Over recent months, teaching and learning in the UK (and across the globe) has been flipped upside down. We’re seeing teachers having to incorporate new tools into their lessons, often for the first time and, in parallel, students are experiencing new ways of learning, which will have a lasting impact on them and their futures. With so many challenges and changes, it’s more important than ever to assist educators in finding ways that they can connect both in person and remotely with students to keep them engaged, motivated and safe in a digital world.
Microsoft recently asked nearly 500 members of its Microsoft Education community, representing teachers and institutional leaders from around the world, to share what they’ve learned while teaching remotely. They found that 61% expect to begin the next school year in a hybrid learning environment (a mix of remote and in person learning) and a total of 87% expect to use technology more than ever before when in classroom teaching resumes. Additional, over half said, “keeping students engaged digitally” and “student participation” are the top challenges they faced during remote learning.
These new hybrid, or blended learning formats require new approaches to be able to create compelling, engaging, accessible and inclusive content. To ensure student engagement across different activities and maintain secure digital classrooms, educators are turning to a range of digital tools and devices to enable remote learning. In fact, more than 150 million students, faculty, institutional leaders and teachers have been actively using Microsoft Education products – such as Microsoft Teams for Education – to engage with students in remote learning.
On this panel we have a range of views and perspectives as to how we can ensure that learning can be accessible to all – no matter of location, needs or device. For the first section we will talk with Steve Beswick around what Microsoft are seeing happening in the Education sector and how schools, colleges and universities have pivoted to adopt new teaching and learning techniques.
