I've recently taken a technology advisory position at my university, and I've wondered about using the lab computers for grid computing (officially, through the university) because otherwise they just sit around all day either getting used for email and facebook, or they sit idle sucking up power. Many of them are really decent computers too, so they might as well do something worthwhile. If not to be used for grid computing through BOINC, perhaps they could be used for grid computing for student rendering projects or mathematical projects so as to also allow student education into grid computing and other involved projects.
My worry and expectation is that the administrative bodies of the campus computers, who are already lazy about maintaining the computers as it is, would be disinterested in any further complication of their job of maintaining the computers with any sort of projects like BOINC, despite the ease of its use. Is this what you are getting at?
Actually, what I had in mind was developing classroom lesson plans around the research areas of the various projects -- to use each project as a gateway to a fascinating area of science.
This gives students a way to engage directly in the research they are reading about.
And of particular interest, it seems to me, is the prospect of interested students-- students who think the research worthwhile-- going out into the world to convince their friends and family and others to participate. Because in order to do this, they'd need to learn enough about the science to explain it to others, ie to tell others why their participation would be worthwhile...
Having said this, the prospect of getting schools / computer labs to participate would be really great. There are a few that do, but the notion has not really caught on broadly for a variety of reasons. One is that in most schools it seems there is no central authority -- it seems that every department "owns" its computers, and so each would need to be approached separately. And then, as you surmise, I assume administrative resources are quite thin; and admins who have not tried volunteer computing do not have confidence that the process is as easy as it really is.
If know anyone who wants to give it a go; or you know anyone who is thinking about it and has questions, feel free to refer them to this thread to discuss.
I think we'd need some interested science teachers to collaborate on the development of classroom materials for each project, for various grade levels.
you'll see under the "projects" link in the left column here on the community pages, in the "documentation", a wiki page for each project. only a few of these are fleshed out at the moment, but some people are working on a batch of new stuff which will hopefully help. these pages won't do as coursework, but hopefully they will help to communicate a bit more about what the projects are about.
