Teton Science School and Northfield Mount Hermon in the U.S., Belgium's Provinciale Hogeschool Limburg benefit from improved student achievement
Fort Lauderdale, FL — February 17, 2004 — Northfield Mount Hermon in Northfield, Mass., Teton Science School in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and Provincial Hogeschool Limburg in Belgium are using two products in the Citrix MetaFrame Access Suite — Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server and Citrix MetaFrame Secure Access Manager — to provide students, faculty and administrators with wireless access to applications and information.
Citrix Systems Inc., which provides access infrastructure solutions, said there is growing momentum in the education industry for on-demand wireless information access. Already, secure and instant access to educational applications has resulted in enhanced learning environments, improved student achievement, and reduced IT support calls and faculty training costs, according to the provider.
Citrix said its MetaFrame Access Suite centralizes applications and information, enabling IT staff to deliver, manage, monitor and measure educational resources on demand. Additionally, it enables students, faculty and administrators to access these resources from anywhere at any time, using any device or network connection.
Northfield Mount Hermon
One of the nation's largest independent schools, located in Western Massachusetts, Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH) is an independent, coeducational college preparatory school. Honored by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) for its educational technology program, NMH uses Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server, the foundation of the Citrix MetaFrame Access Suite, to provide worldwide access to educational applications for more than 1,100 students as well as faculty and staff dispersed between two campuses seven miles apart.
All students, including 200 day students and 900 boarding students, are given a "virtual desktop" based on MetaFrame Presentation Server, which allows secure access to personalized applications and documents from their own computers or from computers in the school's classrooms, two libraries and many dormitory lounges. Students access their virtual desktops via wireless classroom LANs, wired dormitory LANs and dial-up or broadband Internet connections from home.
In addition the school has "mobile notebook carts," which consist of laptops equipped with the MetaFrame Presentation Server that teachers can wheel in and out of their classrooms as needed. Since all applications and information reside on centralized servers, Northfield Mount Hermon is able to use an expanded mix of computer platforms — PCs, Macintosh computers, Windows CE devices and Windows terminals — as appropriate while reducing equipment replacement and support costs.
"Citrix technology has allowed us to more easily and effectively distribute educational applications and information to our students, faculty and staff," said Jon Shannon, director of information technology, Northfield Mount Hermon School. "With Citrix, our students can access the same services no matter where they're located regardless of what machine they're using. We're committed to using the most effective technology to support the great teaching that happens here, and Citrix technology has allowed us to do just that."
Teton Science School
Teton Science School is located in Grand Teton National Park in Jackson Hole, Wyo. Its students at the primary, secondary and collegiate levels are involved in hands-on science studies, learning basic concepts in ecology, geology, botany, zoology and astronomy.
When the school expanded its K-12 program last year, the need for additional computer resources and application management capabilities was paramount. In order to cost-efficiently leverage its existing Macintosh desktops to access Windows-based research applications, Teton Science School deployed Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server across its campus.
Now, as the school deploys a wireless network across its new 800-acre outdoor campus, it will use Citrix MetaFrame Secure Access Manager to provide more than 200 students and faculty with wireless Web access to all of their classroom applications and resources. Ryan Zalta, director of Information Technology for Teton Science School, said the implementation is a key component of the school's goal to get students out of the traditional classroom environment and into the field for hands-on education.
"We are no longer confined by walls and wires to give our students the educational benefits of technology," he said. "Citrix has enabled our students to explore the wild lands of Yellowstone National Park, for example, while still tapping into research on native birds or plants from a notebook computer."
Provinciale Hogeschool Limburg
The Provinciale Hogeschool Limburg (PHL) was founded in 1995 following the merger of six colleges of higher education. It has approximately 4,000 students, 300 teaching staff and campuses in three locations across Belgium. Using the MetaFrame Presentation Server in conjunction with wireless-enabled computing devices has allowed 4,500 mobile students and 500 faculty members across three campuses to access the information they need, without being tied to fixed computer room locations.
With PHL campuses spread all over the country, PHL said the MetaFrame Presentation Server has reduced the time its IT team spends managing and administering applications.
"Without Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server, we would never have been able to start building our Web and wireless environment so quickly," said Bart Vos, IT manager for Provinciale Hogeschool Linburg. "MetaFrame Presentation Server has freed up our time by eliminating many of the problems that burdened our previous network and IT systems."