Information Technology Project Request
Nazarbayev University
Vyortkina Dec. 11, 2015
1. Project title: University-wide virtualized computer lab MyNUlab
2. School: Office of the Provost
3. Contact information: Dina Vyortkina, NU Head of Instructional Technology
4. Project rationale: When software is installed on computers in the NU physical computer labs, student access to it is restricted as a computer lab can be occupied for a class, can be closed during holidays or in the evening, thus limiting student learning experiences. Students who are not physically located on campus in Astana do not have equal access to these resources. Enabling remote access to selected software via virtualized computer lab for current graduate and undergraduate NU students with valid NU credentials will allow us to: 1. Improve student learning experiences and access to resources. 2. Provide online access to software 24/7/365, basically any time students want /can study and from any location, thus satisfying “anytime, anyplace, anypace” trends in learning. 3. Accessing specialized software from any location will support students doing their studies/field work outside Astana, those travelling to a conference, or those who are on sick leave. 4. As software will be available any time, its usage will be maximized, thus saving money for the University and having a better return on investment. 5. Students will be utilizing their own devices, thus again saving money for the University. 6. Software can be used by students in different schools (e.g., statistical packages), thus allowing sharing of costly resources across the schools. 7. As usage of the software will be carefully metered to avoid any copyright infringement, we will be able to collect data of future needs for software assets at NU and make procurement decision based on these data.
5. Project description: Enable remote access to University-licensed software for NU students. Accessing the lab will require the use of an active NU ID and password (same as Moodle). Initially, a pilot with limited “seats” and academically related software titles. The usage can be monitored and used for assessing sustainability of this project.
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