Canada Institute to Manage Student-Owned Computers

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 08/13/09

Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning has selected software from MokaFive to power its fall mobile computing program. Sheridan, which has 15,000 students on two campuses in Ontario, will use the MokaFive Suite to support a third of those students with its "Bring Your Own PC" (BYOPC) model. MokaFive Suite runs on Mac OS X and Windows systems and provides a virtual desktop that enables users to access resources on the campus network securely.

Sheridan will create a single, standard desktop image that all students in the mobile computing program can download from a Web link and run locally on their own computers. Sheridan IT administrators will manage and secure the virtual desktop, called a LivePC, from a single server. That includes updating and patching the operating system and applications without disrupting student data, settings, or the supplemental applications students choose to install. Plus, administrators will be able to "expire" that desktop environment after a student graduates or suspend it temporarily if the student is on vacation or studying abroad.

"We needed a solution that would provide a single, standard desktop environment to all our students and teachers that would work on any platform," said Jason Gerrity, manager of Academic & Administrative Computing. "MokaFive provides exactly that. Their technology is feature rich and robust and is ready to go right now."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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