems Inc. (SSI), whereby SSI will be responsible for marketing and sales of SchoolWeb hardware and software in North America. AIC will continue to provide technical support, hardware and software upgrades, and maintenance of SchoolWeb products.

SSI has already been active in marketing in the United States, and will soon be launching a marketing campaign in Canada.

5.0 Coming Events

An “in-person” meeting of the Evaluation Committee, CANARIE, and the SchoolWeb Project Team, is being organized for June 12th or 13^th in Vancouver. Others may be invited to attend by phone if necessary. The purpose of the meeting is to exchange information between developers and users, and to allow users to suggest future developments that would be useful to the Project. The meeting is expected to convene from 10am to 3:30pm with lunch served on site. An invitation will be sent to all members of the Evaluation Committee.

Respectfully submitted,

Harry K. Davis, CEO

Advanced Interactive Canada Inc.

Milestone Report

Project: SchoolWeb

Secondary Schools

Burnaby North Secondary

North Peace Secondary

Dr. Kearney Junior Secondary

Fort Nelson Secondary

Westview Secondary

Elementary Schools

RL Angus Elementary

Mountain Elementary

Fulford Elementary

Topham Elementary

Special Schools

Secondary Schools

Burnaby North Secondary

North Peace Secondary

Dr. Kearney Junior Secondary

Fort Nelson Secondary

Westview Secondary

Elementary Schools

RL Angus Elementary

Mountain Elementary

Fulford Elementary

Topham Elementary

Special Schools

Done

Done