Educational technology has never been more critical in the era of remote and hybrid learning. As educators become more mobile, with students opting to receive education remotely, a modern desktop and application solution is paramount. Azure Virtual Desktop, an ultramodern desktop and application solution built for today's digital world, empowers teachers and students to achieve more without restrictions, all while being secure, scalable, and cost-effective.
Azure offers an easy-to-deploy, state-of-the-art, and secure desktop and application experience from virtually anywhere. With the virtual desktop solution, you get the familiarity of Windows 11 you love, optimized for Microsoft 365 to create a limitless virtual environment where teachers and students can teach and learn their own way, from anywhere.
What is Azure Virtual Desktop?
Azure Virtual Desktop (VD) is a desktop and app virtualization service that runs on the cloud. It is Microsoft's cloud virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution with centralized security, management, and scalability built-in. Azure virtual desktop is easy to set up and works across devices and apps with full-featured experiences for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. It's also integrated with a web client service, allowing remote access to desktop and apps from any browser, a useful feature for driving productivity.
What Makes Azure Virtual Desktop the Next Big Thing for Education?
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Promote Flexible Teaching + Learning
With Azure VD, Faculty members, staff, and students have no excuse for not being productive. They can work, teach, research, and learn from anywhere, which is essential in an increasingly remote world. The solution eliminates restrictions such as needing a PC or desktop to enjoy the Windows experience. Users have the flexibility to work and study on the go as long as they have an internet-enabled device.
Not only that, but Azure VD also comes with the necessary tools and resources to support teaching and learning. As long as you have the solution, you already have Microsoft 365 at no extra cost. -
Streamline Collaboration
Thanks to the virtual classroom feature, students can connect and collaborate with their colleagues from different locations in real-time. Also, teachers and students can leverage the virtual desktop experience with the added advantage of Microsoft 365 tools to conduct virtual meetings, share learning materials, and work together on projects. Azure takes collaboration a step further by eliminating restrictions. The ability to run the virtual desktop solution on any device platform or browser makes Azure VD an inclusive solution. Users have the freedom to connect with any internet-enabled device, from mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops to interactive whiteboards. -
Minimize IT Costs
Most learning institutions operate on a budget, and enabling a modern hybrid remote and distance learning model can be costly. Azure VD eliminates the costs and complexities of setting up and managing a desktop infrastructure. Educational institutions can save on expensive hardware, servers, and IT team expenses by purchasing a single license. The license comprises the roles the institution would have to manage if it were to build its own infrastructure, including gateway, broker, diagnostics, load balancing, and more. -
Scale According to Needs
The number of faculty members, staff, students, and programs always changes with semesters. As a result, adjusting to such changes becomes a challenge with on-premise IT infrastructure, leaving many resources largely under or overutilized. With Azure VD, learning institutions can easily scale up or down, depending on their needs. The remote desktop solution offers the flexibility and agility for organizations to get exactly what they need without incurring additional costs or running into operational issues.
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Maintain Full Control
Educational institutions have the privilege to provision and configure user experiences on Azure VD to meet their needs. Because it's cloud-based, institutions benefit from Azure's expansive global footprint and mission-critical infrastructure, which can be configured for resiliency. For instance, Microsoft guarantees 99.9% availability for every virtual machine (VM) location. Still, organizations can configure availability options and zones to host redundant VMs across physically separate locations in the same region comprising one or more data centers to improve availability.
Besides service configuration, institutions can also maintain full control over management with many options for deploying services, implementing identity, and storing files. Institutions can choose from hundreds of VM sizes, performance options and vary the density of users on VMs based on workloads. For instance, institutions can allow users to access app windows individually without exposing the entire desktop.
Ensure Data Safety with built-in Intelligent Security
Data safety becomes a huge concern when a virtual desktop solution can be experienced on any device platform or browser anywhere. Microsoft understood the importance of staying secure and complying with security standards in today's digital era. As such, Microsoft built intelligent security capabilities into Azure AD to prevent, detect threats, and take remedial action. Users can have peace of mind and focus on being productive, knowing they are always protected.
Bottom Line
Azure AD isn't an entirely new technology; it was formerly known as Windows Virtual Desktop. However, it was reimagined for the new age of digital education. It suits institutions seeking simple, limitless, secure, and affordable innovative VDI solutions to adapt to the hybrid learning environment. It removes geographical IT barriers so users can deploy and access Windows desktops and applications from various endpoints and platforms such as Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android—including any HTML-enabled browser. Azure AD is essentially a flexible and scalable VDI solution with simplified deployment and management capabilities and the ability to streamline the user experience. It is perfect for remote learning.
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