The Background
The Manchester College is one of the largest further education colleges in the UK with 10 sites around the city. It is a leading provider of 16-19 and adult education in Greater Manchester with over 28,000 students. Offering an unrivalled choice of academic courses and vocational programmes, the college prides itself on providing a high-quality, safe and healthy environment, particularly in its online environment. We chatted to IT Operations Manager, Jeremy Harrison, on how Impero has helped the organisation.
The Requirements
They needed a proactive monitoring solution to support vulnerable students as their current software had incompatibilities and difficulties with the virtual desktop infrastructure.
The college needed a solution which could help teachers better manage their classroom and keep students on task.
Our Approach
IT Operations Manager Jeremy Harrison had used Impero Education Pro in a previous position and deemed it a good fit for the college. After a trial period, the college purchased the solution.
“It’s straightforward and user-friendly, it just works for what we want to do!”
Jeremy Harrison, IT Operations Manager, The Manchester College
Implementation began after some help from the Impero Support Team to resolve the virtual desktop infrastructure and reduce the amount of central processing units the college was using.
The Outcome
Since implementing Impero Education Pro, The Manchester College has built a partnership with Impero, working closely during new releases and helping to inform product development.
With Education Pro, The Manchester College has been able to improve safeguarding and online safety. The college have particularly benefited from features like the live thumbnail monitoring and keyword detection. These features have enabled them to detect online dangers including those relating to counter-radicalisation, grooming and other online risks.
“We’ve been able to identify things of concern and get involved with the situation earlier…it’s helped us be a lot more proactive in our safeguarding approach.”
Jeremy Harrison, IT Operations Manager, The Manchester College
Education Pro has also allowed the college to better monitor and report on the use of desktops throughout the 10 sites.
“It really helps to focus learning, especially in our learning resource centres…being able to restrict access and block these sites helps keep them focused on the task at hand.”
Jeremy Harrison, IT Operations Manager, The Manchester College
Additionally, library staff and teachers have been given greater control in the classroom, including resetting passwords. This has helped to reduce inbound requests into the IT service desk, allowing more time to be spent resolving complex and taxing IT issues.