WWB: World Wide BEN

Schools in Australia, Canada, Denmark and around the United States have adopted the software used to build the Blair Educational Network (BEN) for their own intra-school computer networks.

The software, called the Authenticated User Community (AUC), was developed in 1998 by Blair students to give users e-mail accounts and to run Blair's virtual classrooms, online discussion forums and bulletin boards. The computer code has since been adapted for use in networks in several languages, including Chinese, Danish, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.

The AUC software is open source, so anyone can download it for free. It is available online at http://auc.sourceforge.net.

MCPS has decided not to adopt BEN as a model for a countywide network, so Blair is the only MCPS school using AUC software.

"It would be really nice to have a network similar to Blair's for the whole county, but we don't have the people power to maintain it,” said MCPS Webmaster Elaine Keagle. At Blair, the manpower is provided by students who serve as system operators to support BEN by setting up accounts, monitoring usage and managing virtual classrooms.

Blair alumnus Ben Krefting (‘98) conceived the BEN network for his Change Project in a Communication Arts Program (CAP) class. Krefting decided to construct CAPOnline, a precursor to BEN. He recruited David Moore (‘99) to write the computer code for the network and Ivan Askwith (‘99) to implement the new software.

By the fall of 1997 the system was nearly completed and CAP students received accounts on the new system. The next year, CAPOnline became BEN and began serving the entire Blair community.

Four schools in New South Wales, Australia, have created networks using AUC, as have the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark and D'Youville College in Buffalo, New York. Private schools in Quebec and British Columbia, Canada and public schools in Arizona, California and Ohio also have networks run by AUC.

The Sydney Church of England Girls' Grammar School in Sydney, Australia maintains a computer network that is nearly identical to BEN. Like at Blair, teachers use the AUC software to post messages and assignments and run discussion forums. Virtual classrooms exist for grades three through 12.

According to Blair network administrator Peter Hammond, BEN's initial success resulted in large part from the encouragement and support of Principal Phillip Gainous and the rest of the administration. "The administration has always been very positive towards AUC and BEN,” said Hammond.