Effectiveness of Thin-client computing over Stand-alone Computing in Schools’
computer laboratories on improving computer literacy level in Kenya
Bostley Muyembe Asenahabi, Peters Anselemo Ikoha, Juma Kilwake
Abstract -
Computer literacy is essential for a workforce to compete favorably in this increasingly computerized environment. Most organizations and institutions require a workforce that is computer literate. This calls for schools to equip more students with computer skills. Schools should be adequately equipped to offer hands-on experience and nurture rapid learning, yet be intuitive and interesting to students. Setting up and maintaining a computer laboratory goes with a cost which most schools cannot keep pace with thus the need to embrace other effective computer architectures. The aim of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of thin-client computing over stand-alone computing for service delivery in computer laboratories. Survey research method based on quantitative research design was adopted for this research. Data collection was done using a questionnaire, interview and observation. A sample size of thirty percent of the secondary schools which offer computer studies in Bungoma County was used for data collection. Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the schools to take part in the research. The research findings revealed that the main computer architectural configuration deployed by secondary schools for computer studies is stand-alone computer architecture. Thin-client computer architecture is more cost-effective compared to stand-alone computer architecture which if deployed in computer laboratories, schools will be able to offer computer studies to more students thus making more people computer literate.Index Terms:
Computer literacy, Computer
laboratory, Thin-client computing, Stand-alone
computing, Resource utilization
I.
INTRODUCTION
Computer usage to access information is crucial to both technological and scientific advancement.
Manuscript received September, 2019
Bostley Muyembe Asenahabi, School of Computing and Informatics, Kibabii University,
Kenya.
Peters Anselemo Ikoha, School of Computing and Informatics, Kibabii University, Kenya
Juma Kilwake: School of Computing and Informatics, Kibabii University, Kenya
Reference [13] asserts that it has become much easier to access information using a computer system such that anyone searching for information will have preference of a computer system over other traditional sources.
Multiple computer skills are a necessity for an individual to be termed as being computer literate. Proficiency in a specific computer based application like knowledge of word processing is not a yard stick for computer literacy [16]. Reference [7] insinuates that there are different areas of knowledge and skills that are required for one to use computer-based information sources: Hardware or equipment-related knowledge and skills, including the ability to use the mouse and keyboard; System knowledge and skills, including knowledge of network procedures, and of the DOS, Windows system interfaces; Applications software knowledge and skills, including word processing, electronic mail software and Internet software; Knowledge and skills associated with the use of information system itself which entails the way in which information is stored in the system, research procedures needed and access techniques; Knowledge and skills associated with using the information that is contained in the source or service.
II.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Stand-alone computing which consists of Personal Computers began trending in the 1980s. Reference [10] opines that a stand-alone computer system posses its own operating system and storage, with the ability to execute its own programs. The hardware specification for a stand-alone computer system always includes a Central Processor Unit, Primary Storage device (Random Access Memory) and a secondary storage device - hard disk drive.
Figure I: Personal Computers during their inception in 1980s Source: Adopted from; [9]
This increases flexibility and choice as each computer system possess its own central processing unit, hard drive, memory, monitor, operating system and application software. This enables each computing system to have processing power and storage space. The PCs are small in size and cost less in comparison to the mainframe computers.
The cost and flexibility of PCs led to a mass shift in computer architecture technology from main frames to PCs between 1989 and 1995 [4].
Despite the advantages stated above, this technology has a large investment cost since different software types have to be installed on each individual PC besides the cost for supporting them. The PCs are faced with the problem of high initial purchase and maintenance cost. They are also exposed to security breaches like theft, virus attacks and general unauthorized misuse.
The thin client architectural design has three components: a powerful central server; one or several thin clients and a communication protocol [6]. The server runs an operating system that supports a multi user environment, while the thin clients run a stripped-down version of an operating system that is able to run a program that connects them to the server, and the communication protocol enhances the communication between thin clients and the server. Keyboard strokes and mouse clicks are sent from the thin client to the server which carries out the required commands and processes and then returns updated images back to the thin client terminal.
The server splits the application logic execution and user interface display logic [12]. According to [8] the server provides most of the processing power to run applications, data processing and make mathematical calculations.
A thin client comprises of a display screen, a keyboard and a mouse combined with adequate memory and processing capabilities which enables graphical rendering and network communication with a server. They only make use of the resources they need from the resources available at the central server [11]. Due to the reduced size of the specialized operating system, the thin client utilizes far less Random Access Memory (RAM)
as intimated by [5]. Reference [3] insinuates that multiple users are allowed to log onto this computing system and run applications simultaneously, performing different actions as each of them is allocated an independent memory space where separate windows application sessions run. Once a thin-client device is put on, it is allocated some memory space and processing power by the server that it is connected to with respect to the amount of work it is performing.
This is in tandem with [15] which opines that the sole idea behind thin client computing is to centralize: computing power; storage; applications and data on centrally based servers and provide users with less expensive client devices that are easier to install and cheaper to support. Figure II illustrates a server linked to several thin client devices.
Figure II: Thin Clients connected to a server
Source: Adopted from Telemedicine System in the South Atlantic. Phase VII
III.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This is a survey research based on quantitative research design. Reference [1] postulates that survey research enables the researcher to collect numerical data about the opinions and trends of computer architecture organization in schools’ computer laboratories. Data collection was done using a questionnaire, interview and observation. It enabled the researcher to use a standardized instrument to collect standardized data from a large number of people about their behaviors, attitudes, and opinions. Reference [2] opines that the survey research generally encompasses any measurement procedures which involve posing questions to respondents.
[image:2.595.311.509.289.353.2]It was noted that there were 278 secondary schools in Bungoma County [18] as at 2017. The number of secondary schools offering Computer studies were found to be fifty-two with respect to data collected from the county, ministry of education office. For this research, a sample of thirty percent was used, [14] which is appropriate for descriptive research. Proportional allocation method was used to apportion the exact number of schools from each strata as illustrated in the Table I.
Table I: Proportional allocation of schools offering computer studies
School
level No. ofSchools No. ofschools offering computer studies
No. of schools selected for data collection National
schools 2 2 1
Extra-County schools
8 8 2
County
schools 33 15 5
Sub-county schools
235 27 8
Total 278 52 16
Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to pick the schools to take part in the research from the different strata (school levels) with respect to the apportioned numbers.
IV.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
[image:3.595.359.516.555.709.2]The demographic information of respondents was presented and discussed based on gender. Respondents were asked of their gender and close observation shows that there is a significant variation in the distribution by gender of teachers of computer studies as shown in Table II- Respondents’ gender.
Table II: Respondents’ Gender
Frequency Percent
Male 11 78.6
Female 3 21.4
Total 14 100.0
The findings reveal that male respondents were majority (78.6%) compared to the female respondents (21.4%).
Data collected on the number of computers in the computer laboratories available for computer studies indicated that for the schools offering computer studies, the minimum number of computer systems available for
computer studies is 10, the maximum available computer systems is 49 while there is an average of 25 computers in the computer laboratories as depicted on Table III.
Table III: Computers available for computer studies Minimu
m Maximum Mean Computer
s for computer studies
10 49 24.79
In determining whether all the system units possessed a central processing unit, 93% of the respondents indicated that each system unit had its own C.P.U while 7% indicated that there was no C.P.U for all the system unit as illustrated in Figure III.
Figure III: Central processing unit present The study sought to find out if each system unit possessed a Random Access Memory gadget. It was noted that all the system units had a Random Access Memory with 1GB RAM having 57% appearance rate, 2GB having 14% while 512 MB having 14% as depicted in Fig IV.
Figure IV: Size of RAM
[image:3.595.65.275.610.667.2]maximum hard disk size was 500 GB with 14%. 250 GB and 320 GB both had 7% as illustrated in Figure V.
Figure V: Hard disk sizes
The researcher collected data pertaining the types of monitors for the system units in the computer laboratories for different schools offering computer studies.
Figure VI: Types of monitor
With respect to the data collected, it was discovered that LCD/ TFT types of monitors had a percentage of 29% while the CRT types of monitors had 21%. 50% of the schools had both TFT and CRT types of monitors as indicated in Figure VI.
To determine different aspects about software and applications, it was discovered that all the schools (100%) preferred windows operating system over Linux and Ubuntu operating systems. All the schools (100%) had off-the-shelf application software installed with none having bespoke application software. It was further pointed out that most schools use both commercial and freeware software which makes a percentage of 71% while the schools that only use commercial software have a percentage of 29% as depicted in Figure VII.
Figure VII: Installed system software
To establish the effectiveness of using thin-client computing technology on service delivery, an experiment involving a thin client architectural configuration was set up. The respondents were allowed to interact with the experimental set up and verbalize their thoughts about the computer architecture design and features as the researcher collected data through interview and observation.
Through posing the interview guide questions, one of the respondents noted that this computer set-up architecture only allowed the users to interact with the thin-client terminal which comprised of the thin-client device, keyboard and mouse. It was viewed that this computer set-up architecture did not have system units for each monitor. This was contrary to the stand-alone computer architecture where each computer system had its own system unit. In this case there was a central server which hosted the applications, software, memory and other shared resources. The central server was connected to several thin clients through a network protocol.
The respondents further noted that this computer system architecture was scalable. Thin-clients could either be added or isolated from the network. This aspect enabled multiple users to log onto the system through different user interfaces. Once the server had been configured, the thin client devices just needed to be plugged in and be ready for use.
The respondents noted that each one of them could log onto the system and perform his/her own task without interfering with another user. This was made possible by the server operating system apportioning the required resources to the different users who had logged onto the system.
[image:4.595.53.281.95.256.2]the remote central server with the consent of the system administrator. This ensured that data/ information on the server was secure. Users could only pick or feed data from the system with the consent of the system administrator. One respondent pointed out that when a thin client device which the users interacted with malfunctions, the stored data remains safely stored in the remote server.
The researcher asked the respondents to rate the performance of the applications they accessed through their interaction with the system. The respondents pointed out that there was no difference in performance of MS Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint and Publisher applications installed on the thin client setup and the same applications installed on stand-alone computer systems. These applications were also prompt in highlighting grammatical and syntax errors in the process of typing. They however noted that VLC media player was irritating since it was ‘dragging’ the sound and images of songs too much compared to the stand-alone computer system. The respondents were asked to rate the response rate of the system to the mouse clicks and keyboard strokes.
They noted that the computer architectures’ response rate was perfect and users could not tell any difference in the response rate when compared to the stand-alone computing system. Other parameters that were captured through the interview included security aspect; management aspects; scalability; multiple user access; hardware and software costs; deployment, repair and replacement speed; level of reliability of the services; the cost of energy used and the Total Cost of Ownership.
[image:5.595.52.278.599.744.2]The researcher posed these parameters as a form of guiding questions to the respondents. Table IV-Effectiveness of using thin-client technology on service delivery, was a summary of descriptive statistics of the experimented parameters.
Table IV: Effectiveness of using thin-client technology on service delivery
The researcher prompted the group of respondents about the central management aspect of thin-client computer architecture with respect to stand-alone computers. The respondents verbalized their thoughts after they had interacted with the set-up experiment.
It was noted that central management aspect was a great advantage that came along with thin-client computing architecture. The central management aspect ensured that all the users accessed the same version of applications simultaneously which would in the long run make the teachers’ job easy.
The researcher also noted that through central management, applications and software were loaded once on the server and all the users could access the applications through their thin clients. This can be depicted from Table IV where the central management parameter had a mean score of 4.60 on a Likert scale of 1-5 on a response rate of ‘very low’ to ‘very high’ respectively. This implied that the management of thin-client resources was highly managed. A single point installation and upgrading of applications/software greatly reduced the workload of IT staff since they did not have to move from one system unit to another to either install or upgrade the software.
The level of reliability and multiple user access parameters were raised to the respondents. Each of these two aspects scored a mean of 4.80 on a Likert scale of 1-5 on response rates of ‘very unreliable’ to ‘very reliable’ and ‘very bad’ to ‘very good’ respectively as depicted in Table IV. The response captured from the respondents indicated that with thin client computing architecture, multiple users could access the same applications and resources provided on the central server. This was noted to be greatly effective especially in a learning environment where all the students could access a similar computer platform from their clients.
It was also noted that the teachers would have control over what students were accessing and doing during the learning process.
Deployment, repair and replacement speed had a mean of 4.70 on a Likert scale of 1-5 on a response rate of ‘very slow’ to ‘very fast’. The respondents pointed out that when a thin-client failed, it could easily be repaired or replaced without affecting the stored data. It was also noted that thin-client computing architecture had minimal movable components which greatly minimized the chances of having computer system breakdowns.
The respondents pointed out that once the applications and software were loaded on the central server, the thin-client terminals were configured to the server and multiple users could access the computing system from multiple thin-client terminals. This made the thin-client Mean
Management Aspect 4.60
Scalability aspect 2.80
Cost of hardware and software 1.20 Level of Reliability 4.80 Multiple user access 4.80 Deployment, repair and
replacement Speed
4.70
architecture scalable since the thin clients could be added to the already working central server by linking the additional terminal device to the central server through a network cable. Scalability aspect had a mean of 2.80 on a Likert scale of 1-3 ranging from ‘Less scalable’ to ‘Highly scalable’ as depicted in Table IV. The researcher further raised the aspect of cost of hardware and software to the respondents. It was noted that with thin-client technology, there was a central server which hosted the applications and resources to be used by the thin-client terminals. This eliminated the need for individual system units for each computer system to host the applications and resources. This meant that by elimination of the system units and replacing them with a central server which performed the same service as the system units, there would be significant cost saving done on the hardware parts.
The software was installed on the central server and could be accessed by the multiple users through different thin client terminals. This implied that there would no longer be a need of purchasing software license for many stand-alone computer systems when thin-client computing architecture is deployed. It was also noted that by deploying thin-client computing architecture, the need to purchase multiple software versions and software compatibility issues would be completely eliminated. Cost of hardware and software scored a mean of 1.20 on a Likert scale of 1-3 ranging from ‘less expensive’ to ‘more expensive’.
The researcher posed a guiding question to the respondents to find out their opinion about the Total Cost of Ownership of thin client computing architecture. The respondents argued out that Total Cost of Ownership is a summation of different costs like the initial purchasing costs, operations and maintenance costs, cost of power consumed, administration costs and licensing costs. It was noted that when these costs were accumulated together over a period of time, it could act as a motivating factor to luring school administrators into deploying it for computer studies. One respondent pointed out that in as much as the initial cost of thin client computing architecture is high especially due to the cost of the central server terminal, the accumulated cost of thin-client architecture over time is much lower in comparison to other conventional computing architectures. Through think aloud protocol, the researcher noted that the central server replaced the individual system units which led to reduced expenditure on the hardware components.
It was also noted that for thin-client computing architecture, applications and software were deployed on the server. Once a licensed software had been deployed on the server, all the configured thin-client terminals would be able to access the applications, software and other resources from the central server. That would lead to reduced software and license costs. This was evident
in Table IV where Total Cost of Ownership has a mean of 4.70 on a Likert scale of 1-5 ranging from ‘More Expensive’ to ‘Much Cheaper’.
The respondents were asked if they were satisfied with the performance of the experimental computer architecture and they said that this computer architecture could serve user needs well and they would recommend it for use in school computer laboratories.
For learning purposes, the computer architecture performed as expected. The only bottle-neck came in when the users wanted to interact with the media player. The researcher measured power consumed by stand-alone computer set-up and thin-client set-up for comparison so as to come up with a critical analysis of their cost effectiveness in terms of power consumption.
V.
CONCLUSION
The collected data indicates that for stand-alone computer system architecture, each system unit possesses its own central processing unit, Random Access Memory, hard drive, operating system and application software. This is contrary to thin-client computer set-up architecture which possesses a central server in which there is a shared Random Access Memory, hard drive, operating system and application software. Reviewed literature reveals that the server runs an operating system that supports a multi user environment, while the thin clients run a stripped-down version of an operating system that is able to run a program that connects them to the server. A 2 GB RAM and 320 GB hard drive can be sufficiently used to serve fifteen users simultaneously with each user being allocated required resources once logged in. All software and applications are installed on the central server and all the users can access them simultaneously.
VI.
RECOMMENDATIONS
To increase the computer literacy level in Kenya, schools need to maximize on computer system resources and be able to offer computer studies to an increased number of students. From the research findings, thin-client computer architecture is recommended to be used in schools for offering computer studies in place of stand-alone computer architecture.
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AUTHORS PROFILE
Bostley Muyembe Asenahabi: PhD student,
Department of Information Technology, Kibabii University, Kenya.
Peters Anselemo Ikoha: Senior Lecturer, Department of Information Technology, Kibabii University, Kenya