Having spent 24 years within the Audio-visual sector, Paul has witnessed first-hand the dramatic change in classroom technology, from dusty chalkboards to projection based technology to interactive, large format displays. This background insight has proved invaluable in his current role as he engages with Multi Academy Trusts or MATS to position how solutions from Avocor can help improve engagement and attainment in the classroom.
“Embracing the fast-paced changes in education technology can still be very daunting for teachers and students alike, leading to low adoption levels. This was a problem that we wanted to address here at Avocor so we have concentred on creating solutions which are simple and easy to use, therefore engaging users quickly and maximising the return on investment.” explains Paul.
Microsoft M.I.E accredited, Paul is a keen advocate of the Microsoft office suite and the benefits that can arise from using them in everyday lesson creation and delivery. Instantly familiar applications such as PowerPoint, Word and OneNote are ideal tools to help deliver engaging lesson content.
“We are seeing a growing trend to collaborative learning environments, both inside and out of the classroom and applications such as OneNote enable students to work together during lesson time on topics and then collaborate together remotely later. Our flagship range of displays are powered by Windows 10 and as such help enhance the user experience by providing native integration with the Office software suite including the ability to annotate directly into all Microsoft programmes, including the new Edge browser.” continues Paul.
“I am constantly surprised, given the level of investment made in display hardware, how under utilised interactive teaching software is within daily lessons. Software needs to be easy to grasp to get the very most out of it, not complex and that’s why we include Avocor Eclipse with all of our education displays as its extremely easy to use and contains a wealth of great content for a variety of different curriculum subjects. The software has been designed to work in a live classroom environment and you can even open existing whiteboard files created in legacy interactive whiteboard software, therefore keeping any pre-created lesson content.”
In addition to working directly with MAT’s, Paul also engages with a number of specialised system integrators who work within the education technology space.
“One of the fundamental parts of my role that I enjoy the most is the relationships I build with my customers, helping them on their journey to use technology to make lesson delivery easier and learning more interactive and collaborative.”
Paul will be on the Avocor stand at BETT 2018 should you like to meet him..
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