Schoolcraft College

Challenge

Give students off-campus access to high-performance computing or graphically intensive software

Results

• Access any class environment from anywhere
• Identify virtual desktops with Ethos data model
• Replaced point-to-point integrations with cloud

Summary

It became a mission of mine to be able to allow students to take classes that required either high performance computing or highly graphically intensive software and be able to access that from off campus. So not require them to come into a campus lab to get to those things.

So, when we wanted to provide access to, let's say, CAD, or computer graphics technology, or nursing off campus, it became important for those computers to be able to know who the student was. And what virtual desktops they had access to.

We were able to use Ethos to pull that information into the Ethos data model and then the VMware environment could then reach into that, and then entitle those computers through settings in the active directory objects.

Rather than doing point-to-point integrations, we are able to put the data into the cloud.

Now that all of these technologies are available through virtual desktops, within an hour, we can move a computer lab from one computer lab on campus all the way across campus. And just the ability for any student, no matter what device they might happen to have personally or what their home life or home situation might be, in terms of being able to get to campus or things like that, it has really changed that game.

It really changes the course delivery model in that a student can access any class environment from anywhere.

The relationship with Ellucian has made that dream a reality. So now, we can provide access to highly demanding applications from anywhere by anyone. And that's going to change the course delivery in higher education.