A simplified authentication solution that connects students to quality resources
About Derwentside College and the OpenAthens Connect pilot
Until about two years ago Derwentside College’s library used an IP-based authentication system to give its learners access to digital resources. That meant being on campus to make use of them. When working off-site, learners often made online searches that found sub-standard content.
The OpenAthens Connect pilot gave Derwentside’s library a perfect opportunity to implement a secure, simple authentication solution that works any time, anywhere. OpenAthens Connect is designed for less complex organizations like Derwentside. It provides a cost-effective, core federated access solution. By enabling single sign-on it eliminates the need for complex multiple login processes and makes using high-quality licensed digital resources the quickest, easiest option for learners.
Derwentside College’s library supports apprentices and work-based learners in placements across much of England. So it needs an authentication solution that is simple, effective and hassle-free.
Until recently the 600 learners on its campus in Consett, County Durham used the college’s IP-based authentication system to access digital resources, including Jisc’s e-books for FE collection. The 2,500+ learners off-site had no such access to online resources. But, often, they weren’t using traditional books from the college or its training providers either.
“We struggle to get learners to use books, they think Google has the answer to everything,” says Angela Cummings, cloud applications and IT support officer at the college’s campus in Consett, County Durham.
“Learners expect to work digitally so we must give them the right kind of resources – ones that are accurate, up to date and quality assured.”
Simplified authentication in action
Looking for a way to authenticate users that makes it easy for them to learn any time, anywhere, Derwentside joined the pilot for the new OpenAthens product. Connect is our cost-effective, simplified authentication solution for organizations that don’t need lots of customization or advanced analytics features.
Angela says they got started on the pilot quickly:
"It’s probably one of the easiest systems I’ve ever had to set up."
Not surprisingly, a few links didn’t work at first. But these were all resolved rapidly. And because OpenAthens Connect is cloud-based the college didn’t need to invest in any extra hardware or software. It is simply integrated with their Microsoft account and we take care of maintenance and updates.
Time and cost savings
Derwentside College’s library team is small so it’s a big bonus that OpenAthens Connect is saving them time on managing IT issues – the previous authentication solution often caused failures that frustrated both learners and staff. Angela says these savings will grow as the library expands its focus on digital in place of paper-based books and journals. The college is confident to do this now it has an effective authentication system in place.
Improved user experience
For learners on vocational programmes OpenAthens Connect isn’t just better than using one of the big commercial search engines – it’s easier as well. It simplifies discovery. Single sign-on authenticates them and gives them seamless access to quality resources and their own saved, annotated searches so they can do their best work.
Do learners like the improvements? It seems so – the proof comes from the analytics tools built into Connect, as Angela comments:
“We can track how resources are being used. We know, for example, that our health and social care learners are using their e-books in almost every session.”
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