This is an updated version of a previously published N4L blog from 2020.
School communities face numerous challenges as they support learning from home. The Government’s swift action against the COVID-19 Delta variant literally closed schools overnight. Schools, kura and their communities not only face the challenge of student internet connectivity, access to devices and concerns regarding online safety but also their readiness to deliver curriculum and pastoral support remotely.
These are not insignificant challenges.
What’s great is that the education sector works together to provide solutions on many of these fronts (where feasible). And those of us that support schools and kura, continue to wrap as much support around the sector as possible.
While it comes from a good place, at times like this, schools can be bombarded with offers from a range of online learning platforms all touting their ability to support remote learning.
At N4L, we try to stick to our lane. Which means it’s not our place to assess the learning potential of various platforms or services. We understand schools are different, they have different communities, pedagogies, and requirements that they will determine themselves. It’s simply not our job to ‘sell’ you on the merit of various platforms – and we’re not going to do that.
But we do want to help. We actually can’t help it and we’re somewhat unapologetic about our desire to do what we can. So in the context of learning from home, we asked ourselves, what can we do?
Well, like pseudo-scientists, we’ve gone to the numbers. N4L runs the network that delivers the internet into schools and our data shows trends on internet usage (content) and device types. The data confirms what we all know to be true, Apple, Google and Microsoft all play a significant role within the education sector. Whether that be device, operating system or productivity/eLearning platforms, schools throughout the country (and world) are high volume consumers of the big 3’s products and services.
We’ve also consistently heard the call to keep things simple. So we thought we’d do the same and ask our friends at Apple, Google and Microsoft to provide some basic tips and resources to help provide support for online learning. So let’s keep it simple, click on the links below, to unlock the learning potential of these companies and find out where you and your teams can get support directly from the source.
This is free support – with no hidden agenda. This is not about technology. It’s about you and your people, pedagogy and passion for learning, all working together to support learning – wherever that may occur.
Stay connected and stay safe.