The worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 has forced educators, administrators and the edtech companies that serve them to shift gears when it comes to managing operations and, most importantly, providing valuable, relevant content educational experiences for students.
The range of responses has highlighted the value education professionals place on their careers and their classes, schools and districts. From universities scaling up remote learning frameworks to cover entire student bodies to public schools quickly developing a variety of plans to maintain access to education for pupils, it’s clear that COVID-19 won’t shut down the world of education.
The perseverance of educators and administrators presents a unique opportunity for edtech companies: developing programs, applications and content that can be successful despite the many social restrictions caused by the dangers of COVID-19.
Highlighting a unique group learning option in a time of social distancing
“A drive-in movie approach to learning can keep students safe and bring them together.”
While social distancing is either highly suggested or enforced across the country, there are options for bringing students together in a safer fashion. A drive-in movie approach to learning is one such example. The drive-in movie industry has seen a boom in attendance, the Los Angeles Times explained, as it offers a rare shared experience without much, if any, direct contact with others.
Just as people increasingly visit drive-through windows to manage their banking needs, fill prescriptions and pick up dinner while minimizing the potential spread of the novel corona virus, students and their families could gather in their cars and trucks outside a school building or library to view a screening with an educational component, although school and district decision-makers need to keep local and state guidelines for distancing and public gatherings in mind.
This is one example of the many avenues edtech companies can pursue when developing content for students and education professionals while facing substantial limits on their ability to gather in person. There are a few key considerations to keep in mind:
- Offering broad and targeted components for the experience: A drive-in movie learning experience will likely attract a range of students outside of a specific class or grade level. Offering broadly relevant content to start and supplementing it with more focused follow-up materials based on grade and academic achievement can make such content more attractive to educators, districts and schools.
- Giving all students an opportunity to participate: While this concept offers a unique learning environment as well as an opportunity to gather in a way that respects social distancing guidelines and rules, not all students will have the opportunity to attend in person. The content itself and the materials used to support it on a more specific grade level should be made available through alternate channels, so all students can access and benefit from them.
- Leveraging existing assets when possible: Edtech companies that already produce animation, videos and similar content can draw on their library. The existing data about student involvement and achievement that comes with these assets is especially valuable, as we’ve previously discussed. Even in the face of major restrictions on regular operations, educators and administrators want to ensure spending goes toward assets with a proven value.
Raising awareness of your offering
While the COVID-19 crisis won’t last indefinitely, there are a variety of more localized situations – from smaller disease outbreaks to natural disaster damage – that can leave students physically displaced from schools but still ready and eager to learn. Agile is here to help your organization connect with key decision-makers, whether they’re individual teachers, principals, superintendents or school boards. To learn more about how we can support your outreach and marketing efforts, get in touch with us today.
