The rise of flexible technology in the education sector

The education sector has experienced a serious shake-up over the last few months. The rapid shift to remote learning and back again, has seen solutions like Teams, Zoom, and Google Classrooms, take centre stage in the classroom. This increased up-take of digital technologies has revealed how critical audio and visual technology is for learning, collaboration and student productivity.

Many of the work-life woes that apply to the workforce, also apply to students as they juggle part-time jobs, study and a personal life. However, as students slowly return to school, remote learning has created more flexibility in both classroom lessons and teaching methods. This shift can help promote a positive home and study balance. 

After all, learning doesn’t have to come at the cost of personal time. In fact, flexibility is an important part of creating a sustainable study environment. With the right technology in the classroom, online collaboration can be seamless and productive for everyone.

So, what role does video and audio technology play in the modern learning experience?

Flexible solutions are the ‘new normal’
Today’s digital students are changing the way educators engage and teach the curriculum. Pre-COVID, global ed-tech investments reached US$18.66 billion in 2019 and the total market for digital education was estimated to reach US$350 billion by 2025. With personalised learning, data-driven methods and digital lesson plans becoming ubiquitous, teaching and learning is no longer limited to geographic location.

Video and audio technology are crucial to this new digital classroom. Armed with good quality video conferencing cameras and associated software teachers can balance remote learning with collaboration and student engagement.

What was once a clunky and static experience, has been improved with recent video conferencing advancements, including the latest multi-camera arrays that offer an unprecedented 180-degree field of view. With these, educators can deliver all-inclusive lessons with a much smaller class size– this is effective for optimising space, keeping students engaged and allowing the teacher to be mobile in a classroom without going in and out of view.

Building a sustainable study-life balance
For the education sector, embracing video collaboration provides a number of benefits outside the classroom. Embracing digital technologies has a positive impact on the carbon footprint (through minimal student travel), as well as reducing classroom running and real estate costs.

In addition, these technologies promote a positive study-life balance by giving both teachers and students time back in their busy days. Balance being the keyword here. For the knowledge workforce, successfully juggling work and life has a direct impact on productivity. For students, achieving this balance supports both positive mental health and learning outcomes.

While not all classrooms can function through digital platforms alone, integrating technology into the learning experience will help prepare students for the demands of a digital world. Audio and visual technologies such as cameras, headsets and speakers are crucial to achieving this successfully.

While the classroom has been transformed, but it’s nothing to be feared. With the right technology, teachers can ensure an enriched learning experience which will prepare students for the digital workforce and beyond.