Cloud computing, which is usually associated with businesses and leveraging efficiency, has slowly been breaking into the education system. Cloud-based technology is providing more opportunities to students and faculty at lower costs, especially in university settings.
Today’s higher education students are always seeking the latest technologies available both for personal and school use. Technology can assist them in attaining the knowledge they desire and help make learning more interactive and thus easier.
If the goal of a university is to educate, forward-thinking institutions should feel compelled to make sure their arsenal of technology is kept up to date to facilitate the most accommodating educational processes possible.
These days, more and more universities are integrating unified communications systems into their campus networks, allowing students, faculty and staff to stay connected at all times. This technology, which links together multiple communication platforms into a single interface, encourages a more collaborative environment.
The days of group projects being coordinated through email only accessible via computer are a thing of the past. With unified communications, for example, students can discuss something they’re working on in real time via text messaging and video conferencing.
If a student has a question for his or her professor, he or she can simply note the professor’s presence status on the unified communications interface. If the professor is available, the student can send a quick message and get a quick response. The student doesn’t have to wait until office hours to get the help he or she needs.
This is the world made possible by a modernized communication system. Campuses that adopt these solutions are transformed into fully-connected environments in which learning is a constant.
Unified communications solutions are compatible with an array of devices over a multitude of platforms. Providing instant messaging, email, video conferencing, voicemail and more, the company’s solution is an attractive one for any university looking to modernize its communication capabilities.
Here are a few of the ways unified communications is changing the way students learn:
Solved classroom problems
Unified communications, along with collaboration platforms like video conferencing, is solving the problem of classroom overcrowding by permitting the use of online classes, creating virtual classrooms in which students can work from anyplace, at any time. Short-handed staff can use cloud platforms to eliminate the hassle of paper systems and easily manage resources and improve classroom content.
Increased collaboration
Students are encouraged to collaborate and work on assignments together as a team, which can promote greater discussion-based understanding. On cloud-hosted unified communications systems, faculty can more easily share quality resources to encourage in-depth learning.
Improved access to resources
Yearly budgets can be leveraged by spending less on new software, textbooks, and up-to-date learning materials due to the technology of cloud computing. Students can access valuable resources from anywhere in the world, which can improve the quality of their education.
Opportunity to sample technologies: School systems are able to test a variety of collaboration platforms and mobility apps from different vendors to determine which ones are the best for their faculty and student needs.
Decreased IT Costs
IT departments will no longer need to devote time or energy to making sure software is updated and secure – the service provider will do that for them.