education
By Brynn Beal The advent of robust, video-first technologies is changing the traditional classroom, in both primar y and higher education. This transformation—from a technology perspective—is redefining student and faculty interaction, as well as reshaping the physical classroom and the student engagement process. Where we are today and what’s happening on the horizon are exciting realities that students, teachers, parents and the firms that provide educational technologies should take notice of. Today, schools can connect and leverage resources better than they’ve ever been able to before. Several cloud-collaboration technologies are competing for mindshare in the marketplace; the primary benefit is enabling students to learn anywhere, on any device. Applications developed by Microsoft, Cisco, Slack, Google and others allow for on-demand meetings, continuous workstreams, chat/messaging and integrated video. This supports the concept of flipped learning— defined as “a pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space, and the resulting group space is transformed
Video First In Education Emerging collaboration technology is expanding possibilities inside and outside the classroom.
into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter.” With these applications, education can be facilitated beyond the walls of the classroom in a persistent and secure space. Students are now enabled
to work with peers outside of their own districts and universities, and teachers can cooperatively lecture with colleagues in their field who may sit on the other side of the world.
User Experience Is The Differentiator
I personally heard a vendor presenting its technology to a customer and a group of salespeople a few weeks ago, and the opening portion of the presentation boasted, “What sets our technology apart is the seamless and highquality experience.” That was a strong statement. I thought to myself, “I’ve heard quite a few vendors make this same statement in the last six months.” Maybe the differentiator doesn’t lie in the technology itself. Maybe we look at what’s happening at the end-user level to make better recommendations for the evolving student and faculty environment. The power of choice is an incredible privilege to give a child. Collaboration tools, now more than ever, are providing students in K-12 and university environments the ability to choose how
Brynn Beal is a Solutions Architect at Dimension Data North America, a global systems integrator and proud member of the NTT Group. She has been in the technology industry in both sales and technical roles for 10 years. She loves black licorice, New Yorker cartoons and staying current on technology trends.
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IT/AV Report