Edensor Technology College, a specialist secondary
school based in Stoke-on-Trent, has cut its hardware and support
costs by installing thin client terminals at students' homes. The
initiative was funded using part of a £350,000 grant from Regional
Development Agency Advantage West Midlands.
In the first phase of the project - which aims to put computers
in 600 students' homes - 150 students have been given home
terminals running Citrix Presentation Server.
The scheme, designed by enterprise IT consultancy Novus,
allows students to access school applications and hand in homework
online. When a teacher is absent, lessons can also be delivered
via a SharePoint-based Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
"We did not want the children to be bound by the school day, but
not everyone has access to a PC at home," said Richard Pickard,
deputy head teacher at Edensor College. "Having secure access to
the school network brings a wealth of opportunities for our pupils
to learn."
"One of the things that sprung up from our research was that
pupils often wished they had a replay button to repeat lesson
content - the VLE allows them to do that," he added.
An advantage of the programme has been the reduction in support
and hardware costs, with each computer only needing to be replaced
every five years, in contrast to the three years required by the
desktop PCs previously used by the college.
"All pupils need is a thin client device and broadband
connection," said Stuart Brown, director at Novus. "Citrix provides
applications for most of the students within the school. Extending
this home access cost very little. So pupils benefit from the same
desktop at home or at school."