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Want to be in the Cloud?

Want to be in the Cloud?. Wanda Barker Executive Director, NCCCS eLearning and Learning Technology Systems. Want to teach the latest software applications but your students can't afford the software?

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Want to be in the Cloud?

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  1. Want to be in the Cloud? Wanda Barker Executive Director, NCCCS eLearning and Learning Technology Systems

  2. Want to teach the latest software applications but your students can't afford the software? • Can't get the software applications loaded in the computer lab for student use before the semester begins? • Can't get the new software release to run on students' old desktop or laptop computers? • You can fix all these problems... in the cloud!

  3. Virtual Computing Environment • This collaborative cloud computing project is in its fourth year with NC State and is hosted at MCNC. The URL for access to the VCE is: http://vcl.ncsu.edu • NCCCS pays for the contract with NC State to manage and support the VCE. Colleges only pay for the software licenses of the applications loaded on the VCE. • The 2012 Request For Participation (RFP) allowed up to 18 colleges to participate. We received 17 proposals and all were accepted. • Added three more colleges in Summer

  4. Virtual Computing Environment • NCCCS is in the process of replacing old blades with newer models, allowing for even more capacity in the cloud (newer blades have 10:1 capacity). • RFPs for up to 30 colleges to participate in 2013! • RFP released October 10, 2012, due by Oct. 26 • Our goal is to have all colleges participating within three years (by 2015). • Complete your RFP, obtain all the necessary signatures, and send it to Wanda Barker, Kathy Davis, or Jacob Brintle at the System Office

  5. Colleges Participating per Year

  6. Who is in the cloud? • Previous Participants: AB Tech, Alamance, Bladen, Brunswick,CapeFear, Cleveland, Davidson, Edgecombe, Fayetteville Tech, Guilford Tech, Isothermal, Mayland, McDowell, Nash, Pitt, Roanoke-Chowan, Sandhills, South Piedmont, Surry, Tri-County, and Wake Tech. • Will your college be next?

  7. 2011 Stats with 15 Colleges • 10,527 reservations between 1/1/11 – 12/31/11 • 19,907 hours • NC State completed its One Millionth reservation this year! Avg. 1.89 hours of use per reservation

  8. Most common software used: • Microsoft Office Suite (both 2007 and 2010 versions) used for CIS110, CIS111,OST136, OST236, OST181, CSC120, and many others. • Adobe Creative Suite (for graphics and web design) used in numerous WEB, CSC, and GRD courses. • Many other software applications being used to a lesser degree, such as AutoCAD, Multisim™, PrimaVeraSuretrak™, ArcGIS, CentOS 5.4 Base, Civil 3D & Land Desktop 2010, ProLandscape v15, Quickbooks, SQL Server, C++, Visual Studio, Mindstorms NXT v2010.03.03.1610, Red Hat Fedora Core 9

  9. Benefits for Students • Cost avoidance/savings to students include: • Cost of the software application used for the course (could be in the hundreds of dollars for engineering or graphics applications) • Ability to use older desktop or laptop computer (replacing it less often because of memory required by some software applications) • Fewer trips to campus to use software loaded in computer labs

  10. Benefits to Faculty • Allows college instructors to teach more advanced and expensive software applications without lowering enrollments in the program • Allows more flexibility in teaching, more academic freedom in the types or varieties of software to teach • Helps to ensure students have access to do the hands-on work in software applications, in order to be more successful in the courses or workforce

  11. Benefits for Colleges: • Fewer licenses needed when accessing asynchronously through the cloud as compared to loading software in computer labs • Reduced need for new computer labs (which includes hardware savings as well as classroom utilization) • Extends the life of computers in the existing labs because less computing power is needed for access (computing power is in the cloud) • Reduced cost of IT support for computer labs • The ability to offer more asynchronous classes resulting in more FTE

  12. Additional Benefits: • Gives more control to Colleges of software choices and versions • Provides students with exposure to the most up to date software • Better prepares students for a high-tech workforce environment • Serves students of widely diverse socioeconomic backgrounds and budgets, who would not have to own most expensive computer or software

  13. How does it work for colleges? • Participants must attend training by NC State • Colleges purchase number of concurrent licenses needed • IT or Faculty create software “images” through the reservation system • LDAP authentication must be set up to create student logins • Colleges may customize their own login page with college branding (rather than having their students see the NC State login page)

  14. What is the cost to the college? You only pay for the software licenses, which you would pay for anyway… and you need less of them!

  15. One Negative Aspect for now:VDA Issue (Virtual Desktop Access License) • MS charges higher education customers around $10 per student FTE per year for this license. They often give a discount of about 50%.  The VDA license applies to the total FTE count for an academic institution, regardless of the number of student users who access Windows 7 remotely. • The VDA license applies to access via the VCL/VCE.  MS says it also applies to access via Citrix, VMware ,or other vendors. Some NC community colleges are not aware of this licensing policy regarding Citrix. • The VDA is not required when the VCL runs the older Windows XP OS.  So NC State provides Windows XP only, in addition to Linux, while we are in negotiations with MS. Our 30,000+ FTE would result in a charge of $300,000/year which we cannot afford. • If your college has a VDA license, please let us know.

  16. How does it work for students? • Student use is on a reservation-based system set up at NC State, through LDAP authentication • It takes just a few minutes to load the image on the virtual machine, so students must allow up to 15 minutes for instant reservations (Best practice is to schedule in advance so there is no wait time) • Students must save their files to a flash drive or sky drive (or their own desktop) or the work they’ve completed will be lost

  17. How does it work for faculty? • Faculty must plan for the version and number of software licenses to be used • Faculty must work with IT to upload the images to the cloud before the semester starts • Faculty must prepare the students for how to access and use the software online, and how to save the files • Faculty must help to manage the expectations of the students for the reservation system and for planning their work • Faculty and students must complete evaluations

  18. Questions? Thank you!

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