Innovative Learning Platform gives students access to school resources from home
Added: (Thu Mar 08 2007)
Pressbox (Press Release) -
Edensor Technology College (ETC) has just had its innovative investment in Information Technology (IT) recognised with a prestigious award. The Regeneration In Staffordshire Excellence (RISE) award was presented as a result of the impact that the ETC Learning Platform has made on the community. With funding from Advantage West Midlands, the college has totally modernised its IT infrastructure to provide application access to students in the school as well as extending it out to their home – providing a single, user interface to 24x7x365 learning.
Unlike other solutions the ETC Learning Platform utilises thin client technology that enables full access to all the applications and data the student will need. Richard Pickard, Deputy Headteacher at ETC explains:
“Normally solutions that provide students with access from home only cover basic applications like e-mail. But, by utilising thin client technology the Learning Platform has given them access to all the feature-rich applications and data they would normally only use in the classroom. This enables them to be much more productive when working at home.
As we have used grants to fund this investment it has cost the students and their families nothing to gain access to the school’s computing resources. This approach is in line with the central Government initiative “Computers for Pupils” that is aiming to give equality of access for those who can least afford it.”
The Learning Platform has proved so successful that it has now been extended to 3,000 households and attracted interest from a number of other schools in the area. The solution has been built utilising Citrix software and HP thin client hardware devices that are installed in the student’s home to enable fast and secure access to the information and applications held on the college’s servers. It has been designed and implemented by Novus Networks who have extensive experience of installing thin client solutions in schools. Sales Director, Stuart Brown outlines the benefits:
“Citrix software is used by hundreds of thousands of organisations around the world. It is designed to provide remote and high performance access to all the feature rich applications that schools now offer their students. It is extremely secure and its flexibility enables students to continue to work even if one of the main servers fails.
Importantly, it is also very cost effective and enables schools to stretch their IT budgets to obtain the maximum return on their investment.”
By providing home access to IT resources, the Learning platform can also support the development of key life skills and improve the engagement and motivation of individual students. It is believed that this has helped to raise GCSE results within the college. Such has been the success of the Learning Platform that it has already been recognised by Ofsted and the IT industry as a UK first and an exemplar for education as a whole.
For further information contact:
Richard Pickard, Deputy Headteacher, Edensor Technology College
Tel: 01782 233933, Fax: 01782 233926, E-mail: rpickard@sgfl.org.uk
Web: http://www.edensortc.com
Stuart Brown, Sales Director, Novus Networks
Tel: 01260 292500, Fax: 01260 292505, E-mail: stuart.brown@novus-networks.co.uk, Web: http://www.novus-networks.co.uk/