Scaling up for the return of students to the classroom

The extraordinary efforts that educational institutions made to move students to remote and hybrid learning during the pandemic should be lauded.

Higher Education evolved and adapted incredibly quickly to embrace new technology and use it effectively to continue the education of our next generation.
 
This change now looks set to become one positive lasting legacy from the difficult past 15 months as students return to the classroom. The benefits of technology to collaborate have been recognised and the evolution of teaching methods from passive to active learning using these innovative technologies is gaining pace.
 
An example is the adoption of the Scale-Up Classroom (Student-Centered Active Learning Environment for Undergraduate Programs). It’s a physical learning environment that encourages active learning and interactions by positioning small tables, each with its own display, around the perimeter of the room, with one larger projection at the front. Students work on problems or projects in small groups, freeing up the lecturer’s time to spend with smaller groups and provide clarification or ask questions. Once synced to a network, content can be controlled remotely and in real-time, offering greater flexibility and also providing the students with the ability also to share work on the bigger screen, enabling group discussion.

Active Learning Benefits

The great benefit of this type of learning is the ability for students to experience and retain much more knowledge by “doing”. Dale’s Cone of Experience first captured the benefits of this approach when he theorized that people generally remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they see and hear and 70% of what they say and write and 90% of what they do as they perform a task.
 
It’s the latest technology that underpins and enables this active learning approach. During the pandemic, students became used to using their own computing devices for education. The Scale-Up Classroom enables this to continue when students return to the classroom. Using solutions such as Panasonic’s Plug & Play wireless, dongle-based, presentation system called PressIT, students are able to create and share content on their individual device. With up to 32 possible simultaneous connections, they can share instantly without needing to install software in every room and on every device.

Underpinned by Integrated Technology

For those looking for dongle and cable-free presentation solutions, there is Wolvision Cynap Pure on an SDM board that can slot directly into a Panasonic interactive display and enables presentations to be shared easily via WIFI.
 
For students working in groups, or teachers and students sharing content onto a main screen, there are Panasonic interactive displays designed for use with these presentation systems. They offer 4K interactive displays with up to 20 simultaneous touch points and an ultra-precise natural writing experience.  The 4K resolution delivers sharp pictures, ideal for working close to the screen in groups, and comes in a range of sizes to fit every room, from 55 to 86 inches.
 
In addition, to share content in detailed and vivid colour onto a large screen or from a display to a large screen for remote learning students, Panasonic offers a wide range of 4k laser projectors from 5000 to 50000 lumens. With up to 20,000 hours of maintenance-free operation and crystal clear images - even when multiple content is being shared - these projectors are the ideal complement to the Scale-Up Classroom.
 
And for those with a requirement to support a blend of in-person and remote learning, Panasonic’s large portfolio of PTZ cameras and auto tracking software with video content management software delivers an effective and unobtrusive solution.

Students Engaged

The benefits for students of this active learning approach in a Scale-Up Classroom are many-fold. They encourage the development of collaboration and communication skills, they promote increased engagement and the need for critical thinking in problem-solving, all resulting in increased retention.
 
Whatever the future of education, whether it’s back to the physical teaching environment or a blend of remote and in-person learning, the role of technology has no doubt been accelerated by the pandemic. The Scale-Up Classroom looks to be the next leap forward in that evolution.