What does “loud enough” mean in terms of a typical classroom? For the purposes of understanding classroom needs, we can begin with an interpretation. “Loud enough” is an attempt to describe the volume of one signal in comparison to others. This effectively means that whatever is being listened to (i.e., the signal) should be louder than the “noise” in the room.
Schools that opt to rely upon plans that have been purchased rather than those that have been properly developed to fit local risks, realities and resources are at serious risk for plan failure and are significantly exposed to civil liability. Often refer
Every decision we make has an impact on learning. We can guarantee that our students will have a safe, secure and nurturing place in which to learn by making informed decisions based on more the lowest cost. If you don't have funding to do it all 
If you want to clean for health and do it well instead of winging it and hoping for the best, there's a lot of help available. No person, whether a student, but especially an employee such as a teacher or administrator, deserves a 30-year career in a clean environment.
Less work, good prices and higher-quality goods and services -- sounds great, but it doesn't always work great. While purchasing cooperatives will reduce your workload, there is still plenty of work to do. You have to select the right cooperative
- By Michael Fickes
- 03/01/13
Two successful managers share their advice for taking your custodial services from better to best in terms of getting the job done and keeping the customer satisfied.
Many smaller liberal arts institutions don’t even have secondary server rooms as backups. If an earthquake or flood destroys the single primary server room on campus, an institution won’t be able to issue paychecks or deposit tuition payments. New students won’t be able to register. All of the data stored in the learning management system will be inaccessible to students as well as professors. School may well be over for the year. Because the results can be so dire, more and more schools are building secondary server rooms for disaster backup.
- By Michael Fickes
- 03/01/13
Creating schools that are the center of our communities is one of the key factors in creating 21st century schools. As an amenity for all ages, performing arts facilities are able to actively engage the larger community and accordingly, good planning and design will help ensure that the school and community both can reap the benefits of their investment in these facilities.
- By Sean O'Donnell
- 03/01/13
Traditional schools were designed when the primary mode of teaching was distributive; teachers provided information and students were responsible for memorizing and repeating the information. All classrooms were identical marching down each side of identical corridors.
Every decision we make has an impact on learning. We can guarantee that our students will have safe, secure, and nurturing places in which to learn by making informed decisions based on more than lowest cost. If you don’t have funding to do it all … add to the plus column by improving your educational environments one piece at a time.
Increasing numbers of colleges and universities, however, are adopting more of a change-agent, upstart mentality. Schools such as the University of Rochester, Duke University, and Case Western Reserve University are prime examples of institutions that are finding ways to circumvent the go-slow approach that long has characterized American higher education. The processes and technologies that these institutions develop find their ways into the marketplace as business ventures. And the creation of these technologies leads universities to beef up their own hiring.
As large university systems face tightening budgets, they are restructuring their purchasing operations by consolidating them and leveraging their spending to lower costs. While some university systems such as Indiana University have moved to a complete centralization of purchasing, others have developed other models that allow individual campuses some autonomy over spending decisions.
- By Sherrie Negrea
- 03/01/13
Educators have been less successful in providing access for American students. Access creates the pathway that makes choice possible. Ideally, education should be a series of seamless transitions between various levels and complexities of learning. What has happened in America, however, is that access has become a fundamental stumbling block for students seeking to learn and to advance themselves.
- By Brian C. Mitchell
- 03/01/13
Old dogs are learning new tricks as adult students return to colleges to enhance their careers or springboard into new ones. However, to attract these dedicated, engaged scholars, there's one question you should definitely not ask.
Virtually everything a typical student would need to do could be done using a web browser. The number of student learning activities requiring a full blown computer with local applications is few and far between, concentrating more in the high school grad
Following the enormous destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina and other disasters over the past decade, institutions have placed higher emphasis on disaster recovery and business continuity planning, testing, and execution. Business continuity plans are built on a foundation of processes, people, information, technology — and perhaps most importantly, assumptions. Whatever the level of careful planning now in place, we must continue to reassess all of these elements. And whatever was in place before November 2012, Superstorm Sandy forces a careful, objective, and immediate reconsideration.
As each year passes and a fresh year begins, I like to think through some of the lessons I learned (or re-learned) as a personal and professional growth exercise. I think the theme for 2012 was that those lessons that stick with you are the most painful lessons to learn.
- By Michael G. Steger
- 02/01/13
A Building Automation System (BAS) is what makes an intelligent building intelligent in terms of energy usage. From basic to sophisticated, there's clearly a lot that administrators can do to take advantage of building intelligence to transform their environment.
Whatever the grade level or supplier, safety for budding dancers' joints and durability is paramount. Add affordability and versatility -- that is, a system that accommodates a range of movements, routines and dance genres -- and the right floor.
As the second term of Barack Obama’s Presidency begins and the 113th Congress convenes, most Americans wonder whether the two parties and the two branches of government can work together to find common ground and address the numerous critical, salient and important issues facing the nation.
- By Fritz Edelstein
- 02/01/13
Naturally, when education leaders learn that they have significant gaps in their organization's crisis plans, they want them to be corrected immediately. The problem here is that it can often take six to 18 months to do this in a cost-effective way.
- By Michael S. Dorn
- 02/01/13