The forgotten generation? How technology is helping students bridge the remote learning gap

Coronavirus has now been part of our lives for over a year, we have endured over 12 months of restrictions and distancing on a sliding scale depending on where you are in the world.

Without doubt, it has proved challenging, it has been frustrating and sometimes lonely, but personally, I have also found it a liberating process and one that has changed the world forever, and dare I say it, for the better?

As we inch closer to a return to normality, some of the practices enforced as a result of COVID-19 will undoubtedly be here to stay. The virus has forced the digital transformation agenda globally, with many organisations saying that they have accelerated 8 years in just 12 months. Facilities and medical services have moved online, and the global workforce has challenged the status quo that we can only be productive in the office while reduced flights and traffic have had a positive impact on the environment.

Technology has been a huge part of how quickly we have been able to adapt, and potentially one of the biggest areas of impact for Avocor solutions is in the education sector.

According to a UNESCO report, 1.6B children in 195 countries have experienced remote or blended learning in 2020 as teaching moved from the classroom to behind a laptop device.

Based in London, UK, the adult college of Barking and Dagenham are a great example of the challenges that faced schools and colleges around the world.

“When COVID restrictions were enforced, the college need switch remote learning overnight, we turned to our Microsoft Teams platform to enable us to continue to deliver teaching. We needed to ensure that no learner was left out, which meant providing equipment to students who might not have home access to the internet. We provided a plethora of wireless dongles and web camera so that our teaching staff could continue to engage visually with students.” Aujla Jagdeep, IT Manager, Adult College of Barking and Dagenham.

However, just as other sectors have discovered, the pandemic has helped to improve learning within the College. Jagdeep goes onto explain; “COVID-19 has in many ways resulted in a number of positives for our college, we have been able to introduce our digital transformation agenda a lot earlier than originally anticipated. Our Microsoft Teams platform has proved so popular with our students and teachers that we have been able to switch off our VLE platform permanently, resulting in significant cost savings.”

As students start to return to the classroom, class sizes are still questionable. In larger class settings such as Further and Higher Education, many establishments are taking an approach called ‘blended learning’, where students attend some lessons in person and some virtually. Having a large format display available in this scenario enables the teacher to deliver lesson content, interact on the display using tools such as Microsoft Whiteboard and see virtual student attendees.

Having the right tools to deliver blended learning environments is critically important to ensure student participation, engagement and lesson attainment.

James McRae, Head of Learning Technologies at Richmond College in South London, was part of a project to upgrade a new campus with interactive technology to transform teaching at the college in early 2020. The college chose Avocor interactive displays as part of a video conferencing solution to improve lesson delivery and student interaction.

“We chose Avocor displays because of the superior image quality and useability of the solution. We loved the fact that the Avocor displays worked as an extension of our Office 365 environment and enables our teachers to move seamlessly from content creation to delivery.”

With a range of interactive solutions available, Avocor products are designed to be intuitive and integrate with 3^rd party platforms. With edge swipe functionality and gesturing features, Avocor displays are designed to work like the technology we are all used to using in our home lives every day, making the user feel instantly at home.

During the COVID pandemic, Avocor has helped organisations around the world connect remote workers and enable productivity through collaboration. As many countries now return to the office or classroom, we are assisting education establishments, Fortune 500 companies and government authorities to plan their bespoke technology environments that build on what we have learnt from the last 12 months, creating highly functional spaces for all, regardless of physical location. Please get in touch to find out how we can help with your post-Covid digital transformation strategy.