2 page Case Study - Posted 4/17/2009

Views: 448

Rate This Evidence:

Charlton School

Special Needs School at the Forefront of Building Schools for the Future Initiative

Charlton School in London needed to update its information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure to better serve its community of special needs students with moderate to severe learning difficulties. Working with Microsoft® Premier Field Engineering, the school built an infrastructure using Microsoft Application Virtualization version 4.5, part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, to provide state-of-the-art learning resources for its own students and other young people with special needs across London.

Business Needs

Charlton School in Greenwich, south-east London, provides a well-rounded education for 165 special needs students and a boarding facility for up to eight students. The secondary school also runs an outreach service across London, which supports 550 children with physical disabilities. Mark Dale-Emberton, Headteacher at Charlton School, says: “Our goal is to raise local community attainment and achievement by improving the self esteem and self confidence of all, including individuals, groups, partner schools, and the wider community.”


Students at Charlton School receive academic instruction and relevant life and work skills education. Programmes at Charlton School enrich learning through creative curriculum opportunities, including art, music, and technology. The school promotes healthy, active lifestyles through physical education and sport.

As a registered ICT school, Charlton School has specialised in providing ICT for young people with disabilities as an integral part of education for eight years. However, as use of technology grew, the school faced many challenges:

• Infrastructure costs were increasing every year.
• Computer desktops varied throughout the campus.
• Applications were available on some computers and not on others.
• Administrators had no accurate way of measuring ICT use.
• Staff had problems gaining remote access to applications.
• A large number of custom-built applications caused conflicts and system downtime.

Computers throughout the school were inconsistent. “Staff couldn’t rely on the technology to work, so they didn’t use it as much as they could have,” says Dale-Emberton. “With special needs students, it’s important that whatever computer a student signs on to has the same look and feel as all other computers at the school.” It was clear that Charlton School needed an infrastructure that would better meet its needs.

Solution

In 2006, Microsoft Premier Field Engineering (PFE) entered into a charitable partnership with Charlton School to help develop an ICT framework. The PFE team followed the Microsoft Infrastructure Optimization Model, a Microsoft benchmarking initiative designed to help organisations optimise the use of existing ICT resources and obtain best value from new software. They decided that the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack would be the best solution to fit the varied needs of the school.

The Microsoft team worked with Charlton School to change the way the infrastructure touched every aspect of ICT on campus—administration, teaching, learning, and communication with the wider community.

Through Application Virtualization 4.5, more than 1,000 applications, custom built to fit the special education needs of students at Charlton School, are delivered on demand. Microsoft Application Virtualization allows applications to be deployed in real time through a virtual application server. It removes the need for local installation of the applications, eliminating crashes. Most of these applications use the Active Directory® service, a technology that allows administrators to assign policies, ensuring that students are only given access to the specific applications and technology they need as part of their individual learning plans.

Within a Terminal Server environment, applications are kept within a virtual bubble to eliminate any compatibility issues, no matter where students log on. Off campus, students log on to customised learning environments through the school Web site http://www.charltonschool.com/, which was recreated with special symbols to improve accessibility for all users, especially those with learning difficulties.

The school’s information management system (SIMS) is also delivered on demand from any machine on campus. Dale-Emberton says: “Now we have a flexible working environment—staff members and students can go to any machine in the organisation and access their specific applications on their work environment.”

Benefits

With this solution, Charlton School has deployed resources and training materials rapidly to help develop individualised learning environments for students with special needs, including software for those who have movement, speech, and reading difficulties. Students have embraced the technology, using it in creative ways such as running and broadcasting their own radio station and producing award-winning films that are showcased on the school’s Web site.

•  Total cost of ownership reduced 30 per cent. Reducing the cost of ICT while increasing services allows Charlton School expand the use of technology. “While other schools are waiting to see how they can use technology to build schools for the future, with Microsoft technology we’re already there,” says Dale-Emberton.
• Anytime, anywhere access to learning materials. Students log on to their own personal environment for all the applications and documents they need. A hundred per cent of students and staff log on to the system during the school week, with more than 50 per cent also logging on at weekends.
• Virtual learning environments. Charlton School extends its reach beyond its own students to offer virtual learning environments to special needs students in 31 London local authorities.
• Conflict-free applications. The school runs more than 1,000 individual applications without any conflicts. “The system used to go down at least once a week,” says Dale-Emberton. “We haven’t had any downtime at all since we implemented the Desktop Optimization Pack.”
• Scalable infrastructure. The learning environment can be easily expanded to fit the school’s future plans to offer special needs services that students can use after they leave school.
• Increased productivity. Staff can access all the tools they need from anywhere with an Internet connection, giving them the opportunity to plan work more effectively around busy schedules.
• Accessible technology. Providing accessibility for special needs students—including those with severe and multiple disabilities—is a high priority at Charlton School. With Application Virtualization 4.5, these tools are easily integrated into teaching and learning, giving access to all students.
• Reduced troubleshooting. Support calls due to application downtime have been cut to zero. Before, the school employed eight full-time ICT support staff. Now, one ICT staff member, supported by Microsoft specialists, can provide all of the school needs—including strategic planning for future expansion.

For More Information

For further information about Microsoft products and services, please visit
www.microsoft.com/uk

or call 0870 60 10 100*

For hearing impaired customers with a Minicom, contact: 0870 50 30 400*

*Lines are open 8am–6pm, Monday to Friday. Please note, numbers prefixed 0870 will be charged at national call rates. For details of national call rate charges, please contact your telecommunications provider.

 case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Document published April 2009