VIRTUAL DESKTOP INFRASTRUCTURE IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION: AN APPLICATION OF HOME AND MOBILE COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT

Currently, universities have rising demands to apply the incredible recent developments in computer technology that support students to achieve skills necessary for developing applied critical thinking in the contexts of online society. Medical and engineering subjects’ practical learning and education scenarios are crucial to attain a set of competencies and applied skills. These recent developments allow sharing and resource allocation, which brings savings and maximize use, and therefore offer centralized management, increased security, and scalability. This paper describes the implantation of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) to access the virtual laboratories that bring efficient use of resources as one of Al Balqa Applied University’s (BAU) Private Cloud services. The concept of desktop virtualization implements the sharing of capabilities utilizing legacy machines, which reduces the cost of infrastructure and introduces increased security, mobility, scalability, agility, and high availability. Al Balqa Applied University uses the service extensively to facilitate in/off-campus learning, teaching, and administrative activities and continue performing their work and education functions remotely to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Protocol-agnostic method for monitoring interactivity time in remote desktop services

The growing trend of desktop virtualisation has facilitated the reduction of management costs associated with traditional systems and access to services from devices with different capabilities. However, desktop virtualisation requires controlling the interactivity provided by an infrastructure and the quality of experience perceived by users. This paper proposes a methodology for the quantification of interactivity based on the measurement of the time elapsed between user interactions and the associated responses. Measurement error is controlled using a novel mechanism for the detection of screen changes, which can lead to erroneous measurements. Finally, a campus virtual desktop infrastructure and the Amazon WorkSpaces solution are analysed using this proposed methodology. The results demonstrate the importance of the location of virtualisation infrastructure and the types of protocols used by remote desktop services.

A Practical Application of TrimCloud

The current educational technologies in developing countries are not always successfully implemented and utilized due to infrastructure limitations, such as limited resources, limited training in educational technologies, and the unrealized potential usefulness of these technologies. Using an effective and relevant educational technology will efficiently maximize the use of the limited resources available to schools in developing countries in order to provide a larger outreach and increase access to up-to-date information and useful electronic resources. Thus, the authors propose TrimCloud as an alternative educational technology to help rebuild the education system and encourage innovation and development in developing countries. TrimCloud is an open-source virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) that is offered as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) and a desktop-as-a-service (DaaS). In this paper, the authors examine possible solutions to issues plaguing the educational environment in developing countries by using TrimCloud at the primary, secondary, university/higher education, and administration levels. They propose the use of refurbished legacy systems as the alternative hardware source for using TrimCloud as an educational technology, which will also aid to alleviate the “e-waste dump” problem. Lastly, the authors explore further network enhancements to TrimCloud that will provide a reliable and robust option for developing countries.