The pandemic proved that education, as we know it, can change overnight. According to UNESCO, it has affected about 95% of the worldwide student population. This meant that students and teachers worldwide had to adapt to the new education landscape.
However, with proper infrastructure and technology in place, learning can continue from virtually anywhere, whether students are in the classroom or at home. Hybrid or blended learning environments have become crucial in providing educational continuity.
In the Middle East, even before the pandemic, many schools in the region adopted digital learning solutions and integrated EdTech into their curricula. While some schools and universities continue to implement distance learning, many schools in the region have turned to hybrid learning to offer a combination of virtual and face-to-face classes.
Globally, school leaders are expanding their planning for how they will continue to support hybrid classroom environments post-pandemic, too. When inclement weather, poor air quality days, illness, travel, or other issues prevent students from attending class in person, hybrid classroom setups allow learning to continue from virtually anywhere.
But educators have long realised that teaching in a hybrid environment is a wholly different experience than in-person instruction. After traditional learning and remote learning, teachers and students are now adapting to the newness and added flexibility from blended learning, which has implications for students’ “classroom” experience, engagement, and teachers’ usability.
Equipping hybrid classrooms with technology that enables secure, engaging, equitable experiences allows learning to continue in many different situations — from pandemic responses to weather emergencies.
Immersive technologies for hybrid learning
The pandemic and resulting social distancing restrictions have led to a more digitally-enhanced technologies for classrooms.
To provide a rich and comprehensive educational experience for students, schools globally turn to integrated room systems such as Zoom Rooms, which deploy physical conference room software and hardware (speakers, microphones, tablets, phones, etc.). These can instantly turn the classroom or any other room into a fully-functional video conferencing room integrated with high-quality audio/video. By augmenting the experience with robust hardware and features, the education experiences can be elevated to a new level.
Such integrated software-based room systems can play a critical role in bridging the gap between remote students and teachers in a hybrid classroom environment and even provide new opportunities for engagement that go beyond your typical in-person learning experience. Additionally, these flexible room systems help educators adapt to students’ different learning requirements and situations.
With such systems, a teacher can walk into the classroom and tap one button to start a class session over Video Communications Platforms, like Zoom. Teachers don’t need to worry about figuring out cables and connections or learning additional tools. And with features like wireless sharing, instructors can easily share content. This all helps minimise frustration and reduce the time spent on managing the technical aspects of a virtual class.
The simplicity of such platforms makes it even more accessible to educators, regardless of their level of comfort or experience with video technology.
New-age software-based room systems can provide interactive whiteboarding capabilities on a large digital canvas, which is easier for teachers to use and for in-person and remote students to follow. Students can also contribute equally in real-time and provide valuable feedback on other students’ work. Students can even annotate on one document simultaneously for a dynamic experience that’s difficult to replicate in a physical classroom setting. When class is over, teachers can save whiteboard sessions and send them to the entire class or the absent students.
While there’s no real substitute for in-classroom learning, hybrid learning provides an effective solution and benefits such as ease of use, flexibility and accessibility, immersive and interactive collaboration for students and teachers. These benefits can be helpful in the long term as well and transform the future of education.
Apart from social distancing in the current context, hybrid learning can also be useful during weather emergencies and other crises, and serve students who can’t attend school in person due to illness, chronic conditions, or special needs.
Thus, innovative software-based room solutions can provide a flexible room system that helps educators adapt to students’ different learning requirements and situations. Educational institutions should adopt integrated room systems to enrich their smart classrooms and establish digitally connected smart learning models.
(Sam Tayan heads Zoom in the MENA region)
