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The Collaboration Space
Facing the Challenges of a Very Different Back-to-School Season
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In this episode, education technology leader Jay Bosch from AVI-SPL joins us to discuss how schools are facing the challenges posed during this very different 2020 back-to-school season. Jay shares insights and information on the CARES Act, which can help fund technology upgrades.
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Welcome to the collaboration space. Pull up a chair in our virtual conference room as we share ideas on how you can create an engaging and productive digital workplace. Join AVI SPL hosts Nancy Lucier and Anthony Salvedgie, along with expert guests, as we chat about fostering collaboration in the office and online through video conferencing. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the collaboration space. I'm Nancy Lucier from AVI SPL. And joining me, as usual, is my co-host, Anthony Salvedgie. Anthony, how's it going today?
SPEAKER_01It's going well, Nancy. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Great. Well, I know I'm out here trying to stay cool. It's late July in Florida, so it's hot and humid. And that also means that it's back to school time already here. And it's a very different back to school season with schools working on still offering online learning while possibly reopening their campuses with added safety measures. And to chat a little bit more about that, I've invited a special guest today, one of our education technology leaders, Mr. Jay Bosch. Welcome, Jay, and thank you for taking time to chat with us today.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Thank you, Nancy.
SPEAKER_02Jay, I imagine you're getting a lot of phone calls from administrators and IT teams and possibly even facility managers about technology needs with everything that's going on. Is that true?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And we're getting calls from really all over North America and really talking about the best practices on how to open up schools and going back to school.
SPEAKER_02And I know that a lot of the schools they had to hurry up and get these makeshift solutions in place for their virtual classrooms. Where is the conversation going now? What are the plans? Are they talking about the challenges of maintaining or upgrading the equipment they already have?
SPEAKER_00Yes, absolutely. So really it starts as you go into the school. They're working to make sure that it's a safe environment for all students and faculty as well as any visitors that might be coming in. Make sure that the virus stays out so that there's a safe place for learning. And then additionally, when you're in the classroom and in the learning spaces, making sure that the technology is working quite well for the instructors as well as the students, either in the classroom or that are on the far end.
SPEAKER_02I hear from my friends who have children going back to school here in Florida that there really isn't a single plan in place. They're being given several options. They can choose to stay home and continue doing virtual learning. They can go back to school with those added safety measures, or they can use a combination of both. And it kind of sounds like schools now have even more expenses they might expect with even more technology to meet all these choices that they need to give people. Are there funding options for both K-12 and colleges that they can take advantage of?
SPEAKER_00Yes, absolutely. So there is the CARES Act has really been quite generous in being able to help solve some of those challenges for both K-12 as well as higher education. To your point is that schools do need to be creative for sure.
SPEAKER_02Jay, have you gotten any feedback from teachers or administrators as to how the online classes that were already in place are going? They had to make things work in a hurry. Do you have any insight from them as to what worked and what didn't work?
SPEAKER_00Sure. No, that's a really good question. Certainly the traditional online courses that have been put in place for many years are still a really good practice. Those are somewhat more high-production online courses that have built-in learning modules and quizzes and different things like that. And certainly that is that's a very good practice. However, we want to make sure that students have the best ability to learn in collaboration with each other as well as with the students. So this is where distance learning has really taken off. And certainly from the beginning of the year, when everybody had a forced adoption of distance learning, learned a lot from that point on. Certainly, it just keeps to getting better and better. The technology and the things that are out there are really picking the best that it possibly can be.
SPEAKER_02So, along with a lot of other employees, I've been working from home for a few months. And I think companies have found that it's working and teams are productive. And this may lead to some permanent changes in work from home schedules. Are you hearing this from the higher education space as well? Could these changes with a choice of virtual classrooms and online learning be permanent?
SPEAKER_00I think that it's definitely going to be permanent. I don't think that what we have learned and adopted in the last few months, it has really taught us a lot of lessons about how to do things great and also to be more flexible and to offer classes to really virtually anybody in the world. So it really does open up the student base for a lot of the higher education schools that are out there.
SPEAKER_02Perfect. Thanks for sharing that information.
SPEAKER_01Jay, can you talk about the approach that schools are taking with regard to technology that supports education? And I'm thinking mostly in terms of are they concerned with maintaining continuity for the next couple of semesters? Or do you see some of them thinking long-term about how technology solutions can reshape and improve the way they teach students?
SPEAKER_00It's kind of a combination of the options that you mentioned, Anthony. Really from the beginning of the year, it was really kind of just trying to put it together to make sure that it's the best that it could be to get through the semester. As schools plan for this upcoming school semester in the fall, really some really good plans and strategies have been put in place. The biggest challenge has been the virus and making sure that it's a safe place for students to come and to learn. But as we are watching the trends, that we're not seeing that the virus is going to be going away anytime soon. So to your point, it's absolutely imperative that schools are looking at this for more of a longer-term plan, as we're looking at into the spring of 2021 and potentially into summer and fall into 2021 as well, to make sure that they've got agility and the ability to pivot to being on campus to virtual as quickly as possible.
SPEAKER_01What have you heard about the kind of guidance schools are seeking as they think about education in 2021 and beyond?
SPEAKER_00Well, the guidance has been coming from multiple sources. So, really, from the federal government down, there have been some mandates that have been put into place. And then, of course, the state departments of education have been providing guidance as well. And really, it's in some cases, like my home state of Missouri, it's really the governor has decided that the school districts and the colleges really have a lot of empowerment to do some of the things that they need to do in order to utilize the CARES Act money the best that they possibly can. Certainly, I think the next few weeks are going to be the driver of what they ultimately end up doing, whether if they find that the virus is going to be spreading in hot spots all over the country and the world, or if there is going to be also if they find that the virus is more susceptible to younger Americans as well. There's a lot of kind of floating aspects to this that are really going to be the drivers of what the fall semester looks like.
SPEAKER_01So, Jay, who do you typically engage with at universities and what kinds of questions do you ask in order to uncover what their needs are? Sure.
SPEAKER_00And I'm glad that you mentioned that because we work with a variety of professionals at the university level. Certainly we work with IT staff, but we also work with the deans of colleges that specifically have needs. So, for example, if it is like a liberal arts college within a university, like an arts school or a school of music or a medical school, their needs are vastly different than like a school of business or a law school or something like that. So we really try to customize the needs of each college to make sure that the experience is the best that it could possibly be for the instructor as well as the students. Thanks, Jay. You bet?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, all great information to pass on to schools and administrators who are looking to upgrade their technology. Jay, you mentioned the CARES Act a few times and that funding that's available. Where could someone go to find more information as to what's available for their specific school?
SPEAKER_00Sure, that's a great question. So there's a couple of different funding mechanisms that are out there specifically for higher education. One of them is part of the CARES Act is the institutional portion of that. And then there is another funding mechanism for minority-serving schools. All of that information can be found on the Federal Department of Education website. And then I encourage everybody to also go to their State Department of Education website as well. I have learned through the last few weeks that there is dollars that are being allocated out through grants and other funding mechanisms to departments of education as well as higher education, specifically from the state level CARES Act dollars.
SPEAKER_02Sounds good. It's helpful to pass on that information so that everyone can go find it. A lot of information for everyone listening today. Anthony and Jay, thank you for joining us. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.
SPEAKER_00And you as well. And stay cool down there in sunny Florida.
SPEAKER_02Thanks, Jay. Take care, everyone. Stay safe, and we'll see you next time in the collaboration space. Thank you for listening to our latest episode. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app. We'll see you next time in the collaboration space. Until we meet again, you can connect with us online. Our Twitter handle is at AVISPL Info, and you'll also find us on LinkedIn and AVISPL.com.