Brad Saffer is a global leader in education at Cisco, with over 15 years advising educational institutions on cutting edge technology solutions.
The pandemic has revealed the deficiencies that many K-12 schools face in providing distance and hybrid education.
At the beginning, in the rush to adopt and deploy distance learning tools, schools naturally preferred solutions that were easy for teachers, parents and students to use quickly. Unfortunately, many schools have found that limited access to the network left some students behind and inadequate security controls made schools and districts more vulnerable to cyber threats.
For many reasons, 2021 will be a turning point for education. As we begin this new year, district officials must take a step back to think long-term about how their technology investments are working together and whether they are equipped to meet the security challenges they face now.
Addressing the digital divide
When schools switched to distance learning, they found that they did not have the network capacity to accommodate all students and staff. The digital divide is acute in rural areas and in some urban communities, and these inequalities create additional difficulties for teachers and students as schools try to increase distance and hybrid learning.
However, school districts have made progress in trying to close the gap by increasing access points to their networks. The Reading School District in southeastern Pennsylvania, for example, is the fourth largest district in the state, with 13 primary schools, four middle schools, an intermediate high school and a senior high school. In partnership with Cisco and Cisco Meraki, the district was able to centrally manage its wireless, switching and security coverage without compromising performance.
At Cisco, we understand the importance of digital equity to ensure that students are successful at school. That’s why we are developing solutions with our partners to extend school networks to local neighborhoods – so that students can have quality access to secure bandwidth to do their schoolwork.
Thinking holistically about distance learning tools
Today, we are hearing from our school partners that they need a centralized platform that can replicate a classroom experience to keep students engaged – not just in the short term, but out of a long-term desire to facilitate distance learning and hybrid for a post-pandemic learning experience.
Hybrid learning can keep schools open in the event of future crises. They can also keep students connected to their peers outside the classroom. And they can help parents and teachers work more effectively together to ensure that students are successful in the classroom.
Cisco Webex has proven to be an effective platform to meet all of these goals. It brings an affordable, reliable, functional and safe solution for online learning, facilitating virtual classrooms and meetings that allow teachers, parents and students to connect from any device, allowing learning to happen organically at home and at school. Webex also offers digital whiteboards, co-editing and interactive voting to provide teachers with additional tools to keep students engaged.
Just as important, the best security from Cisco means that Webex helps keep remote learning safe and private student data. And it makes it easier for school administrators to customize their own privacy and security policies on the Webex Control Hub.
The Pickens County School District in South Carolina and the Shawnee Mission School District in Kansas are just a few examples of how schools are integrating this simple to use solution. School administrators are already envisioning a future in education that can be more flexible and inclusive. Sometimes it can make sense for a child to be online for certain classes and on campus for others.
Keeping up with community needs
In addition to these technology needs, administrators are balancing the conflicting demands of face-to-face and online instruction in their communities. The good news is that, with major investments in technology, schools can offer parents the option of hybrid education. In addition, these investments will better equip the districts to continue operating if there is another crisis event.
At Cisco, we are working to bring together leaders in education and technology solutions. Our rich portfolio of technology partners is of great benefit to our customers, who can access a variety of networking and collaboration tools that work together.
Even when everyone is physically back in the classroom, we will continue to develop our ability to provide quality access to students, on campus and at home.
To know more on how Cisco can help your organization rethink education and the transition to hybrid learning.