Improving the student experience by deploying software across campus on-demand

Creating an awesome student experience is a constant moving target for IT departments in colleges and universities around the world. But one area that continues to lack a “silver bullet” solution is application delivery:... [ view full abstract ]

Creating an awesome student experience is a constant moving target for IT departments in colleges and universities around the world. But one area that continues to lack a “silver bullet” solution is application delivery: how do I deliver hundreds of software apps to tens of thousands of students across campus, on any device and at any time?

Tied to computer labs or delivered via expensive backend-laden pixel streaming or virtual desktop solutions, academic software often presents IT departments with numerous challenges: image size, packaging time, problems with drivers and dependencies, software licensing, the list goes on!

With the BYOD trend here to stay, the 21st century student expects to be able to get the software they need for their coursework whenever they need it. But often the reality is that they need to go to a certain lab at a set time; not a great student experience!

In this presentation, attendees will learn how George Brown College (one of Toronto's largest educational institutions) are at the forefront of using EdTech to transform the student experience. By presenting applications in a familiar app store format on any device, leveraging next-generation application virtualization, and integrating with delivery technologies from multiple vendors, students at George Brown College now have a large library of software available to access anywhere across their three campuses.

Presented by Frank Rosa, Director of Information Technology Services at George Brown College, this presentation will cover:

- Why did the college need to do anything?
- What are the challenges with application delivery using traditional methods?
- How to deploy 100% of Windows apps on demand
- Enabling student BYOD
- Why application virtualization is a better fit than VDI
- How to improve internal efficiency around deploying apps