A Remote Learning Solution to be proud of...

It was two years ago, in December 2006, that Belvoir High School began to develop its vision for remote learning.  The desire was that all pupils would be able to access Information Technology (IT) when they needed it, in the same way that they choose a pen or pencil.  This was described as IT on demand.  It is a long-term aim, but one worth striving for all the same.

Despite limited resources, the school had already committed itself to developing a rich IT environment, as evidenced by interactive whiteboards in every class room, a wireless network across the school, and an ICT suite and class set of laptops that were both constantly booked.  Kevin Bennett, Assistant Head responsible for e-learning, was eager to meet the challenge of providing a virtual learning environment (VLE) for the school, which the Government had targeted for all schools by September 2008.
 
Vision for a Virtual School

A small group of colleagues at the High School began to consider what opportunities there to use IT as a vehicle for collaboration and transition by taking the learning to the pupils.  The High School IT Staff conducted an audit of the facilities in the nine schools. 

This work highlighted two main areas of development:

– A virtual learning environment across the Vale
– Video Conferencing facilities in each school in the Vale Heads Group.

These two concepts would be united as a managed learning environment (MLE), which would be given the title of Vale Virtual School.

The Video-conferencing element would allow a variety of enrichment and transition activities to occur:

– The development of gifted and talented across the Primary Schools.
– Modern foreign language specialists to work simultaneously with pupils in a number of primary schools.
– Regular opportunities for Year 7 pupils to share their experience of Secondary School with Year 6 Classes.
– Excellent opportunities for teachers across the schools to share good practice and joint training sessions without leaving school.

The virtual learning environment would allow a range of information to be accessed by pupils and their families from across the Vale, including:

– Information about extended services
– Availability of high quality, low cost child care
– Access to school resources for the community
– A swift and easy link  to referral and specialist support services

A compulsory part and cornerstone of the Targeted Capital Fund was to establish a soft governance federation committee with delegated powers across the nine schools. In the final weeks of 2007, the schools discovered their TCF bid had been accepted and hence were in the envious and scary position of having £500,000 to turn the vision into reality. 

Working with IT Suppliers

Within the TCF bid, a detailed technical specification was required alongside indicative costings for the project.  The TCF was not the schools only ICT project; at the same time the school were was also writing a design brief for building requirements as they moved to 11-16 status. 

Two years previously, the school had been let down by an IT provider as it attempted to refit their IT room.  With only a week before the term, the school had turned to PC World Business who they viewed as simply ‘box shifters’ but able to supply machines quickly and at a reasonable price.  Over the next year, the school build a relationship with PC World Business, which was interested in developing links with the world of education. 

The school discussed its IT vision with PC World Business with the belief that the TCF bid and the school’s redevelopment could provide the opportunity to make this a reality.  PC World Business spent considerable time with the school discussing technical possibilities and introducing the school to other partners such as the Novus group and Hewlett Packard.  Belvoir School was greatly impressed by the time these national companies gave to such small rural school through the sharing of technical expertise and knowledge. 

In parallel, as a result of the education reorganisation the school was strongly encouraged by the local authority to become a Trust school.  The school saw this as an opportunity to formalise links with a range of outside partners and PC World Business was asked if they would consider becoming a member of the Trust.  This was not seen by the school as a mercenary money-grabbing opportunity, but instead it was hoped that a strong relationship could be built with PC World Business where expertise could be shared by both parties.  Belvoir High School went on to become the first Trust school in Leicestshire and one of the first in the country.

Thin-Client Solution

PC World Business, Novus and Hewlett Packard discussed the possibility of the school using thin-client devices.  The selection of blade servers would also increase efficiency and reduce energy consumption further.

It was suggested that the school visited the Edensor Technology College (TC) in Stoke-on-Trent who had worked with Novus in making considerable use of thin-client devices for pupils studying in school and for remote learning.  The Edensor School serves a deprived catchment but had the ambition of all pupils being able to work online even though few of their parents could afford to buy computers.  Edensor TC was taking part in Computers for Pupils (CfP), a £60million two-year Government initiative that aims to put computers into the homes of the most disadvantaged secondary school pupils to improve their educational achievements and life skills.

When the college began working on this initiative, they tried traditional notebooks.  But at the time, notebooks were heavy, needed charging regularly and there was nowhere in school to store them securely.  In addition, as the then Deputy Head Richard Pickard explained, “for the notebooks to be able to access resources that were available in the class room, every pupil had to have internet access at home, something we had no control over”

So, the college then considered thin-client devices that would stay in the pupils’ home and give them remote access to all the resources they would normally have in the classroom at a cheaper initial and on going cost basis than the notebooks.  As the thin-client devices are essentially useless if they are not connected to the servers, they would be worthless if someone tried to sell them.  The college was using Citrix technology as an effective way of providing application software for users via servers, removing the need to install software on individual PCs.  We were so impressed by the progress of Edensor Technology College was making that we incorporated thin-clients devices into our TCF bid. 

Choosing a Supplier

In July of last year, the school was delighted to discover that its bid was successful and as a result of the hard work the implementing would begin.  Even though the school had received considerable help from PC World Business, both parties knew that the tendering process had to be done according to best practice.  The first task required was to draw up a full design specification, which was done with thin-client provider with expertise in the education sector. 

After some discussions, it was recommended that the school look at the OGC buyer website and how it deals with such processes.  This seemed to be a very simple and logical way forward.  The school was reassured that all providers had already been through a process to ensure they can meet Government purchasing requirements. 

Kevin Bennett, Assistant Head said:

“After registering with the OGC buyer website we simply uploaded the tender document and after a little assistance from a member of the OGC buyer team selected the appropriate category of ICT supplier and submitted the tender for the bidding process to begin.  I was then able to check the progress of the bids online and see which companies had viewed the document.  When the bidding process had finished I then made the decision as to which supplier we would use, and then was able to use the OGC website again to notify bidders of whether they had been successful or not.”

Putting the solution into practice

Belvoir High School started to implement its vision by setting up one room with thin-client devices to test the system fully in a working environment.  They used HP Thin-Client t5725 devices.  This was supported by the solutions providers who were successful in the bid, PC World Business partnered by Novus who are thin-client specialists. 

The devices have proved beneficial in several ways; costs, energy consumption and longevity.  All of these factors have meant from a financial perspective the school is able to make great cost savings, making this a more sustainable and future-proof solution. 

The school has put the devices in a standard classroom without the need to consider large amounts of air conditioning.  The energy saving is important not only in terms, of cost, but also in terms of the school’s carbon footprint. 

They also needed to invest in the server and infrastructure, and decided on HP Blade Servers to increase the efficiency and reduce consumption. 

Kevin Bennett says,

“The management of the thin-client devices is far quicker and easier than fat-client particularly for large numbers of devices.  For example, our technician team can simply upgrade software on the server farm and it is then available to the whole network without having to upgrade each individual device.  This means we do not need to employ additional technicians to support their system.

Developing Remote Access

The Citrix solution that Belvoir High School has adopted is similar to the solution used by Edensor TC.  It means that pupils can use their traditional fat-client devices at home to log onto the school network as well as using thin-clients in school.  Once they have logged onto the school network, their home computers essentially become a thin-client device as the pupils can use all the software and resources on the network.  These resources can be accessed anywhere from anywhere via the internet. 

A basic example of this is a pupil can use the latest Microsoft Office materials to work on the school homework via the internet, no matter what software their parents currently own.  A further benefit of this is the safety of the system.  If pupils are suing the school network for internet or e-mail use, the school’s filtering system protects the pupil from any outside threat.  Parents can then be satisfied that their children are not accessing any material that they shouldn’t be.

Staff can log on to the network and use Microsoft Outlook to monitor their e-mails and work remotely. One member of staff even tested this by using a USB internet modem to log onto the school network and work remotely while sat in the countryside waiting pupils on a sponsored walk tor reach him. 

Kevin Bennett outlined further benefits of the system:

“The Citrix solution we decided on also allows us to give pupils access to systems and applications from any location on a huge range of internet enabled devices so long as they can connect to the internet.

Future Plans

The next stage of development is to complete the school’s managed learning environment, which is also being developed for the eight primary schools.  The school is patiently building this system and hoped to have it in operation in the new academic year and is currently running a test site. 

There are also continual developments that were not in the original vision.  One of the most important of these is an extended school website, which is currently being built.  Initially, this was going to be part of the managed learning environment and just serve the Vale of Belvoir.  However, Melton Borough Council was so impressed with the concept that from the outset it wished to broaden the project and now the website is being constructed to serve both the Vale and Melton Mowbray.

The school is also looking to see what other devices can be used as thin-client devices to allow pupils to access the network remotely.  Development work is being planned to consider how non-traditional devices such as PSPs and Nintendo DS Lite game consoles and Apple iPod could be used as remote access devices.  Alongside this, the school is also trialling the use of latest breed of notebook devices such as the ASUS EeePC and HP mini-note.

Benefits to the School

Belvoir High School has greatly benefitted from working with IT providers to develop its vision.  These partners have been eager to show the school the true possibilities that the latest IT Solutions can create.  The Citrix solution along with the managed learning environment will enable the school to offer a true remote learning experience that allows pupils to gain the most from the school’s investment in ICT.  We look forward to combining this with the latest video-conferencing and then we truly will have remote learning solution to be proud of.