Bringing education into the 21st century through digital offerings is no mean feat. Compared to other industries, education is an area that’s often traditional and ‘old-school’ in its offerings, and can be slow to respond to new technologies and advancements.=
Education technology providers are now beginning an important conversation: “what steps can educators take to modernise?” This is by no means an easy or straightforward upgrade to make, but is an important step towards modernising the education sector’s hybrid offerings. In addition to other learnings, there are five key factors that educators should bear in mind when looking to make their education offerings simple but highly effective.
1. Synchronisability in education is king
The key difference between introducing a simple learning management system (LMS) and a fully fledged educational offering is synchronisability. Ensuring your educational offerings are entirely synchronisable is hugely important, keeping them all nestled under one roof in one united fashion. Introducing lots of different offerings, none compatible with each other, causes confusion, complication and ultimately, mistakes.
Ensuring your educational offerings are entirely synchronisable is hugely important, keeping them all nestled under one roof in one united fashion
Having all of your offerings fully compatible under one roof will not only enhance your educational offerings but will simplify them too, allowing your institution to make the most out of what you’ve got to offer. Synchronous learning offers so many opportunities to simplify your educational offerings in a digital manner, allowing you a fully fledged integration with platforms such as Zoom or Microsoft Team.
Alternatively, asynchronous will require more integration, and a greater focus on blended learning, simply due to its nature of being more ‘out of sync’ between student and teacher. Whilst there are clear benefits to asynchronous learning (such as allowing high-level Student Information Systems to be integrated with LMS), it does require more care and attention from education providers and technology providers alike to ensure students can get the most out of learning.
2. Streamline your offerings
Hosting all of your offerings in one place will help to streamline and aid your student and learning management system, making the most of the digital wave we’re currently riding.
Digital learning is one of the key education technologies to be born out of the pandemic, and is still a key technological advancement in many education institutes. Fully synchronised and streamlined offerings will not only help students to navigate this challenging learning period, but also aid institutions in understanding exactly how much they can offer in terms of digital learning, and the capabilities their offerings will let them stretch to.
3. Go all in with a digital education
It’s vital that education providers offer a full educational experience when transitioning online; there’s a risk of gaps being exposed in your offerings if you only implement a LMS, as opposed to a Student Information System and a Student Management System.
It’s vital that education providers offer a full educational experience when transitioning online
This is new ground for all educational institutions looking to implement hybrid or digital learning, so there are bound to be fundamental flaws and weaknesses. However, when you only implement a certain part of a digital system into education, more gaps appear. Whilst it can be a step into the unknown for most educational institutions, going all in and offering a full Student Information and Student Management system will ultimately leave you with the fewest weaknesses and problems to deal with in the long run.
4. Getting ahead of the technological curve is key
In the modern world, it’s crucial to get ahead of the technological curve and try to anticipate what’s coming next. Educational organisations that only implement technology when the boom hits are too ‘late to the party’; the best developing industries will be trailblazers and experts in predicting what’s going to come next, implementing the technology before it explodes.
5. Be ready for anything to ensure you’re not caught flatfooted
Ultimately, whilst these points are a guide as to how education facilities can simplify their offerings in a digital environment, key to remember is that every facility is different, and each institution will require a slightly different implementation. In the same sense, whilst every implementation is different, they all have to have one thing in common: flexibility.
If your educational offerings don’t have any scope for flexibility or swift adjustment, then they’re going to be difficult to manoeuvre if you ever need to switch to fully virtual set-up; you’ll be left flatfooted behind more advanced institutions. Having the capabilities to be adjustable and flexible will ensure your educational facility is prepared for anything, anytime.
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