Changes in the Central Teaching and Learning Environment
New and Relocation of Printing Facilities
Two new Konica Minolta industrial grade fast printers have been installed to replace the old printers at the Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre (CMC) to support the quota-controlled free printing service for students. A new colour printer is also made available there to support charged colour or black/white printing.
The two fast printers located on Academic 2 (AC2) 4/F have been relocated from the middle of the corridor to both ends, hence providing more space to be used as learning commons for students. For more information on the proper use of the campus printing facilities and usage procedures, please refer to http://www.ncm2.xyz/csc/deptweb/facilities/terminal-area/printing.htm.
Increased Virtual Desktop Service (VDS)
VDS is provided by the Computing Services Centre (CSC) to cater for the needs of adopting personal mobile devices (such as tablets or notebook computers) for teaching and learning. In Phase 1, users can connect to one of the 40 Virtual Desktops on a first-come-first-served basis in the AC2 Building via the campus wireless LAN. Once connected, users can use the Student LAN software as if they are working on PCs in the CSC Teaching Studios. In Phase 2, more virtual machines are added and the service is extended to all Academic Buildings (1, 2 and 3) and the CMC. For details on the VDS, please refer to http://www.ncm2.xyz/csc/deptweb/facilities/VDS_FAQ.htm.
Increased Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS) for Teaching and Learning
Provisioning Services (PVS) have been used to administer the Express Terminals scattered around the campus as well as the desktop computers in two Open Access Areas and one Teaching Studio since 2013. The desktop computers in two more Teaching Studios have been virtualized by using the PVS technology, increasing the total number of PVS managed desktops to around 300. The use of PVS helps shorten the time required for applying patches for the operating system, security software and application software, hence maximizing their availabilities for teaching and learning activities and enabling software maintenance work even at peak periods.
Termination of the DLS Service
In recent years, there has been a rapid decline in the patronage of the Student DLS service. Since the operation of the DLS is no longer cost effective, the University has decided to retire this service on 31 July 2015. This is in line with current practices at other universities in Hong Kong.