Maximising the benefits of the virtual classroom

VDI deployment can stretch academic budgets

Published January 2016

In the world of education IT, few things are more readily apparent than the need to continuously do more with less. From large state universities servicing hundreds of thousands of students, faculty and staff, to small, private elementary schools with fewer than 500 students, IT budgets are being slashed while their virtual environments become increasingly complex and difficult to manage. In the slowly recovering economy, higher education funding in almost every state remains well below pre recession levels, with average spending at 23% less per student than before 2008.1 With each dollar spent under heavy scrutiny, attention is focused on proving that as much available funding as possible is being put directly towards classroom instruction, generally ignoring technology as an important component of comprehensive school reform. IT administrators are left to bear a heavy burden and are under continuous pressure to provide a quality 21st century teaching and learning environment without the appropriate resources or funding.

This need not be the case for academic institutions looking for an alternative to costly hardware refreshes and less-than-reliable end-user experiences, so long as the matter is handled with care. This e-book explores common challenges facing academic institutions planning for, deploying and maintaining a VDI environment, as well as a unique approach to addressing them, ensuring a maximum realization of value.