Case Study
Over the winter of 2007, TEFL Tech worked closely with the Brighton branch of British Study Centres to help them overcome the problems they were facing with the management of their technology. Despite having fairly new hardware, the school found itself with a virtually unuseable computer suite, due to continual mistreatment by the students. After carefully analysing the problems and installing appropriate solutions, the school now enjoys an up-to-date, reliable and hassle-free computer suite.
The Situation
British Study Centres is a medium sized private language school accepting a range of students from all over the world to learn English as a Foreign language. Like most schools of this type, there is a computer suite installed for use in lessons and by the students in their free time. Unfortunately, while the computers were protected from viruses and trojans, they weren't protected from the students! Over time, various different programs had been downloaded, important settings such as languages changed and the suite was rendered virtually unuseable - it wasn't possible for the teachers to rely on the technology to work for them when they needed it in lessons.
The Process
Due to the depth of the problems with the computers, it was decided that a full reinstallation of the operating system (in this case, Windows XP) was required, together with the installation of 'locking' software that would prevent users from making any changes to the settings, or from being able to download any unnecessary programs. In addition, research was carried out into the most appropriate software to load on to the computers and how this could be most appropriately configured for teachers use - the aim was for teachers to be able to be able to confidently walk into the suite knowing that the software they required would work without fail.
The Result
Since the reinstallation, the suite has worked almost flawlessly. Each computer resets itself on restart so even if the students manage to find a way of downloading files or changing settings, the computer is restored to the default configuration every time it is restarted. The teachers are now confident that the technology will not fail on them in lessons, and allows them to spend time planning how best to use the technology to help achieve their lesson aims.
Below are some images of the computer suite and the desktop layout after the reinstallation. Click on the thumbnails below for a larger image:
If this situation sounds familiar, we would love to help! If you need help or advice with hardware, software or the day to day management of your technology, please do not hesitate to contact us.
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