Brisbane Catholic Education turns to VMware to transform learning and teaching across 147 Queensland schools
More than 65,000 students and teachers in primary and secondary schools access new devices, digital learning tools and apps for better education outcomes
SYDNEY, Australia – November 13, 2019 - VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW), a leading innovator in enterprise software, and Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE), today announced the successful implementation of VMware Workspace ONE across 147 schools within South East Queensland, to transform the digital learning process for teachers and children, and drive better education outcomes.
With more than 65,000 users and devices, this is the largest single customer instance of Workspace ONE on VMware Cloud in Australia. Students and teachers across BCE’s schools can now select their own devices, whilst being fully supported by BCE’s centralised technology team.
BCE is a learning community made up of all the diocesan Catholic schools in South East Queensland . It provisions IT solutions across all of its sites centrally from BCE’s Brisbane headquarters. The rollout of the VMware Workspace ONE Modern Management was designed to advance BCE’s four-year strategic mandate to optimise the use of technology, to support teaching, learning, collaboration and decision-making across all schools under the BCE banner. To date, according to the schools, over 65,000 learning devices have been allocated to staff and students in primary and secondary schools to enhance and provide equal opportunity in education.
BCE has deployed Workspace ONE Modern Management across a variety of operating systems, including Windows 10, iOS and macOS devices.
With the new system, teachers have immediate access to 70 new apps for digital learning ‘out of the box’, as well as the option to request access to additional digital learning programs if desired. At the same time, the technology teams are able to provide better support, with no downtime in the classroom. VMware Workspace ONE also allows the schools to host digital exams and NAPLAN Online assessments.
“Since we’ve implemented VMware Workspace ONE across our schools, we’re experiencing more of an equal opportunity learning environment for both teachers and students,” says Paul Saltmarsh, Senior IT Officer, Brisbane Catholic Education. “We have teachers who’ve avoided using technology in the classroom in the past, due to the complexity but thanks to the enhanced user experience and simplicity of VMware Workspace ONE, these teachers are actively embracing digital devices in the classroom and integrating them more and more into the learning journey.
“It’s the same for students. For example, some have difficulty with writing skills, so they’re leveraging the power of voice control tools like Siri to produce work and learning outcomes of a higher quality than ever before. Being able to use digital tools to overcome learning challenges can dramatically improve their confidence and overall learning outcomes for some students, which makes a huge difference in their lives.”
Device deployment
Using the VMware Workspace ONE solution, site-based IT staff can prepare iOS, Windows 10 and macOS devices for students remotely, pre-loaded with relevant coursework and apps. These can then be handed to users for immediate use. Prior to implementation, preparing a device would take over a week for a cohort of students. Now, with VMware Workspace ONE, up to 100 devices can be deployed within an hour, completely remotely.
Device set-up time has been reduced significantly, which has helped to free up IT technicians to focus on more strategic work. IT staff are no longer required to spend hours preparing and updating Windows and macOS laptop devices for students and staff. Through VMware Workspace ONE with Windows 10 Modern Management, deployment is automatic, and updates occur seamlessly. All software is deployed remotely, providing users with the most up-to-date systems, in alignment with coursework requirements.
Some school IT departments comprise one person, and this implementation has allowed staff members to manage hundreds of devices simultaneously. Through VMware Workspace ONE, each device is automatically tracked and made void if compromised, providing a new level of security for each school whilst backing up all data for each individual user.
“Part of BCE’s education strategy is to optimise the use of technology to support our staff and students on a daily basis,” says Paul Saltmarsh. “BCE has always been an early adopter of technology, so we were keen to look at cloud technologies which could help manage a large fleet of digital devices and allow the use of cutting-edge learning techniques, all while delivering the appropriate security requirements necessary for a school environment. It needed to be a solution which could be rolled out universally and quickly across all 147 sites, and one which would be embraced by IT teams at the school level. For us, VMware Workspace ONE has been the right choice to achieve our strategic goals.”
“As part of our digital strategy, BCE is looking to have true zero-touch deployment, which is now possible through our partnership with VMware. Across all 147 sites, we have seen immense efficiency gains and large cost savings. Previously, our IT staff across schools would spend weeks preparing and managing devices. Now it is all managed seamlessly in hours through VMware Workspace ONE.”
“BCE is leading the digital charge in the education sector and demonstrating the opportunities that exist for schools which want an easily managed, yet comprehensive end-user experience,” says Andrew Fox, Director, End User Experience, VMware ANZ. “We’re pleased to be able to help BCE provide its 65,000 students and teachers with access to a new range of digital tools to enhance their learning and open up new opportunities for their future. As the largest single customer instance of Workspace ONE on VMware Cloud in Australia, we look forward to continuing our work together with BCE to demonstrate the scale and capability of what can be achieved with our technology.”
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