No computer lab? No problem with application streaming

A transition to remote learning for schools in Anaheim, California, during COVID-19 posed a special challenge for high school students who take courses in computer labs. Without access to the specialized workstations in those classrooms, many students would be unable to use Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, or other programs that were central to their courses.

To provide remote access to this software, the Anaheim Union High School District (UHSD) implemented Amazon AppStream 2.0, a desktop as a service platform from Amazon Web Services (AWS). The solution not only solved the problem of accessing software during COVID-19 but also sparked a discussion on better ways to deliver resource-hungry applications in the future.

Remote learning: A driver and a catalyst

Anaheim UHSD offers courses that use software from the Adobe Creative Cloud in approximately 38 computer labs spread across 19 buildings — eight comprehensive high schools, eight comprehensive junior high schools, an alternative high school, a virtual school, and a school that includes grades seven through 12. When the pandemic closed those buildings in spring 2020, these labs and their high-capacity computers were off limits to students.

The district managed as best it could. Some teachers directed students to alternative applications they could access from home via web browsers.

“They didn’t have nearly the same feature sets as the Adobe products, but the teachers adapted the curriculum to use those other tools,” says Erik Greenwood, chief technology officer (CTO) for Anaheim UHSD.

The district also converted its license with Adobe from a hybrid device and name-based structure to an entirely name- based model so students could access the Adobe Cloud from alternative devices. Some of the students covered by those licenses had enough computing power at home to log in and start working.

“Students who didn’t have access to adequate technology to run the Adobe products at home checked out laptops in lieu of the Chromebooks we gave other students to enable remote learning,” Greenwood says.

Greenwood’s IT team also explored solutions like virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and application streaming. “Remote learning was a driver and a catalyst,” Greenwood says. “We had to come up with a solution to provide access to these applications remotely.”

But while meeting the emergency need, an alternative approach might also solve another issue: how to give all students the same high-quality experience when they use the Adobe applications. Like any computer hardware, Anaheim’s computer labs need to be refreshed every few years. The district upgrades workstations as its budget allows, but it is not possible to replace them all simultaneously throughout the district.

“You have the challenge of different labs that have different technical specifications, with different levels of resources,” Greenwood says.

A student assigned to a room with the latest machines enjoys a great experience. A student assigned to a lab with older computers may struggle with slower performance.

“We talked with our business teachers about VDI or app streaming as a possible way to provide a lower-cost device and have a consistent experience for students across the board, regardless of what classroom they happen to get scheduled into,” he says.

A cost-effective and simple solution

Anaheim’s IT department won support for the project by including key business teachers early in the conversation.

“We talked about the short, medium, and long-term potential of a technology like this,” Greenwood says. “We seemed to have buy-in from teachers we collaborated with for this to be a potential way of delivering the technology. Some of the teachers have been very willing to participate in the testing.”

After evaluating several solutions, Anaheim UHSD’s IT team chose AppStream 2.0. “Among the solutions we looked at, AppStream 2.0 had the best pricing, and it was full cloud,” Greenwood says.

As an application streaming service, AppStream 2.0 is less expensive to implement than traditional VDI solutions and easier to manage. Instead of duplicating the entire desktop of a machine, AppStream 2.0 provides access directly to an application. From the Anaheim School District’s landing page, the student clicks on an icon for the application and gets to work.

The Anaheim district implemented AppStream 2.0 in December 2020, working with InterVision, an AWS Premier Consulting Partner.

“There was a lot of iteration with InterVision, our teachers, and the IT department, setting up the images,” Greenwood says. “And then a lot more iteration in spinning up those images, getting our teachers and students to try them and give us feedback, and then tweaking things as we identified them.”

The bulk of the work took just a few weeks. “Then it was continual conversation about what fine-tuning we needed,” he says.

Implementing AppStream 2.0 required very little upfront capital costs. The IT department is still determining the cost of ongoing operations, but the key is to analyze usage, which will be less predictable when students use the Adobe software from home rather than on campus during school hours.

“It’s going to be a matter of fine-tuning the patterns of use to have the right resources within AppStream 2.0 available in a timely manner for students and teachers to be able to consume it,” he says. “We are still figuring that out.”

Digital equity and greater flexibility

Since December, the most obvious benefit of AppStream 2.0 is that students can use the Adobe applications remotely, regardless of whether they have access to powerful computers. Based on how well it works for students and teachers, once schools return to 100 percent in-class instruction, the district will determine whether to continue using AppStream 2.0 to gain other, longer-term benefits. For instance, the technology could let the district give all students who use the Adobe applications the same high-quality experience, which would provide a new level of digital equity.

“You will get the same access to computing power regardless of which classroom you are scheduled into,” Greenwood says.

By eliminating the need to work in official computer labs, application streaming could also give students greater flexibility.

“A student could go to the library and fire up AppStream 2.0 on one of the general-purpose computers there or use his or her own device at lunch or on break,” Greenwood says.

It also offers a potential financial benefit. “If it works as well as a hardware lab, we might not need a hardware lab,” he says.

Anaheim is considering adopting a take-home computing model, in which the school district gives students a computer as needed. “If I’m a student who takes video production, and the district is in a take-home environment, AppStream 2.0 could give me access to the tools I need on the device the district provides,” he says. “And that might or might not necessitate a computer lab as we know it.”

Whether enabling learning from home or enhancing instruction over the long term, AppStream 2.0 could expand options for students and teachers who use Adobe software and, potentially, software for engineering and related functions. “It definitely will provide more access to those applications,” Greenwood says, “whether that’s at school or at home.”