OCEANSIDE: School district tries new technology to expand computer access

With device, multiple users can share one system - This story has been corrected since its original posting

By STACY BRANDT - Staff Writer | Wednesday, April 16, 2008 9:25 AM PDT ∞

OCEANSIDE ---- More students in Oceanside schools have access to computers this year because of new technology being used in their classroom, officials said this week.

So far, the Oceanside Unified School District has bought more than 100 devices that can essentially "split" a computer into several different work stations, each with a monitor, mouse and keyboard, said Matt Evans, the district's director of technology.

In a typical classroom, two computers can be expanded with the devices so that eight students can use them, all doing separate things.

Buying separate computers for four students would cost the district roughly $4,000, Evans said. With the products made by Northern California-based NComputing, a teacher can get the same number of work stations for $1,800, he added.

"Basically, it cuts the cost of the classroom in half," he said. "We get the same four students using the computer for less than half of the money."

There are some limitations with the system: it reduces the quality of graphics and is incompatible with some programs that the schools use, Evans said.

Still, it works fine with the majority of the things students need the computers for, he added.

District officials bought the devices over the last year after experimenting with a couple of them.

"We played around with it to see what it was capable of," Evans said. "We wanted to see what the limitations were before we invested in it."

Evans said he's "cautiously optimistic" that the technology will be used to bring even more computer access to students throughout the district.

"We want to make sure that it will do all of the things that we will need it to do," he said. "This could really change the economics of classroom computing."

Though the technology is catching on, particularly among schools, there are still relatively few school districts using it, said Stephen Dukker, chief executive officer of NComputing.

The product itself is new, but the ideas behind it are not. Dukker said the concept goes back to the early days of computing when one system could cost millions of dollars, making it necessary to split the resources as much as possible.

Dukker said it's rewarding to know that the products his company makes are bringing more computer access to students.

"It really makes us feel good about what we're doing," he said.

Evans said he hopes the new technology will allow more Oceanside Unified students to have access to computers, even in rough economic years.

"Even in the best of times, there's never enough money for us to do everything with technology that we would like," he said. "We're always looking for a way to give our students access to more technology."

Contact staff writer Stacy Brandt at (760) 901-4009 or sbrandt@nctimes.com.

CORRECTION: A story that appeared in Tuesday's North County Times incorrectly spelled the name of Stephen Dukker, CEO of NComputing.  We apologize.

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