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A Journey Towards Digital Learning Environment

Gerrit Bahlman, Ricky Cheong, David Chiu

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The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

1937 1947 1972 1994

Government Trade School

Hong Kong Technical College

The Hong Kong Polytechnic

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Our Motto To learn and to apply, for the benefit of mankind

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BackgroundEstablished in 1937

6 Faculties, 2 Schools and 2 Centres

161 Programmes

2,800+ Research projects

Largest University population in Hong Kong 30,000+ students 6,000+ staff 350,000+ Alumni

Smallest Campus Area 9.46-hectare

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Digital transformation strategies

Knowledge Organisation

Digital Learning

Digital Research

Services & Operational Excellence

Digital Workspace

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Digital Workspace - Why?Space Limitation –

2.6m2 / user

Mobility– city is the study space

Accessibility – China great firewall and poor connection

Affordability –expensive software &

hardware

Cyber attacks –protection of data

Preparing for the Pandemic – Business

Continuity

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Challenges - Space Limitation

2.6m2 / user

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Challenges – The City is the study space

Study anywhere, anytime, with any

device

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Challenges – The City is the study space

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Challenges – Access to applications

Students from Mainland China

PolyU Campus(Hong Kong)

Students from Overseas

PolyU Hybrid Cloud

Fast connection

Accessibility

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Challenges – Affordable, Consistent Applications

Affordability

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Challenges – Cyber Attack Threats

Protection

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The PolyU Digital Learning Environment

The Digital Workspace Concept

Anytime, Anywhere, Any device

Scalable Cloud Solution

Information Security High availability design

Endpoint management & protection

Automatic Data backup

User Self-recovery

vApp

vPrinting

Cloud Storage

vDesk

Access from your own Device

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Key Principle

Students First

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Design Philosophy

Mobility

Access

Affordability

High Performance

Security -Data Protection

Consistent User Experience

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Digital Workspace Journey

Ideation

Proof of Concept

Pilot Program

Detailed Design

Massive Deployment

Continious Service

Improvement

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Scale of Deployment

First global virtual deployment of Win10

Largest deployment in Asia students (30,000+)

staff (6,000+)

High Performance Infrastructure All flash storage (SSD)

High-end industry grade servers

Full campus WiFi coverage (802.11ac wave 2 standard)

City wide WiFi access points

Library of virtual applications

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Introductory video

https://youtu.be/xxfkppvNNy0

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Challenges and Lesson Learnt

• Information Security and Data Privacy Issue

• Academic Freedom

• Software Licensing Control

• User Experience Design

• User Expectation Management

• New Operating Model

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Information Security and Data Privacy Issue

Information Security

BYOD (Untrust)

PolyU vDesk

Applications

Data

Data Privacy

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Academic Freedom

Principle

Our user always has the right to use any application in a safe environment

Facilitation & Protection

User Classification

Self-service centre

Protection & Monitor

• General (Default)

• Administrator

• Temporary

• Permanently

• Applications Pool

• No administrator right required

• Active Directory

• Microsoft System Centre Configuration Manager (Baseline protection)

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Software Licensing Control

Software License

Pool

Open Source Software

Campus wide Agreement

Departments Purchased

License Consolidation

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User Experience Design

User Experience

Omni Channel

Unified Experience

High Performance

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User Expectation Management

Experimental Improvement

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New Operating Model

New Operating Model

Operating Model

VDI Frame Management

Storage Management

VDI Image Management

App Management

Monitoring and

Reporting

User Support , Training

and Promotion

New Roles and Responsibility Matrix

R

A

C

I

Area Item Task Description

1.1Conduct research and make recommendation on VDI products,

services, and standards in support of the infrastructureA,R C C,I C I

1.2Partner with the EA group to define, execute, and maintain the

Enterprise Infrastructure Technology Roadmap A,R C C,I C I

1.3Initial implementation/evaluation of pilot or proof of concept of

new, emerging technologies, and major upgradesA,R C,R C,R C,R

1.4Identify, recommend, design, and implement cost-effective VDI

solutions A,R C,R C,R C,R

1.5Project future computing capacity requirements to meet business

needsA,R C C C C

1.6Research, architect, deploy, and manage third party tools related

to the VDI server infrastructureA,R R C,I C I

AD

Te

am

CONSULTED

Person consulted before action or decision taken

INFORMED

Person informed after action or decision taken

ACCOUNTABLE

Ultimate Owner, Accountable for final decision

Ro

adm

ap

RACI Chart for Virtual Desktop Service (VDS) - v0.99

Infr

astr

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ure

Te

am

De

skto

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anag

em

en

t /

SCC

& L

ab

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two

rk T

eam

Dat

a C

en

ter

Op

era

tio

n

Role

Secu

rity

Te

am

Use

r H

elp

Ce

nte

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RESPONSIBLE

Person responsible for completing the assigned deliverable

IT T

rain

ing

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Current and future developments

Virtual departmental laboratory (vLab)

Single Sign On to all internal systems

Support for Learning Analytics beyond the LMS

Inter-institutional collaboration

Integration of vSCC and online learning

Watching new technologiesBlockchain

BOT

Machine Learning

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Thank You