At the premier university in the world for students who are deaf and hard of hearing, Cisco Systems wireless technology is making learning - and communication in general - much easier. In fact, accessible communication resources serve as a foundation for Gallaudet University's efforts to enhance the lives of deaf and hard of hearing people - on campus and through research and a variety of public service and advocacy efforts.
Founded in 1864 by an Act of Congress and formally chartered by Abraham Lincoln, the Washington, D.C. university is a world leader in liberal education and career development for deaf, hard of hearing and hearing undergraduate students. In addition to its outstanding undergraduate programs, the institution has an international reputation for its research on history, language, culture and other topics related to deaf people. The University also runs the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center, which serves K-12 children at two demonstration schools.
Gallaudet currently enrolls about 1800 students, who can choose from more than 40 majors leading to a bachelor of arts or a bachelor of science undergraduate degree or graduate programs in a variety of fields involving professional service provision to deaf and hard of hearing people. It relies on Cisco wireless technology to provide a rich learning environment for all students and an accessible communications network for the wider university community.
Reducing Barriers
"Whereas many people today take WiFi networks for granted, the Gallaudet community doesn't; they're very conscious of what wireless can do," explains Alan Cohen, senior director, Mobility Solutions at Cisco (and former vice president of Product Management at Airespace). "Every day the students, faculty and administrators use the network to help reduce barriers to communication."
In early 2004, Gallaudet contracted with Airespace (which was acquired soon afterwards by Cisco) for a unified wireless deployment, featuring light-weight access points and wireless controllers, across the campus.
"Our initial goal was to make it easier for the community to access educational resources and e-mail," says Jon Mitchiner, director of Information Technology Services at Gallaudet. "The majority of the university community are deaf, and instead of using cell phones, most of our communication occurs through e-mail and instant messaging (IM) clients. The wireless network allows everyone to do this anywhere on campus."
Gallaudet currently has 200 access points deployed throughout each of the school's 32 buildings across 99 acres. In addition, there is a separate wireless network for the Clerc Center's K-12 program, so it can operate separate content filters for the younger students.
"Wireless technology benefits everyone, whether they are hearing or deaf," says Mitchiner. "It's a convenience; it makes it easier for people to access technology resources."
"One area where wireless gives deaf people an additional advantage is the capability of using video-based relay," he explains. Relay is a service where an agent interprets a call between hearing and deaf people. Traditionally, a deaf person went to a special booth to use a video connection to a sign language translator, who then called the hearing person and translated. Now, thanks to the Cisco technology and laptops with cameras, Gallaudet's deaf users are free to conduct relay calls from anywhere on campus.
"Instead of using IM relay, which is text-based and requires typing back and forth, video relay is a video conference between the deaf person and the interpreter, and both parties can see each other. It's much faster and more convenient," Mitchiner says. "With a laptop equipped with a camera, the deaf person can use video relay."
David Farias, an accounting and business administration student, uses the wireless Internet access every day and night for homework and checking e-mails. "It also allows me to stay on top of my classes and check my grades online for some classes," he says. "It's a useful tool."
La Toya Plummer, a political science and sociology major, uses the wireless network heavily in both her academic and social life - including IMs among friends, teachers and classmates to converse about work or getting together; as well as discussion boards and virtual chat as part of class assignments.
"The deaf community relies strongly on visual aids. E-mails, text and IM are effective and convenient ways for us to communicate, paralleled to cell phones for hearing people," Plummer explains. "Hearing people rely on radios and word of mouth to pass news around quickly. We use e-mails, text, IM and other wireless network technology to stay on top of what's going on. It keeps us updated with news, events and what's being said out there."
Ease of Use is Key
Mitchiner reports that Gallaudet has been very pleased with the network's ease of use, technical stability and security. In fact, it plans to expand the network this summer.
"The ease of setup and maintenance has been particularly remarkable - through three upgrades," he explains. "The initial implementation went very smoothly, and expanding additional access points was easy and seamless. Cisco has proved that the equipment continues to be easy to use and set up, which is important for Gallaudet."
"We use the Cisco Wireless Control System (WCS), which is a wonderful tool to help us monitor and maintain the network," Mitchiner adds. "WCS notifies us when any problems arise and makes it easy for us to correct things before users are affected."
Gallaudet plans to deploy an additional 100 access points this summer. The coverage will be primarily for the athletic fields (football, soccer, baseball and tennis as well as the gymnasiums) and to fill in some gaps in the overall campus coverage.
By providing a wireless platform to deliver data and video applications, Gallaudet is ensuring a high-quality, fully accessible educational and community experience that allows students, faculty and guests to learn, collaborate and share information securely and with complete mobility.
Jenny Carless is a freelance writer based in Santa Cruz, CA.