La Cité College, Ontario, CA

Customer Spotlight

The phrase BYOD (bring your own device) is a concept seen throughout Higher Education, in which students can use their own laptops rather than using campus labs. First coined back in 2005, BYOD has slowly gained momentum over the years, then was suddenly thrust into the limelight often coupled with remote learning due to the arrival of COVID-19.

La Cité have futureproofed their campus by facilitating BYOD for all their students’ devices.

La Cité's AppsAnywhere Journey

VDI Performance issues

Unlike many others, La Cité’s journey to remote learning started long before the pandemic. As of 2013 they were using a VDI solution to deliver software to their students, however there were some performance issues. For example, it would take a very long time for students to log into a virtual machine, there was a very high maintenance infrastructure due to the sheer number of servers required, and as time went on the costs increased.

Working Together

Thankfully, La Cité happens to be a member of the OCCCIO, a collaborative organisation created to help improve its members’ ability to effectively run information technology support across Higher Education. One of the many benefits to being a member of the OCCCIO is that members meet frequently and exchange new ideas and technologies. Previously, La Cité had attended a conference held at Mohawk College in which there was a live demonstration and Q&A surrounding AppsAnywhere.

We liked the fact that students could have the software directly on their machine, which was really cool, and we liked the fact that you could access this information through a portal, a one stop shop if you wish. Also the use of parallels with AppsAnywhere meaning that software could be streamed not only to Windows devices but also Macs and Chromebooks! That really caught our eye, that's when we were convinced that was going to be a very good solution for us.”

In action

One of the reasons that La Cité chose AppsAnywhere is due to the ease of the portal. They wanted to have something in place that made it easy and accessible for everyone. Students responded particularly well as they had been craving the flexibility to begin with. During a time when the world felt rather uncomfortable they had the ability to use their own device, a device they already felt comfortable with.

In a situation like this with a pandemic, we want to reach as many people as possible. We want to be a college that is accessible. We want to be a college that will allow people to study pretty much any way they want.”

Looking Ahead

Enabling BYOD both at campus and for remote learning has given La Cité security during a time when the world feels uncertain. It has given their students the flexibility and digital equity they deserve, and staff the tools they needed to provide quality programming, teaching, and support. We cannot wait to see what the future has in store for this innovative futureproofing college.

AppsAnywhere x LA Cité College