The path to long-term educational success relies on good technology complementing good teaching practices. But the ICT landscape is changing; the rate at which new technologies are emerging is unprecedented and schools are now faced with more choice than ever. A backdrop of enforced cost savings is adding to this challenge, so it can be hard for schools to know how to make best use of their available budget
With a general election imminent, investments in education in education and the NHS are the usual twin political hot potatoes. Both the main parties agree that both spending on both of these public services is, in general, a good thing, there is little agreement on how much? Or on what? Technology options to support traditional teaching have increased immeasurably, but educational technology is invariable discussed as a cost with no balancing consideration of cost-savings through the deployment of technology.
The status quo
Alistair Hayward, Head of UKI and ANZ Markets at Promethean cites the ‘State of Technology in Education Report, 2016-17’ when arguing that older generation technology is being used extensively in schools, but newer technology, while equally widely available, is not being put to good use.
Based on this insight, before looking at investing in any new technologies, schools really need to start by assessing what they already have, and evaluating whether they are getting the most out of them. This is especially true for a school that might struggle to find the funds for ICT improvements year-on-year, as opposed to dedicated capital expenditure as part of a new school build, for example.
Total costs
Whatever the budget situation, schools should always consider the total cost of ownership before investing in any new edtech. A higher upfront cost could save money in the long run if it requires less maintenance and comes with free software updates. However, when it comes to hardware investment, a fundamental consideration always needs to be the warranty clauses and any service provisions. Schools should assess the length of the warranty and verify the financial stability of a manufacturer to honour the terms for its lifetime.
With budgetary pressures inevitably restricting major capital expenditure, leasing is emerging as an increasingly popular financing option and should be explored as part of any investment due diligence.
Training is another area that has a major impact on any return on investment. Experience has shown that training is not always factored into an investment cost, which means teachers are not necessarily equipped with the skills they need to make the most of the technology. Best practice is to explore the types of training available, whether face to face, online or train the trainer – and then align the approach with budget and resource.
“At Promethean, we’re already working closely with our channel partners to try and educate schools that edtech is a long term and strategic investment, especially with the shift in IFPDs becoming the connected hub of the modern classroom as opposed to an AV peripheral device. A key feature of the new ActivPanel is its upgradeable capacity to keep pace with advances in computing processing power. In the days of IWBs, this didn’t need to be a consideration, but IFPDs have been a game changer in that respect.,” said Hayward.
Future funding
With the future of education funding unknown and in many ways, uncertain, we can expect schools to be looking to make cost savings and this is most likely to be ‘we need to reduce our investment in equipment’. That’s why it’s our role as a manufacturer and education specialist, to show them that there is a smarter approach.
By adopting a more strategic approach to ICT investment, as well as helping to address their current budgetary challenges, we can actually help them to make efficiency savings, maximise return on investment and ultimately devise a long-term plan that helps a school to prepare for whatever is around the corner.
Purpose-built solutions like the RealPresence Trio, which make cost-effective, business-class videoconferencing and content sharing possible.
As part of our market development efforts, we’re about to launch ‘A quick guide to maximising your edtech investment’. This aims to help school leaders and network managers to better understand how to appraise their existing estates and give them guidance on developing an ICT strategy which doesn’t simply focus on short term costs – instead we’re helping them to realise long term gain.
Expanding the role of digital teaching technologies
Extracted from “Digital learning technology: converging promise and potential”
by Oliver Quinlan
Education advisers are already promoting the tremendous promise for learning and teaching that digital technology offers. It can: provide access to learning materials,] facilitate learning processes which allow personalisation and enhanced progression; and allow efficiency in teaching and learning and the activities that support them.
The areas it could impact on are so wide it is hard to make sense of them, and currently much advice is very general in terms of how ‘digital technology’ as a whole supports learning. The pace of change is a factor in this, and assessing the impact of specific technologies, that may have evolved beyond recognition before they can be rolled out, is challenging.
The commercial culture and messaging of the technology industry is very different to that of public services. This can lead to a situation where schools find it challenging to objectively assess the potential impact of different types of technology.
Even so, there is a need to continue to develop our understanding of how types of technologies can benefit learning in schools, not least because significant funds are spent on learning technologies that are unproven, and are often contested both in the media and by the teaching profession. Further trials need to be undertaken, but they need to take place in a framework under which the impact of types of technologies can be understood in a way that is specific enough to judge impact, but broad enough to be generalisable beyond the specific product.
Outcomes
In summary, there is robust evidence that assessing student work using comparative judgement provides valid and reliable assessment, and can be used as a powerful formative assessment tool.
However, comparative judgement is onerous and complex when conducted without using digital technology. It is possible, but unlikely to be deployed in schools in a widespread way that would have long term impact, particularly given recent concerns about teacher workload shown by the Department for Education’s ‘Workload Challenge’.
Oliver Quinlan is programme manager for Nesta’s digital education projects, exploring ways in which digital technologies can transform learning and teaching.
Effective edtech solutions
To be truly effective in terms of learning outcomes, is there a minimum standard /cost of solution? Tim Stone, VP Marketing EMEA at Polycom, again points to the underutilisation of existing technologies.
“In the eyes of many teachers, employing technology in the classroom holds the key to improving their students learning experiences. But according to the Polycom survey , ‘Education in 2025’, 35% of British educators feel that the use of technology to support meaningful learning is not being maximised.”
“Meanwhile, available budget remains a chief obstacle to updating the education world, with 38% of teachers believing that the largest inhibitor to the future of education is funding. If education providers are to embrace the collaboration that more and more students are coming to expect, they need to be able to do so in the most efficient way possible.”
The main hurdle to making an effective teaching facility is ensuring that the quality of the collaboration technology used is fit for purpose. Students need to be able to see and hear at least as well as if they were in the room in order to maximise the benefit they receive from their instructors. Nothing is more distracting than dropped audio or pixelated visuals, particularly for subjects that require detailed instruction, like music lessons or specific medical procedures.
For example, the Manhattan School of Music needed exceptional sound quality to capture the depth and complexity of its students’ music. By choosing a flexible solution that could meet their needs, they now have access to the best musicians across the world.
Collaboration
For smaller spaces, or huddle rooms, that might host tutorial-style classes, high quality video collaboration can be enabled by equipping them with purpose-built solutions like the RealPresence Trio, which make cost-effective, business-class videoconferencing and content sharing possible.
Collaborative technology also needs to let the teacher maintain authority over their lessons as they would in a classroom. That’s why command control is crucial, allowing a teacher to maintain the attention of the class, or share control for greater interactivity with their students.
Content sharing is also vital for effective teaching via video; just as a university lecturer might draw on a white board in a physical classroom, drawing on a screen or displaying a presentation are critical learning aids for remote students, and are not to be overlooked. Platforms like the Polycom RealPresence Web Suite can even offer annotation to make sure collaboration stays easy and natural, as well as offering anytime, anywhere video access from your browser.
To maximise the ROI on their technology, education providers can seek out multi-functional solutions that don’t just stand in for physical classrooms, but add extra value on top. Technology with record and replay features can help to archive lessons as they are taught, and as 53% of UK teachers believe parents and students alike are demanding more access to content and lectures online, choosing the right technology could help increase student satisfaction as well.
Uptime availability
If education technology deployments are to be truly mission critical the solution must be designed for maximum uptime. The instance of technical failure can be limited by using a professional system that is specifically designed to operate on constrained bandwidth or poor-quality links. This can help to by-pass issues of low quality voice or video, as well as improving the student experience.
Advanced features like the audio control of Polycom’s Noiseblock or speaker tracking with Polycom’s Eagle Eye Director II means that more time can be spent learning, rather than trying to see or hear what’s going on.
Once you have professional grade technology, maximising uptime will mostly consist of avoiding adoption issues amongst users. While some collaboration technology may seem intimidating to use, any adoption issues can be dodged at the procurement stage by investing in technology that is user-friendly, intuitive and easy to understand. Straightforward, plug-and-play solutions like the Polycom EduCart 500 can be easily rolled between rooms and set up in minutes, eliminating the need for dedicated video units in each classroom.
Tim Stone, VP Marketing EMEA at Polycom: “If education providers are to embrace the collaboration that more and more students are coming to expect, they need to be able to do so in the most efficient way possible.”
Managed services
For larger educational institutions, investing in a managed services scheme could also ensure that help is on hand quickly should staff encounter difficulties while using their technology. Operational issues or updates can be left to the managed services scheme, freeing up existing IT staff to concentrate on other, more strategic priorities. Polycom Managed Services can be on hand 24/7 to ensure that any issues can be fixed immediately, and 50% of issues can even be resolved before they are spotted by any users.
Managing cos
Enabling BYOD is also an excellent way to lower the barriers to entry for effective video collaboration; if an expert can dial in from their own personal device, and still experience excellent quality, education providers can square the circle of accessing high quality teaching within their budget. For BYOD to work effectively, however, interoperability should be considered when purchasing collaboration solutions.
For other solutions, short training courses are available and can help institutions to reap the greatest benefit from their technology. Polycom University has over 200 courses starting at 5 minutes long, so educators can quickly feel comfortable setting up remote lessons.
Polycom (June 2016) Education in 2025: Education Technology Innovation Survey. Available from: http://www.polycom.com.au/content/dam/polycom/common/documents/research-report/2025-education-in-polycom-survey-enus.pdf
Promethean’s ActivPanel is upgradeable to keep pace with advances in computing processing power.
Tim Stone, VP Marketing EMEA at Polycom: “If education providers are to embrace the collaboration that more and more students are coming to expect, they need to be able to do so in the most efficient way possible.”
Advanced features like the audio control of Polycom’s Noiseblock or speaker tracking with Polycom’s Eagle Eye Director II means that more time can be spent learning.
Plug-and-play solutions like the Polycom EduCart 500 can be easily rolled between rooms and set up in minutes.
Purpose-built solutions like the RealPresence Trio, which make cost-effective, business-class videoconferencing and content sharing possible.
