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Education | General

SoftXpand EDUCATION

SoftXpand education enables the creation of up to 6 computer workstations from 1 PC.
  From 1 PC, up to 6 students have their own access to a computer.

COMPUTER-ASSISTED LEARNING has been shown to have a strong positive effect on academic results. Studies* show that, on average, students learn more than 30% faster in computer-assisted learning environments than in traditional learning environments.

According to Pan-European survey**, almost 80% of European schools use computers for teaching. However, on average, there is only 1 PC per 6 students.

With SoftXpand software, these statistics can be dramatically transformed by allowing up to 6 computer workstations to be created from 1 PC.

 
What is SoftXpand education?

SoftXpand Education is a software solution that turns 1 PC into up to 6 fully independent computer workstations, by simply connecting extra sets of standard monitor, keyboard and mouse to a standard PC.

SoftXpand works on Windows XP Pro, and functions in exactly the same manner as a standard PC. The user experience is the same as with a standard Windows XP Pro PC.

Since SoftXpand increases a PC's processing power, you may run applications, including heavy graphic and multimedia applications, integrated learning systems and curriculum-oriented programs. Teachers and students may share documents and control students' screens, without needing to implement a server.

 
How does SoftXpand work?

Multiple sets of workstations, consisting of monitor, keyboard and mouse, are connected to a standard PC (minimum requirement is a Pentium4). The monitors are connected through video cards, and keyboards and mice are connected via USB hubs.

  • SoftXpand's proprietary resource sharing and intelligent balancing system allows the full utilisation of a PC's power and cleverly allocates its resources among the workstations.

  • Modern video cards are equipped with a powerful graphics processing unit (GPU) and Video Memory (VRAM). SoftXpand uses this power and automatically balances it among the workstations according to the needs of the applications that are running.


A SoftXpand 6 Workstation Cluster


* The Boston Indicators Project (http://www.tbf.org/indicatorsproject/)
** Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in Schools
(http://europa.eu.int/information_society/newsroom/cf/itemlongdetail.cfm?item_id=2888


 
SoftXpand Education: BENEFITS

Cost Savings

Reduce your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by at least 60%:
Instead of purchasing multiple computers, you need only connect sets of monitor, keyboard and mouse to your existing computer.

Save Money on Additional Hardware:
Any hardware installed on the PC, for example, modem or tape drive, is shared by all the workstations.

Network Savings:
Workstations are connected in what we call a cluster, which is a group of workstations connected to the SoftXpand host PC. By connecting SoftXpand clusters together, you can create a network of 36 workstations with only 6 PC's. Fewer switches and ports would need to be implemented as well.

Save Money on Software Licenses:
Subject to manufacturer licencing terms, you may only need to buy one set of software for the host computer, which is used on all workstations in a cluster.

Maintenance & Practicality

Maintenance Time:
You only need to maintain the host computer.
This is especially important in schools where IT staff is few in numbers.

  • Centralised control: Only 1 PC instead of 6 to administer, upgrade, configure and repair
  • Define folder access rights so that users' content is private on each workstation
  • Workstation security: You may set password or time-expiration per workstation
  • Easily deploy applications: Only on 1 PC instead of 6
  • Reduce downtime: When one workstation crashes, you do not need to reboot the computer
  • Initialisation of the computer system and any upgrading of hardware will take much less time

Flexible:
Temporary workstations can easily be added at any time according to your needs.

Peripheral devices, such as printers, camera and USB memory sticks, can be added or removed with ease.

 
Remote Desktop Management (RDM):
The following tasks may be carried out remotely:

  • Standardisation of desktop environments
  • Management of desktop installations and changes
  • Hardware and software support

Space:
Far less space taken up in classrooms

Logistics:
Considerably less hardware to be transported

Risk of Theft Reduced:
Only 1 PC, which may be secured to the floor, instead of up to 6

IT Services Outsourcing:
Multiple workstations may be integrated in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost than it would take to integrate standard PC's. Hence, a great improvement in time-saving and cost-effective productivity.

Eco Friendly

SoftXpand workstations share their power.

Your carbon footprint, as well as your waste disposal, is heavily reduced, since all workstations share 1 PC's power supply and use and dispose of 1 PC's electronic components. This also results in extensive reductions in energy costs, and much less heat in the classroom.

Features for Teachers

Console View:
Teachers are able to monitor all the students in the classroom, without disturbing them.

Remote Access:
Teachers may access their workstations remotely from home or at a conference, without interfering with students' work.

 
ClassXpand

The student-teacher interactive system, ClassXpand, is fully integrated into SoftXpand.

This allows the teacher to:

  • Instruct students better by broadcasting his/her screen onto every workstation, or to groups of workstations, in the classroom

  • Control student's screens to help solve problems

  • Follow and monitor students as they work

  • Open documents or applications on student workstations

  • Project an application onto a screen using a projector, while working on another application on his/her monitor

  • Restart and shut-down students' workstations remotely


Since ClassXpand transfers video frames through RAM and not TCP-IP, teachers can display heavy images and videos without clogging up the school network.

Graphic applications, such as AutoCAD(r), SolidWorks and 3D MAX Studio, are difficult to run on regular Interactive Learning Software; students experience significant delays. However, with ClassXpand, students hardly notice any delay.

SoftXpand Education for Nursery Schools

In "Don't Forget the Little People: A Vision for an Online Kindergarten Learning Community", Jaclyn Scott (The Journal, February 2005), declares:
"Access to computer educational software and Internet games for little children has been proven to be very valuable in kindergartens around the world."

The problem is that in most cases, nursery schools are equipped with 1 PC at best. Therefore, only one child at a time can benefit from a computer.

With SoftXpand, the existing PC can be turned into multiple workstations, bringing the benefits of computers to each child.