I would like to get the opinion of people who have worked with Xpress Pro and Media Composer.

Is it feasible to teach Avid on 200 Macs; with some computers running OS 10.4 and some OS 10.5; when students work on a different computer every day; and many other programs run on each computer every day; when the students are not especially tech-oriented; when only the USB ports on their hard drives work; when there is no tech support? 

A simple yes or no would be all I need.

Thanks in advance, Seth Hill

Based on the scenario you describe, I'd say no.

sethhill:

...when students work on a different computer every day;

sethhill:

...many other programs run on each computer every day;

sethhill:

...only the USB ports on their hard drives work;

sethhill:

...no tech support;

For these reasons, I'm afraid I have to agree with Randall - Avid is not for you in this environment.

Mr. Rike and Rubin, thanks for your fast response.  Not the answer I hoped for, but an honest answer.  We are trying to get this program to work, with not a lot of success so far.  Any other opinions from anyone else, I will greatly appreciate.  - Seth Hill

 Echo the other folks with a vote of 'no'.

Depending on how much you'd like a "yes" answer, are you willing to modify your environment to accomplish it?  One possibility is setting up each system as dual-boot, one for Avid, and one everything else.  This would at least keep the systems somewhat Avid spec'ed.  You could also make disk images of them, and re-image the systems anytime they get messy, or at the beginning of every semester/quarter.

Meanwhile, the drives & support still may be a deal-breaker.

 To have some reasonable chance to make it work, I would recommend:

1) Strip down the software on the computers. Lean and mean is the way to go. Load only the additional applications you need to support Avid, like Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, Sorenson Squeeze, Blaze Media Pro Converter, Sonic DVDit, and the like.

2) Some human discipline here. Assign blocks of students to specific computers. Each user generates his or her custom profile, each sees a project through from start to finish on the same platform. Continuity = smoothness.

3) RESPECT FOR THE RULES AND YOUR FELLOW STUDENT'S WORK!

Sorry to shout there, but I've seen enough educational labs literally fall apart at the seams from good 'ole number 3. That's the biggest challenge you will face, hands down.

These are very good suggestions from Rike and Rubin.  I have a feeling you actually know what you are talking about.  I will go to our tech staff and see what our chances are of booting or imaging the computers in a classroom specifically for Avid for the duration of that class (4 hours).  I don't see any way to put the same student on the same computer time after time, but maybe we can think out of the box (a trite expression but in this case it's apt) and find a way.  As far as respect for the rules ... hmmm.... that's kind of a concept!   

Thank you, thank you!   Any other comments, folks, keep 'em coming.  We are hungry here.   

Is there any way we could give each student a ... a something ... maybe a flash drive ... and the student could use that to boot his or her computer to be Avid-friendly, with only the programs the student needs, and the Avid settings, and the Avid projects that student is working on?