Six colleges migrated email and storage to Microsoft Office 365 in the cloud, while two others used Google Mail. Implementation was mostly smooth except for a few colleges that encountered challenges. Benefits included increased storage capacity, 24/7 access and support, and reduced server costs. Supplier relationships were generally positive but a few colleges experienced delays or changed partners due to lack of clarity or unmet expectations.
This document summarizes a set of projects moving college email and storage to cloud services like Microsoft 365 and Google Mail. Key drivers included limited server capacity, demand for mobile access, and need for collaboration. Projects implemented cloud services to provide continuous access across devices, more storage, and document sharing. Expected benefits were increased productivity for students and staff. Colleges reported impacts like eliminating lost work and 99.9% uptime. Challenges included change management and training for new systems.
Innovative E-Learning through Scalable,Elastic and Dynamic Cloud Computing Ar...IRJET Journal
The document discusses innovative e-learning through scalable, elastic, and dynamic cloud computing architecture. It first provides background on cloud computing and discusses how cloud computing can enhance e-learning by reducing costs and improving flexibility. The document then discusses different cloud computing models including Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Storage as a Service. It explains how these models can support e-learning applications, storage, and infrastructure delivery through the cloud. Finally, it outlines the benefits of using cloud architecture for e-learning such as powerful computing and storage capacity, high availability, high security, and virtualization.
Madison Academy in Huntsville, Alabama upgraded their communications services from their previous provider to WOW! Business due to reliability issues. WOW! installed fiber internet with 200 Mbps speeds, phone lines, a Cisco phone system, and video services. Since switching to WOW! Business, Madison Academy has experienced consistently high uptime of five nines and smoother transitions. WOW! Business provides dedicated support and scalable, reliable solutions to meet Madison Academy's changing technology needs.
These 3 projects focused on moving business and employment applications to the cloud. Barking and Dagenham College used Google Apps to provide increased flexibility for learners, staff, and employers. Bolton College piloted Chromebooks with work-based assessors using Google Apps. Telford College developed an open source software service for local businesses. The projects aimed to reduce costs while improving collaboration and access to applications.
The document describes IBM's plans to open an AI Lab using IBM Power 9 systems. The lab will conduct research on advanced AI technologies, enable industry-academic partnerships through collaborative projects, and offer education and training opportunities through workshops and curriculums. It provides details on the planned technologies, partners, charter and objectives of the lab. Specific use cases are outlined for how students, lecturers and researchers can access and utilize resources in the AI cloud setup.
This document discusses the potential benefits of implementing cloud computing technologies in libraries and e-libraries. It begins by providing background on cloud computing and how it can enable on-demand access to configurable computing resources. It then reviews related literature on cloud computing applications in educational and library settings. The document outlines some of the key advantages of cloud computing for libraries, such as improved efficiency, reduced expenses, enhanced collaboration, backup of information, and improved access and management of files. It also notes some potential disadvantages, such as issues relating to security, lack of control, and dependence on network performance. Overall, the document argues that cloud computing can be a useful tool for libraries to automate services and processes while reducing the need for on-site management
Microsoft Office 365 for Education also includes cloud services to create a modern classroom. Create collaborative classrooms, connect in professional learning communities, and communicate with school staff with the power of OneDrive, Teams, Skype, and more -- all from a single experience in Office 365 Education.
This document summarizes the integration of existing training content from Thales into the ComplyWise system. ComplyWise provided templates to help subject specialists at Thales convert their content into the required e-learning format. However, some specialists struggled to complete it on time. ComplyWise expert Susan Hawkings worked alongside specialists who needed assistance. Thanks to her expertise in migrating instructor-led content to e-learning, they were able to complete the new courses on schedule and within budget. The ComplyWise Quiz Manager and Quiz Question Analysis tools were also implemented to help Thales monitor competency levels across all training courses.
This document summarizes a set of projects moving college email and storage to cloud services like Microsoft 365 and Google Mail. Key drivers included limited server capacity, demand for mobile access, and need for collaboration. Projects implemented cloud services to provide continuous access across devices, more storage, and document sharing. Expected benefits were increased productivity for students and staff. Colleges reported impacts like eliminating lost work and 99.9% uptime. Challenges included change management and training for new systems.
Innovative E-Learning through Scalable,Elastic and Dynamic Cloud Computing Ar...IRJET Journal
The document discusses innovative e-learning through scalable, elastic, and dynamic cloud computing architecture. It first provides background on cloud computing and discusses how cloud computing can enhance e-learning by reducing costs and improving flexibility. The document then discusses different cloud computing models including Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Storage as a Service. It explains how these models can support e-learning applications, storage, and infrastructure delivery through the cloud. Finally, it outlines the benefits of using cloud architecture for e-learning such as powerful computing and storage capacity, high availability, high security, and virtualization.
Madison Academy in Huntsville, Alabama upgraded their communications services from their previous provider to WOW! Business due to reliability issues. WOW! installed fiber internet with 200 Mbps speeds, phone lines, a Cisco phone system, and video services. Since switching to WOW! Business, Madison Academy has experienced consistently high uptime of five nines and smoother transitions. WOW! Business provides dedicated support and scalable, reliable solutions to meet Madison Academy's changing technology needs.
These 3 projects focused on moving business and employment applications to the cloud. Barking and Dagenham College used Google Apps to provide increased flexibility for learners, staff, and employers. Bolton College piloted Chromebooks with work-based assessors using Google Apps. Telford College developed an open source software service for local businesses. The projects aimed to reduce costs while improving collaboration and access to applications.
The document describes IBM's plans to open an AI Lab using IBM Power 9 systems. The lab will conduct research on advanced AI technologies, enable industry-academic partnerships through collaborative projects, and offer education and training opportunities through workshops and curriculums. It provides details on the planned technologies, partners, charter and objectives of the lab. Specific use cases are outlined for how students, lecturers and researchers can access and utilize resources in the AI cloud setup.
This document discusses the potential benefits of implementing cloud computing technologies in libraries and e-libraries. It begins by providing background on cloud computing and how it can enable on-demand access to configurable computing resources. It then reviews related literature on cloud computing applications in educational and library settings. The document outlines some of the key advantages of cloud computing for libraries, such as improved efficiency, reduced expenses, enhanced collaboration, backup of information, and improved access and management of files. It also notes some potential disadvantages, such as issues relating to security, lack of control, and dependence on network performance. Overall, the document argues that cloud computing can be a useful tool for libraries to automate services and processes while reducing the need for on-site management
Microsoft Office 365 for Education also includes cloud services to create a modern classroom. Create collaborative classrooms, connect in professional learning communities, and communicate with school staff with the power of OneDrive, Teams, Skype, and more -- all from a single experience in Office 365 Education.
This document summarizes the integration of existing training content from Thales into the ComplyWise system. ComplyWise provided templates to help subject specialists at Thales convert their content into the required e-learning format. However, some specialists struggled to complete it on time. ComplyWise expert Susan Hawkings worked alongside specialists who needed assistance. Thanks to her expertise in migrating instructor-led content to e-learning, they were able to complete the new courses on schedule and within budget. The ComplyWise Quiz Manager and Quiz Question Analysis tools were also implemented to help Thales monitor competency levels across all training courses.
This document discusses initiatives by Talk Direct, a UK mobile phone franchise, to promote digital inclusion for the visually impaired. It describes Mark Skelton's story of developing a visual impairment and using a smartphone to stay connected. It also provides statistics on sight loss in the UK and discusses accessibility features on iPhone and Android phones, a blindfold challenge simulation, and Talk Direct's partnerships with charities and schools to develop products and raise guide dog funding for the visually impaired community.
This document provides information about a silent auction being held by the Association of Colleges Charitable Trust to raise funds. It includes a foreword explaining the purpose of the auction and thanks to donors. The catalogue then lists various goods, services and experiences that have been donated, including opportunities for colleges (e.g. training sessions, conferences), mentoring for FE managers, sporting memorabilia, guest speakers and dining/hospitality experiences. Details are provided on how to participate in the online auction including signing up and bidding. The auction aims to support students' career aspirations and activities beyond their courses.
Hackney Community College offers study programmes for learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. These programmes are highly personalized based on four key areas: work, living, health, and social activity. Students can spend time experiencing and gradually integrating into the world of young adulthood through a wide range of activities at the college and with community partners. Tutorials focus on self-advocacy, and programmes include enterprise projects, taster courses, evening community activities, work skills training, and potentially apprenticeships or residential life skills learning. The goal is to support students' transition to adulthood through targeted learning and agreed life goals in each of the four areas.
This document discusses leak management opportunities in industrial facilities and pipelines. It summarizes a leak management program implemented at a refinery in 2006 that was successful in eliminating leaks. The key aspects of the program included: 1) identifying critical joints using a risk-based criteria, 2) reviewing assembly procedures and providing quality control oversight for contractor work, and 3) implementing best practices from ASME PCC-1 including establishing procedures, training personnel, and documenting the work. As a result, the refinery restarted with no leaks after the program and established a leak tracking database to reduce future leaks.
This document discusses several projects involving colleges moving their virtual learning environments (VLEs) to cloud hosting. It provides details on:
1) Several colleges that migrated their VLEs, mainly Moodle, to public or private clouds, citing benefits of increased resilience, integration, and cost savings.
2) Implementation challenges included technical issues, changes to staff work practices, and ensuring seamless transitions for students and faculty.
3) Successful projects benefited from established partnerships between colleges and experienced relationships with cloud hosting providers.
The document discusses four college projects focused on disaster recovery in the cloud. It summarizes each project's goals, approach, and outcomes. Two key projects involved replicating servers in Microsoft Azure (South Tyneside College) and integrating private and public cloud solutions using Amazon Glacier (Walsall College). The document also discusses supplier relationships, delivery models, and project management considerations for disaster recovery in the cloud.
The document summarizes projects using cloud computing applications to improve access to learning tools for further education colleges. It discusses projects that used Google Apps, SharePoint, virtual desktops, and video platforms to provide learners access to software from any device both on and off campus. The projects aimed to increase engagement and support access for those with disabilities. Delivery methods varied but commonly provided single sign-on access to applications across different locations through public or private clouds.
The Arthur Terry Learning Partnership, a consortium of 7 schools in the Midlands, worked with C24 to migrate their email and Office applications from on-premise servers to Microsoft Office 365. The migration involved moving 4,500 students and staff from a mix of on-premise Exchange and third-party hosted email. C24 successfully managed the phased migration to Office 365, allowing seamless communication and collaboration across schools. Students and staff can now access files from any device, and IT costs have been reduced.
The Arthur Terry Learning Partnership is a consortium of 7 schools based in the Midlands; comprising of three secondary schools and four primary schools. IT plays a critical role in helping the schools to achieve their objectives for operational excellence and superior learning experiences.
C24 was approached by the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership (ATLP) to assist with an organisation-wide migration from on-premise email and Microsoft Office applications to a hybrid cloud solution via the Office 365 platform.
Section 4.1 student and other stakeholder relationship management in the cloudAssociation of Colleges
Cloud computing provides opportunities to better manage relationships with students and other stakeholders through integrated systems. Three colleges implemented cloud-based relationship management projects with different approaches. Brockenhurst College migrated their existing system to the cloud for improved scalability and mobile access. Gloucestershire College developed a new integrated website and CRM system in the cloud. City College Coventry created a mobile app for key campus information. The projects aimed to improve communication and support for students throughout their learning journey using cloud technologies.
This document summarizes case studies from several colleges that implemented cloud computing applications and projects. The projects included making software, communication tools, and learning resources available to students both on and off campus through cloud servers and virtual desktop infrastructure. The projects aimed to increase flexibility and accessibility of learning. Technical challenges included integrating different data streams and configuring remote desktop services within each college's existing infrastructure.
This document discusses several colleges' projects involving integrating their data systems with SharePoint in the cloud. The projects include implementing Office 365 and Forefront Identity Manager at East Riding College, moving an existing VLE and website to the cloud at Exeter College and Gloucestershire College for improved functionality and reduced costs, moving financial services to the cloud at Isle of Wight College, and improving device connectivity and the VLE at Reaseheath College.
The document summarizes two projects that moved finance systems to the cloud - a multi-college project called FE Sussex involving 8 colleges, and a single college project at Isle of Wight College.
For the FE Sussex project, change management was identified as the biggest challenge to ensure the 7,000 users across colleges adopted common business processes. This project is expected to save £75,000 annually by reducing in-college servers.
The Isle of Wight College project encountered technical issues during testing but has since seen staff find the new cloud-based system easier to use. It is projected to save £18,000 annually along with staff time savings.
Both projects aim to improve services and achieve cost savings through moving
This document summarizes projects by three colleges that implemented cloud-based student relationship management systems. Brockenhurst College migrated their existing system to Microsoft Azure to continue supporting students innovatively. City College Coventry developed an HTML5 mobile app using cloud technology. Gloucestershire College implemented Microsoft Dynamics CRM in the cloud to track students. The projects aimed to better communicate with and market to students. Brockenhurst found technical challenges around internet connectivity redundancy but established an effective relationship with Microsoft. City College Coventry faced a learning curve with new technologies. Gloucestershire anticipated improved applicant tracking and support.
This document discusses several college projects that involve migrating various IT systems and services to cloud-based solutions. The projects aim to replace on-premise servers with cloud storage, implement email and collaboration tools through the cloud and integrate them with learning management systems. Additional goals include improving user experience and performance, reducing costs, and providing remote access to software and desktop services for students.
United Arab Emirates University Enhances Messaging While Saving IT Time and C...Office
The United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) was facing increasing costs and management difficulties with its aging email system. It deployed Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 on campus and migrated alumni email accounts to Microsoft Live@edu in the cloud. This lowered storage costs, reduced the IT workload, and provided more communication flexibility for students, faculty, and alumni.
North East Worcestershire College implemented cloud-based email and office tools from Google Apps to enable collaborative technologies and mobile working among staff and students. The college provided training resources like guides and videos on using Google Apps and held one-on-one sessions with leadership to demonstrate mobile access to content. While initial training covered all Google Apps features, the college learned to focus training on specific apps and deliver it over a longer period. Benefits included single sign-on to over 40 resources, cloud-based document storage and sharing, replacement of an aging intranet server, and reduced email backups through Google Vault. Future work includes developing the staff intranet to allow more user interaction and responsibility.
North East Worcestershire College implemented Cloud-based email and office tools from Google Apps to enable collaborative technologies and mobile working. The college provided training resources like guides and videos to help staff transition to the new document management system. Training sessions were held one-on-one and in departments to introduce the new features. Lessons learned were to introduce new systems slowly and focus training on specific apps. Benefits included single sign-on for over 40 resources, cloud-based storage and document sharing, replacement of an aging email server, and replacement of an aging intranet server. Future work includes further developing the staff intranet.
This document discusses initiatives by Talk Direct, a UK mobile phone franchise, to promote digital inclusion for the visually impaired. It describes Mark Skelton's story of developing a visual impairment and using a smartphone to stay connected. It also provides statistics on sight loss in the UK and discusses accessibility features on iPhone and Android phones, a blindfold challenge simulation, and Talk Direct's partnerships with charities and schools to develop products and raise guide dog funding for the visually impaired community.
This document provides information about a silent auction being held by the Association of Colleges Charitable Trust to raise funds. It includes a foreword explaining the purpose of the auction and thanks to donors. The catalogue then lists various goods, services and experiences that have been donated, including opportunities for colleges (e.g. training sessions, conferences), mentoring for FE managers, sporting memorabilia, guest speakers and dining/hospitality experiences. Details are provided on how to participate in the online auction including signing up and bidding. The auction aims to support students' career aspirations and activities beyond their courses.
Hackney Community College offers study programmes for learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. These programmes are highly personalized based on four key areas: work, living, health, and social activity. Students can spend time experiencing and gradually integrating into the world of young adulthood through a wide range of activities at the college and with community partners. Tutorials focus on self-advocacy, and programmes include enterprise projects, taster courses, evening community activities, work skills training, and potentially apprenticeships or residential life skills learning. The goal is to support students' transition to adulthood through targeted learning and agreed life goals in each of the four areas.
This document discusses leak management opportunities in industrial facilities and pipelines. It summarizes a leak management program implemented at a refinery in 2006 that was successful in eliminating leaks. The key aspects of the program included: 1) identifying critical joints using a risk-based criteria, 2) reviewing assembly procedures and providing quality control oversight for contractor work, and 3) implementing best practices from ASME PCC-1 including establishing procedures, training personnel, and documenting the work. As a result, the refinery restarted with no leaks after the program and established a leak tracking database to reduce future leaks.
This document discusses several projects involving colleges moving their virtual learning environments (VLEs) to cloud hosting. It provides details on:
1) Several colleges that migrated their VLEs, mainly Moodle, to public or private clouds, citing benefits of increased resilience, integration, and cost savings.
2) Implementation challenges included technical issues, changes to staff work practices, and ensuring seamless transitions for students and faculty.
3) Successful projects benefited from established partnerships between colleges and experienced relationships with cloud hosting providers.
The document discusses four college projects focused on disaster recovery in the cloud. It summarizes each project's goals, approach, and outcomes. Two key projects involved replicating servers in Microsoft Azure (South Tyneside College) and integrating private and public cloud solutions using Amazon Glacier (Walsall College). The document also discusses supplier relationships, delivery models, and project management considerations for disaster recovery in the cloud.
The document summarizes projects using cloud computing applications to improve access to learning tools for further education colleges. It discusses projects that used Google Apps, SharePoint, virtual desktops, and video platforms to provide learners access to software from any device both on and off campus. The projects aimed to increase engagement and support access for those with disabilities. Delivery methods varied but commonly provided single sign-on access to applications across different locations through public or private clouds.
The Arthur Terry Learning Partnership, a consortium of 7 schools in the Midlands, worked with C24 to migrate their email and Office applications from on-premise servers to Microsoft Office 365. The migration involved moving 4,500 students and staff from a mix of on-premise Exchange and third-party hosted email. C24 successfully managed the phased migration to Office 365, allowing seamless communication and collaboration across schools. Students and staff can now access files from any device, and IT costs have been reduced.
The Arthur Terry Learning Partnership is a consortium of 7 schools based in the Midlands; comprising of three secondary schools and four primary schools. IT plays a critical role in helping the schools to achieve their objectives for operational excellence and superior learning experiences.
C24 was approached by the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership (ATLP) to assist with an organisation-wide migration from on-premise email and Microsoft Office applications to a hybrid cloud solution via the Office 365 platform.
Section 4.1 student and other stakeholder relationship management in the cloudAssociation of Colleges
Cloud computing provides opportunities to better manage relationships with students and other stakeholders through integrated systems. Three colleges implemented cloud-based relationship management projects with different approaches. Brockenhurst College migrated their existing system to the cloud for improved scalability and mobile access. Gloucestershire College developed a new integrated website and CRM system in the cloud. City College Coventry created a mobile app for key campus information. The projects aimed to improve communication and support for students throughout their learning journey using cloud technologies.
This document summarizes case studies from several colleges that implemented cloud computing applications and projects. The projects included making software, communication tools, and learning resources available to students both on and off campus through cloud servers and virtual desktop infrastructure. The projects aimed to increase flexibility and accessibility of learning. Technical challenges included integrating different data streams and configuring remote desktop services within each college's existing infrastructure.
This document discusses several colleges' projects involving integrating their data systems with SharePoint in the cloud. The projects include implementing Office 365 and Forefront Identity Manager at East Riding College, moving an existing VLE and website to the cloud at Exeter College and Gloucestershire College for improved functionality and reduced costs, moving financial services to the cloud at Isle of Wight College, and improving device connectivity and the VLE at Reaseheath College.
The document summarizes two projects that moved finance systems to the cloud - a multi-college project called FE Sussex involving 8 colleges, and a single college project at Isle of Wight College.
For the FE Sussex project, change management was identified as the biggest challenge to ensure the 7,000 users across colleges adopted common business processes. This project is expected to save £75,000 annually by reducing in-college servers.
The Isle of Wight College project encountered technical issues during testing but has since seen staff find the new cloud-based system easier to use. It is projected to save £18,000 annually along with staff time savings.
Both projects aim to improve services and achieve cost savings through moving
This document summarizes projects by three colleges that implemented cloud-based student relationship management systems. Brockenhurst College migrated their existing system to Microsoft Azure to continue supporting students innovatively. City College Coventry developed an HTML5 mobile app using cloud technology. Gloucestershire College implemented Microsoft Dynamics CRM in the cloud to track students. The projects aimed to better communicate with and market to students. Brockenhurst found technical challenges around internet connectivity redundancy but established an effective relationship with Microsoft. City College Coventry faced a learning curve with new technologies. Gloucestershire anticipated improved applicant tracking and support.
This document discusses several college projects that involve migrating various IT systems and services to cloud-based solutions. The projects aim to replace on-premise servers with cloud storage, implement email and collaboration tools through the cloud and integrate them with learning management systems. Additional goals include improving user experience and performance, reducing costs, and providing remote access to software and desktop services for students.
United Arab Emirates University Enhances Messaging While Saving IT Time and C...Office
The United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) was facing increasing costs and management difficulties with its aging email system. It deployed Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 on campus and migrated alumni email accounts to Microsoft Live@edu in the cloud. This lowered storage costs, reduced the IT workload, and provided more communication flexibility for students, faculty, and alumni.
North East Worcestershire College implemented cloud-based email and office tools from Google Apps to enable collaborative technologies and mobile working among staff and students. The college provided training resources like guides and videos on using Google Apps and held one-on-one sessions with leadership to demonstrate mobile access to content. While initial training covered all Google Apps features, the college learned to focus training on specific apps and deliver it over a longer period. Benefits included single sign-on to over 40 resources, cloud-based document storage and sharing, replacement of an aging intranet server, and reduced email backups through Google Vault. Future work includes developing the staff intranet to allow more user interaction and responsibility.
North East Worcestershire College implemented Cloud-based email and office tools from Google Apps to enable collaborative technologies and mobile working. The college provided training resources like guides and videos to help staff transition to the new document management system. Training sessions were held one-on-one and in departments to introduce the new features. Lessons learned were to introduce new systems slowly and focus training on specific apps. Benefits included single sign-on for over 40 resources, cloud-based storage and document sharing, replacement of an aging email server, and replacement of an aging intranet server. Future work includes further developing the staff intranet.
The document discusses several projects undertaken by UK colleges to utilize cloud computing applications to support employer engagement and work-based learning.
Bolton College provided work-based assessors with Chromebooks and Google Apps to access resources like e-portfolios and track learner progress remotely. Barking and Dagenham College used Google Apps for enterprise learners and customized administrative functions. Telford College set up a website and "app store" for local businesses to access open-source software hosted in their private cloud.
The projects aimed to provide flexible access to information for remote learners and engage employers. While connectivity issues arose, overall the colleges found benefits like increased flexibility, cost savings, and improved services for learners, staff
These projects involved several colleges implementing disaster recovery solutions in the cloud using services like Microsoft Azure, Amazon Glacier, and CrashPlan. The goals were to address limitations like server capacity, data security risks, and single points of failure. Benefits included robust disaster recovery, cost savings compared to on-site solutions, and releasing expensive on-site storage for other uses. Challenges included understanding cloud solutions, contracting timelines, and assessing long-term costs as pricing structures change rapidly. Lessons learned focused on planning for unexpected issues and allowing more time for contract negotiations.
Brockenhurst College decided to delay transitioning its student relationship system to the cloud due to concerns over bandwidth reliability when student usage was high. Testing showed the cloud-based Azure platform was robust, but the college's internet connection proved to be the weak link under heavy usage. The connection is scheduled for an upgrade in December 2013, after which the college will reevaluate moving to the cloud. Transitioning to the cloud could save £10k annually in IT costs and improve the student experience with faster response times and increased availability.
Blackburn College implemented a cloud-based virtual desktop infrastructure to improve the student experience. The VDI allows students to access assistive software like MindView from on or off campus. It also enables staff to access internal software externally. Over 1,000 staff and 50 students can currently access resources through the VDI. The College aims to roll out use of the VDI to its over 10,000 students. It is estimated the VDI will save the College $150,000 over three years.
Blackburn College implemented a cloud-based virtual desktop infrastructure to improve the student experience. They created a VDI for students to access MindView, software that supports students with learning disabilities. Over 50 students can now access MindView from on or off campus. The VDI also allows over 1,000 staff to access Microsoft Office remotely and use classroom software. It is estimated the VDI will save the college $150,000 over three years while supporting over 10,000 students.
Microsoft Whitepaper -The Case For Cloud Computing in K12Andy Pulianda
More school districts are turning to cloud computing due to the financial and educational benefits. Cloud computing allows districts to save 20-30% on IT budgets by reducing hardware maintenance costs and improving teaching and learning through increased access, collaboration, and communication. It also provides scalability, security, disaster recovery and improved efficiency. Selecting a reputable cloud provider like Microsoft Azure allows districts to further reduce costs while gaining flexibility, familiar tools, and the ability to optimize resources.
Similar to Section 4.7 email and storage in the cloud (20)
VTCT is a specialist awarding organization that has offered world-class vocational qualifications in the UK service sector since 1962, including in areas like hairdressing, beauty therapy, complementary therapies, sports and active leisure, hospitality and catering, business, and more. VTCT qualifications are regulated across the UK and awarded by over 800 approved training centers and colleges internationally. VTCT takes a specialist approach, providing a comprehensive range of qualifications in each subject area along with customer service, training, and online resources to support learners.
This document provides information about the AoC Beacon Awards for 2014/2015, which recognize excellence in further education. It outlines 14 award categories sponsored by various organizations and the criteria for applications. Colleges are invited to apply for awards between July and October 2014 by submitting information about initiatives that promote exemplary teaching and learning. Winning colleges will be announced in November 2014 and receive monetary grants to further develop their initiatives.
This document is an application form for the Beacon Awards, which recognizes initiatives at colleges that promote exemplary teaching and learning. The form requests information about the applicant, their college, the award for which they are applying, and the initiative being submitted. It specifies that the application must be no more than 3,000 words and address criteria including the initiative's aims, how it meets the sponsor's criteria, management, outcomes for learners, and benefits for other colleges. Applicants must submit one copy of Part 1 and five copies each of Parts 2 and 3, including supporting evidence, by July 2nd.
This document is a prospectus for the 2014/2015 AoC Beacon Awards. It outlines 14 award categories that recognize excellence in teaching, learning, leadership, partnerships, and innovation in further education. Winning colleges receive monetary grants between £3,000-£5,000 to continue developing their initiatives. The awards aim to promote sharing of best practices across the further education sector.
The AoC Beacon Awards Programme recognises and promotes collaboration between further education colleges, businesses, and other organizations. The awards highlight innovative teaching practices, support for learners, commitment to diversity, and other contributions colleges make. Winning colleges receive development grants of £3,000-£5,000 to advance their initiatives and share exemplary practices with the sector. A steering group provides guidance for administering the awards program.
OCR is a not-for-profit organization focused on enhancing education through assessment that has supported the AoC Beacon Awards for 21 years. As a leading UK awarding body, OCR engages over 4 million learners in over 8,000 centers to help them achieve their full potential and is one of the top three providers of vocational qualifications. OCR provides an extensive portfolio of skills qualifications beyond A Levels and GCSEs, including apprenticeships, to promote progression and employability through collaboration with industry and education partners.
The National Association for Managers of Student Services (NAMSS) is a membership organization established in 1987 that represents managers of student services in post-16 education. NAMSS has over 320 college members and 700 individual members across England, Scotland, Wales, and North Ireland. NAMSS works with government departments and other stakeholders to represent its members and champion learners. NAMSS holds an annual conference and other events to provide professional development for its members. The NAMSS Award for Student Support recognizes colleges that demonstrate successful and innovative student support through effective leadership, a range of support services, learner engagement, and partnership working.
AoC Beacon Awards 2014-15 - Microlink, AoC Charitable Trust and Achievement f...Association of Colleges
Microlink is Europe's largest supplier of Assistive Technology and Inclusivity solutions, supporting over 180,000 students and numerous FTSE 100 companies over 20 years. Their education services provide teachers resources to create inclusive classrooms allowing students with different learning styles to develop skills and employability. Microlink sponsors the AoC Beacon Awards to recognize exemplary work by colleges in delivering inclusive learning and supporting progression to employment or higher education.
AoC Beacon Awards 2014-15 - Learning Consortium Award for Improvement in Teac...Association of Colleges
The Learning Consortium Award for Improvement in Teaching and Learning through Peer Coaching recognizes colleges that have effectively used peer coaching to significantly impact learners and learning. Assessors will look for evidence that peer coaching has created a focus on learning outcomes and innovative teaching approaches. Successful applications will demonstrate organizational commitment to developing teaching skills through peer coaching, changes to teaching practice that have enhanced the learning experience and led to quantifiable improvements in learner achievement and satisfaction.
AoC Beacon Awards 2014-15 prospectus - JLT Employee Benefits Award for Health...Association of Colleges
JLT Employee Benefits has been providing healthcare solutions to the education sector since 1981, starting with medical plans for universities and colleges. Their knowledge of the sector's needs combined with products and solutions has grown their reputation. Their healthcare solutions are now integral parts of employee benefits, with most universities and colleges adopting their medical plans. These services go beyond private healthcare to include all aspects of occupational health and employee benefits.
The document provides guidance on applying for the AoC Beacon Awards, which recognize exemplary teaching and learning initiatives. It outlines the application requirements, including that submissions must address specific criteria like benefiting students, promoting equality, and being sustainable. It also provides tips on structuring the application, directions for submitting materials, and answers frequently asked questions. Feedback from previous years emphasizes strengths like partnerships and support for activities, as well as areas for improvement such as providing evidence of innovative practices and learner outcomes.
AoC Beacon Awards 2014-15 - Jisc Award for the Effective Use of Technology in FEAssociation of Colleges
Jisc is an organization in the UK that provides digital resources and services to post-16 education and research institutions. It aims to advance the use of digital technologies in these sectors through shared services, content procurement, and expertise. Jisc offers a range of digital content like journals, books, and films through bulk purchasing. It also provides hands-on local support to help institutions operate more efficiently and enable independent learning. Jisc runs the fastest and most efficient academic network in the UK, Janet, which saves members over 25% compared to commercial alternatives.
The document provides guidance on applying for the AoC Beacon Awards, which recognize exemplary teaching and learning initiatives. It outlines the application process and criteria, stating that applications should be submitted in three parts: Part 1 includes college contact details, Part 2 summarizes how the initiative meets criteria in 50-150 words, and Part 3 describes the initiative in no more than 3,000 words, addressing topics like aims, outcomes, and benefits. It emphasizes including evidence from beneficiaries and anonymizing college identities to qualify for consideration.
AoC Beacon Awards 2014-15 - Education and Training Foundation Award for Trans...Association of Colleges
This document provides information about the Education and Training Foundation Award for Transformational Leadership by Governing Bodies. The award recognizes colleges that can demonstrate successful governance through initiatives that improve educational performance, accountability through employer engagement, self-critical governance reviews, or innovative governance processes. Colleges must provide evidence of sustained excellence, strategic partnerships, exemplary teaching and learning, and leadership that promotes diversity.
AoC Beacon Awards 2014-15 - edge award for practical teaching and practical l...Association of Colleges
Edge is an independent education foundation dedicated to raising the status of practical and vocational learning in the UK. It launched the Six Steps to Change Manifesto proposing steps to improve practical and vocational education, such as ensuring all young people learn skills for life/work and allowing students to choose educational pathways matching their aspirations. Edge sponsors the AoC Beacon Award for Practical Teaching and Practical Learning to recognize excellent practical teaching and learning in colleges.
This document outlines the calendar for the 2014-2015 Association of Colleges (AoC) Beacon Awards, which recognizes excellence in further education colleges. It details the distribution and application deadlines in April and July 2014, followed by a three-stage assessment process from July to October 2014. The winning colleges were then announced in November 2014 at the AoC Annual Conference and recognized at local ceremonies from January to April 2015 before delivering breakout sessions at the November 2015 AoC Annual Conference.
AoC Beacon Awards 2014-15 - Association of Colleges Award for College Engagem...Association of Colleges
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Section 4.7 email and storage in the cloud
1. The Progression of Cloud Computing
in Further Education Colleges
Section 4.7
Email and Storage in the Cloud
A study based on Cloud Technology projects managed by the
Association of Colleges and funded by the Skills Funding
Agency - 2012 - 2013
November 2013
2. Detailed outcomes from Individual Projects
4.7 Email and Storage in the Cloud
Needs and Opportunities
Colleges are experiencing increasing demands for email accounts and associated personal storage
for both students and staff. Colleges also experience high staff support overheads for email and
storage requirements. Storage allocation to students and staff is often limited by the capacity of
in-house servers. Support requirements for email and storage are 24/7 which can pose challenges
to College IT teams.
Cloud technology provides the opportunity to outsource email and storage to the cloud. This
brings the opportunity to upgrade storage allocations as and when required, for 24/7 support to
be provided and to enable collaborative working.
The Projects
Accrington & Rossendale College: This is a collaborative procurement project to migrate from
traditional, low capacity, on-premise email and storage provision to the Office 365 cloud delivered
platform.
“Office 365 gives our learners the resources that we couldn’t have provided economically prior to
the implementation – more storage capacity in the cloud and the ability to access their data from
anywhere and on mobile devices. Losing their work on pen drives that go astray is a thing of the
past!”
East Riding College: This project involves the movement of email to Office 365 in the cloud.
Exeter College: Faced with ever-increasing demand for storage and access to productivity
applications and data, anytime, anyplace, this project aims to ensure students’ expectations are
met without the need to add further hardware in-house. The College data centres are at capacity
and it is hoped that this project will mark the beginning of a process of moving a significant
proportion of the College’s systems to cloud-hosted environments. In turn we anticipate improved
business efficiency and user experience.
Grimsby Institute: This project involves
student email in the cloud. Email is now
swapped to Google Mail. This opens up
other Google Apps for students to
use - such as Google Docs etc. This
swap will allow easier student access to
email on their own devices. The
adoption of Google Mail and
Google Apps has gone really well. We
are currently averaging around 350
unique users of the system daily. To
facilitate our cloud desktop, a new
email system was set up for our
learners. Google Mail also allows
access to Google Apps giving our
1
3. learners access to feature-rich collaboration tools, all hosted in the cloud. At present we have
16,000 accounts on Google, averaging around 1300 logons per day.
Hartlepool College: The College engaged initially in a cloud-based email selection process. There
was a student-centred exercise to select between Google and Microsoft 365. The majority preferred
365. Email has been migrated to Office 365.
Highbury College: This IaaS project encompasses but goes beyond email and storage in the cloud.
It involves progressive migration of College IT services to an Eduserve cloud. Highbury College
was working with Eduserve initially to replace a secondary data centre with a cloud solution and
ultimately to move specific applications to the cloud. This project is enabling Eduserve to ‘feeltheir
way’ towards the cloud services they might offer to Colleges.
The College has good senior management buy-in to this project. The project is focused on the
conversion of VMware to the Eduserve environment. The cloud environment replicates the
VMware of the College at the Eduserve Swindon Data Centre. This was against a background of
the current challenges of replication of this at the College having heavy overheads.
Northampton College: The original plan was to implement Live@Edu with Microsoft.
Subsequently Microsoft decided to discontinue Live@Edu and replace it with Office365 instead.
The College sought to implement a 365 solution.
North East Worcestershire College: This project involves cloud -based email and storage and
other applications, including VLE, supported by single sign-on.
Reaseheath College: This project involves anytime, anywhere access to emails, Microsoft Office
applications and SharePoint.
Xaverian College: This project involves the College utilising Office 365 as a cloud-based solution
to support students work independently through the use of online technologies.
Outcomes
Similarities
Six projects - Accrington, East Riding, Northampton, Reaseheath and Xaverian Colleges - were
concerned with migration to Microsoft Office 365 email and storage in the cloud.
Two projects – Grimsby and North East Worcestershire College - involved Google Mail.
A larger infra-structure project, focused on replacement of a secondary data centre, at
Highbury College involved the planned migration of all of the College’s IT services to the
cloud.
The Hartlepool College project included a consultation with students to select between Google
Mail and Office 365.
Accrington, Hartlepool, North East Worcestershire and Reaseheath Colleges all report
significant savings on servers and associated energy reductions.
2
4. Differences
Three out of the five Microsoft Office 365 projects reported smooth implementation. East
Riding and Northampton encountered challenges and have resorted to alternative solutions.
The East Riding challenge was in the complexities of introducing 365, in that it didn’t support
the Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager FIM and that the SkyDrive offering is currently more
suitable for staff and student use of web applications and off-site storage. East Riding is using
SkyDrive whilst awaiting 365/SharePoint updates. Northampton set up Live@Edu
successfully and on its discontinuation had to repeat this for 365 where they encountered
complexities and personal storage allocation problems. Coupled with this the staff did not
like 365. They have resorted to a system where students use their home email or Google Mail
account.
Xaverian used IAM Cloud (an Office 365 transition facilitator) to host mirrored AD
authentication based on Microsoft Azure server technologies on Microsoft’s European Servers.
The Google Mail implementations at Grimsby and North East Worcestershire have proceeded
smoothly.
Reaseheath have also implemented SkyDrive.
Delivery Models
Accrington and Rossendale College: This is a collaborative College model using a single cloud
Application for 4 Colleges.
East Riding College: Email in the cloud. Office 365.
Exeter College: Data centre in the cloud, including email and storage.
Grimsby Institute: Google Mail.
Hartlepool College: Microsoft Office 365.
Highbury College:
Collaborative working with
Eduserve to progressively
migrate College IT
provision to the cloud,
including email and storage.
3
5. The following diagram shows the high level architecture approach offered by Eduserve.
Northampton College: Planned to move email and storage in the cloud and subsequently they set
up their normal students to be mail-enabled forwarding mail to students’ home email accounts.
North East Worcestershire College: Working with a consultancy to implement single sign on to
email and a wide range of applications.
Reaseheath College: 365 email and SharePoint.
Xaverian College: 365 email in the cloud.
Supplier Relationships
Accrington and Rossendale College: Microsoft 365. There was an initial unavailability of
Microsoft 365 tenancies but this is now resolved.
East Riding College:
“The implementation of Office365 has been a lot more complex than originally anticipated and
the functionality of the system has not fully met our expectations. Whilst our consultants and
Microsoft have provided a great deal of assistance, the ‘look and feel’ of Office365 does not, in its
present state, present end users with an experience that matches that of the Microsoft SkyDrive
offering.
4
6. There are upgrades planned by Microsoft which we will explore; however, the inability to
support Microsoft FIM in Office365 has caused us to rethink our strategy on the deployment of
this service. It is clear that the College can offer their users greater flexibility with cloud-based
technologies but most of these are delivered by College ICT services rather than externally hosted
clouds. The Microsoft SkyDrive offering is the most suitable for staff and students wishing to use
web-based apps and off-site cloud storage. However, remote email and FIM capability is best
serviced through the College OWA portals and an internet-based gateway into the FIM portal
hosted on College servers.”
Exeter College: Immediately prior to implementation and testing it became apparent that there
was a lack of clarity of understanding between the technical team at the College and that of the
SaaS/hosting partner.
In order to limit the risk to other College activities, resource was redirected during the summer.
On 25 September a meeting took place between the College and suppliers at which a means of
resolving the outstanding issues was agreed. There is now a revised implementation date of 15
November.
Hartlepool College: Phoenix Software was engaged as the IT partner for 365 implementation.
Highbury College: Eduserve.
North East Worcestershire College: The College found it necessary to make a change of IT partner
and used the JISC communities to advise on this.
Google Vault for back-ups was not ready for UK Education and was not priced but the College
found an alternative.
Reaseheath College:
“Licensing from Microsoft took at least two weeks to come through once our campus agreement
was renewed. We hit a stopping point when we tried to get the licences for Office 365. Microsoft
refused to issue the licences even though they are free as we had less than 30 days on our campus
agreement. Our campus agreement has now been renewed including the Office 365 licences and
we are just awaiting a code from Microsoft so that we can integrate the mail system with the
cloud and move the student account across.”
Project and Change Management
Accrington and Rossendale College:
“Migration takes several days so we couldn’t live in term time.”
East Riding College:
“We have completed the implementation of Office365, Exchange, SharePoint and Lync;
however, it has emerged that Forefront Identity Manager is no longer supported under Office365,
only Live@Edu is. We have therefore deployed FIM as an ‘on-premises’ solution delivered
within our own cloud environment to external users.
It has also emerged that Office365 in its present format does not provide satisfactory cloud-based
application and storage solution to our users, the SharePoint based platform is too complex and
5
7. there is some management overhead involved in its set-up. In discussions with our consultants
and Microsoft it has been determined that the functionality of Office365 will be improved when
the platform is upgraded to SharePoint 2013 next year. We will continue to operate the Office365
gateway and await developments from this upgrade.”
Exeter College: The following have been achieved: identification of functional requirements,
estimation of storage and performance needs leading to the production of a requirements
specification. This project has been aligned with the VLE project which has meant that there are
some decisions, relating to potential hosting partners and cloud service products, which need
careful consideration to ensure that maximum benefit is derived for the user experience. Partners
have been selected and specifications agreed. The production service has been created in the cloud
but is not yet fully functional; this is due to security concerns surrounding the strategy for
integration with the College’s Active Directory.
Grimsby Institute: The approach was piloted in College learning centres.
Hartlepool College: The migration process initially went well. After the migration was completed
it was discovered that there was an issues at Microsoft data centre which had affected a number of
other migrations from Live@Edu which delayed the completion and training for four weeks until
Microsoft resolved the issue. Due to the delay with Microsoft this caused some issues with staff
and contractors’ availability to finish the project and complete the training. The new system was
publicised to students using Blackboard and the College displays.
Northampton College: There was a need for an increase in bandwidth which was supplied by
JANET. It took considerable time for this to be implemented. New firewalls were also purchased
from BTiNET and were configured to accommodate the increased bandwith.
Live@Edu was set up and tested and worked well. It provided 10GB of mail and access to 25GB
of storage and access to Microsoft Office applications online. On the discontinuation of Live@Edu
by Microsoft, the College set up Office 365. This involved a good deal of technical time and liaison
with Microsoft including five new authentication servers. Storage quotas were reduced by
Microsoft to 500MB of SharePoint storage instead of the previous 25GB.
The service was rolled out to any students who wanted to use the Office email without the storage
and a limited number took up the offer.
North East Worcestershire:
“Staff buy-in - moving all users away from a system they are used to -presents many
challenges which is why we are working in a staggered roll-out with buy-in from senior
managers and College leaders. Never under estimate the amount of support and training that is
needed within a large organisation to move to new ways of working. With a small ILT team there
were issues around providing the support needed and timescales to complete supporting
documentation.
The one fundamental lesson learnt is to introduce new systems slowly; the initial training given
to senior managers covered all features of Google Apps and on reflection proved to be
overwhelming. The step was then taken to focus training on specific apps within the suite and
deliver training and resources based around these.
This has led us to deliver training over a much longer period of time than was original planned
for but these costs for training were always planned once the initial resources were created as
part of the project. The training for using Google Apps is now delivered alongside training to
support the College VLE as the two go hand in hand.”
6
8. Xaverian College: The College initially planned to implement the Live@Edu infrastructure and
with a transition to Office 365. A network failure to the College’s staff and back-office servers
meant that Live@Edu reached the end of its life before provision could be moved to Office 365. In
November 2012 the College was approached to submit a zero cost (funded) application to
Microsoft to allow for the IAM cloud (an Office 365 transition facilitator) to host mirrored AD
authentication based on Microsoft Azure server technologies on Microsoft’s European servers. The
College agreed to enter into a delivery contract with the IAM cloud.
Impact
East Riding College: SharePoint online and Lync setup.
“We have also carried out a significant amount of work in open workshops with staff to test the
functionality of these elements of Office365. We have found that end users are much more
comfortable with the Microsoft SkyDrive solution than Office 365 and that there are still some
issues with the Lync client working properly on Android devices.
We are continuing our investigations into the Lync client problems as we intend to roll out an
‘on-premises’ Lync solution for VOIP by March 2013.
In summary, we have a functioning Office 365 platform but it does not yet meet the requirements
of our user base. We are awaiting the upgrade of the platform to SharePoint 2013 in January at
which point we will again evaluate the functionality of Office365. In the meantime we are
recommending to users the Microsoft SkyDrive Cloud solution which provides access to web
apps, 7GB storage and collaboration capabilities.”
Grimsby Institute:
“The adoption of Google Mail and Google Apps has gone really well. We are currently averaging
around 350 unique users of the system daily. Although we have only activated this for students at
present we already have staff looking at the features and requesting access.”
Hartlepool College:
“This cloud-based email project will significantly improve staff and student productivity by
reducing time required to manage emails, allowing better access to resources anytime and
anywhere and improve student/staff collaboration. The new system will also significantly reduce
internal storage, improve resilience and system performance. There is an initial indication of an
increase of student usage of email through the new system.”
Highbury College:
“It is hoped that by using a cloud service that there will be an improved quality of service as
result of this change. This is because extra resilience and back--up has been added into the
Highbury infrastructure using the cloud infrastructure.
We also hope that the solution in future will allow the College to implement new technologies at
a more affordable price point, ultimately delivering more for less. It will also give us more
flexibility in how we use the IT infrastructure.”
7
9. Northampton College: A staff and student survey was undertaken with less than 10% liking the
365 email system. Students preferred their own personal email accounts and the storage facilities
of Google Drive or SkyDrive. Office 365 was therefore discontinued, with College mail now
forwarded to their home email accounts and assistance given with setting up a Google Mail or
Outlook account if necessary.
North East Worcestershire College: By utilising cloud-based applications North East
Worcestershire College have enabled collaborative technologies and mobile working options to
help support the work of all staff and students. The funding from the AoC has allowed the
College to dedicate time and resources to supporting staff and students to use these technologies
and explore avenues for reducing costs by working with partners to develop our cloud-based
systems.
Reaseheath College: Access has been achieved to email and calendar from onsite and offsite
seamlessly. Access to office web apps and SkyDrive has also been achieved. The existing
SharePoint intranet was migrated to the cloud-hosted version ready for September 2013. All
students have Outlook accounts that can be accessed from anywhere. They have access to
SharePoint pages and to SkyDrive. The staff intranet (SharePoint) will be moved to the
cloud-hosted site and the two physical servers retired.
Xaverian College: Mail is now managed by a third party with guaranteed 99.9% up time,
something that the College would never have been able to guarantee. Together with additional
functionality in including calendars and shared contacts, the College is now in a position to share
information internally in a much more efficient manner. The ease with which the Office 365 system
can be added to users’ own devices (including tablets and other mobile devices) has borne
immediate fruit with College managers of all levels receiving information on the go and not
having to log on to a work station to identify issues to be dealt with.
The College has been trialling the new mail system with members of the College council with a
very welcoming response. Students see this change of mail provision as a very positive move. In
Autumn 2013 the College launched its new Intranet system embedding mail for the very first time.
This step change for the College will see students receiving email information directly within the
learning platform they access every day at College.
8
10. Savings
Accrington and Rossendale College: £52,000 savings per College over four years.
East Riding College:
“We will not be able to determine these until we have fully deployed the ‘on-premises’ Lync
solution which has been delayed due to the fact that we will also be migrating our existing PSTN
services to VOIP using a full Lync deployment scenario. The Lync solution within Office 365
does not yet give us the functionality to support the Virtual Classroom on this platform.”
Exeter College:
“Expected savings are reduced expenditure on email and file servers, associated storage and
back-up capacity, reduced cost of implementation, reduced requirement for the re‐engineering
of College data centres in order to accommodate required increase in capacity, reduced energy
consumption and consequent reduction in machine‐room cooling costs.”
The College anticipates being able to evaluate these savings by end of 2013.
Hartlepool College: The following savings have been identified:
The cancellation of the current spam filter subscription per year - £4,000
Saving of exchange licences per year - £500
Cost saving for not replacing physical email server - £8000 over 3 years
Highbury College: The College anticipates substantial savings during the project which are
illustrated in the table below (estimated). As part of the project a true cost-saving analysis will be
carried out and disseminated to the sector.
Description
Capital Expenditure
Saving -estimated (per annum)
£55,000
Power/ UPS (Running Service)
£6,500
Cooling (Running & Service)
£3,500
Staff
£5,000
Total £70,000
By undergoing this project the College will not be updating its secondary back-up data centre this
summer and as such will using the Eduserve cloud instead. This has meant that the College will
not need to update its Storage Area Network (SAN) and Blade servers at this site. In addition to
this there is a lower staffing resource for the IT team to manage this site therefore increasing the
savings that are being made. A number of College services are running from the cloud service
which has shown the same level of uptime as previously provided by the College but at a reduced
cost.
9
11. North East Worcestershire: Savings have been achieved in ILT staff time re user names and
passwords.
“The exchange and intranet platforms were hosted on two separate Power Edge servers that cost
an estimated £ 480 per year to run. By removing these two servers from our back-up routine (as
the information is now backed up in the cloud) we again made savings on our DR maintenance
agreements and although hard to quantify we strongly feel that there will be a reduction in the
amount of maintenance needed to be completed by our in-house IT team. There is also a saving
made by removing our reliance on our current library authentication software of around £3,000
per annum.”
Reaseheath College: There are cost savings on maintenance of servers of approximately £1500 per
server with a total of £7500. There will be no renewal costs for the servers when they are due for
replacement (average cost £4000 each). Additionally there is a reduction in power consumption by
237w per server, which also means less Ups requirements.
Xaverian College: Prior to moving email to the cloud, a single specialist member of the network
team supported the email system. With the move to Office 365, the management of email is now
distributed across the team with most of the technical management being performed by a third
party. Staff savings are estimated at £8000 per year with further savings on the termination of the
previous Novel Licensing contract.
Sustainability and Expected Longer Term Impact
Accrington and Rossendale College: The College has achieved an energy saving solution which
is scalable in terms of numbers of accounts and future storage requirements.
Grimsby Institute: There is lower energy consumption through thin clients.
Highbury, North East Worcestershire, Reaseheath and Xaverian Colleges all anticipate energy
savings.
Replicablity for the Wider FE Sector
Accrington and Rossendale College: This solution is replicable in single Colleges and across a
group of Colleges. The College will make a case study available and is willing to make documents
such as tender documents available.
East Riding College: For institutions not already hosting their own web-based Exchange,
SharePoint, Lync and FIM services, Office365 offers a workable, if slightly complex, solution.
Hartlepool College: The approach is replicable in Colleges wishing to migrate to Microsoft Office
365 and will be demonstrated, through JISC RSC Northern, to other Colleges in the region who
have expressed an interest or are planning to migrate to 365.
Highbury College: This approach is intended to be replicable through Eduserve supporting other
Colleges based on the experience with Highbury.
North East Worcestershire: All resources created have been designed with sharing and
modification in mind. All leaflets whilst sent as PDFs to staff have been created in Publisher
allowing easy modification. Interactive presentations have been created using Xerte with the RLO
10
12. models to be made available again for easy modification.
The project is being discussed and shared via the West Midlands JISC E Learning Conference in
May 2013 and all resources will be made available via a specially constructed Google site with this
being shared again through the JISC portal.
Xaverian College: The College is committed to working in partnership with other local providers.
As part of MANCEP (Manchester Catholic Education Partnership) the College is actively engaged
in bringing academic and operational teams together to share experiences and good practice. It is
through this ‘collegiate’ approach that the College intends to demonstrate both the financial and
operational benefits that can be gained through moving towards cloud-based service provision.
11
13. With thanks to all project partners who contributed to the
development of this report and consultant Chris West
The Association of Colleges 2013
2-5 Stedham Place, London, WC1A 1HU
Tel: 020 7034 9900 Fax: 020 7034 9955
Email: projects@aoc.co.uk website: www.aoc.co.uk