Getting future-ready with hybrid-first learning

Educators, students, and families globally have demonstrated incredible energy, commitment, and flexibility to respond to the need to move to remote learning. They are now welcoming the idea of the re-opening of schools and colleges. 

Will learning return to its pre-pandemic form?

Challenges like equity, access, and capacity make distance learning suboptimal to prepare the next generation of learners for life. On the other hand, uninterrupted on-campus learning may expose students and staff to the new and evolving variants.  

Educators are examining the best ways to meet on-campus and, also, connect with students remotely. Different educational models like partial re-opening, synchronous and separated classrooms, and rotational attendance have been explored to meet the needs of students. However, Hybrid learning, a learner-centered education style, that blends multimodal and interactive delivery, sufficient agility to help students thrive in dynamic times, and thoughtfully planned infrastructure to support active student engagement is here to stay.

The hybrid environment gives rise to a new equation between students and educators which is both human-led and tech-powered, helping learners and learning take the center stage. 

What does quality learning look like in the hybrid environment?

The hybrid learning model empowers educational institutes to enable student growth with highly relevant factors like data security, personalized engagement, collaboration, skill development, and tailored curricula. 

School and college communities need robust cybersecurity to safeguard students online. Over 1,000 Indian schools and colleges were targets of cyberattacks from Jun to Sep 2020,makingsecurity a key institutional challenge.

Software with updated security patches, healthy and monitored screen time, secure collaboration tools, and safe browsing practices can ensure peace of mind.

Personalized, engaging, technology-led lesson delivery has also made hybrid learning successful. Students who received one-on-one tutoring outperformed 98 percent of traditionally taught students.

Surveys have established, the class of 2030 does not want to be taught by a ‘computer’.

Hybrid classroom tools equip educators to customize lesson plans and provide real-time, personalized feedback to students. It is estimated that technology can help teachers reallocate 20 to 30 percent of their time towards other activities. With AI, educators can get invaluable student insights and opportunities to curate focused content. 

Access to digital skills is key to getting students future ready. Half of today’s jobs require technology skills, and it will grow to more than 77% within the decade. It is important to include productivity tools that will become the foundation for future careers. Hybrid learning can foster skills, global competencies, and meet the needs of diverse learners.

Microsoft is contributing towards creating an inclusive, deeper learning experience with equity of access, robust cybersecurity, upskilling opportunities for educators, and technology to improve learning outcomes.

With the gradual reopening of schools and colleges in 2022, Microsoft is supporting the introduction of inclusive, personalized, student-focused, hybrid learning in K-12 as well as higher education with a comprehensive set of offerings called Microsoft Future Ready Education.

With intuitive offerings aimed at benefiting every person playing a critical role in education, Microsoft is empowering students and educators with access to the right tools, experiences, and learning opportunities.

Schools and state governments’ education departments can ensure student identity and data security with Microsoft’s zero-trust approach without sacrificing connection and experiences.

Higher-ed institutes, colleges, and universities can upskill students in cloud computing, AI and machine learning, with Future Ready Education bundles that enhance productivity and build next-gen capabilities, along with personalized career guidance.

Educators are trained to gauge student comprehension, interest, and engagement in an in-person setting.

With tools like Microsoft Teams, educators can leverage the power of data analytics to measure student progress, attendance, behavior, and grades, identify students at-risk, improve learning, and optimize resources in a hybrid world.

In addition, Microsoft also offers workshops and training on tools and technology to help educators modernize their classrooms with in-person and online collaboration as well as provide authentic assessments and feedback.

Collaborative skills, social connections, and flexibility to move through content at their own pace are some highly significant elements for the well-rounded development of students. With tools like Microsoft Teams, Flipgrid, and affordable touch-enabled Surface devices replicating the pen and paper experience, students can co-create with others and get access to world-class resources to learn from anywhere. Microsoft also provides programs designed to support and cultivate student interest in technology and support their employability.

The role of IT and admin cannot be overlooked in enabling technology adoption and resilience in educational institutes. Microsoft’s tools enable ease of administration, ensure online security while saving manual hours with easy device deployment and workflow management.

It’s time to create resilient, equitable, and engaging learning system with schools, governments, policymakers, private organizations working together to develop clear and shared visions for the next era of learning.

To get started on your hybrid learning journey with Microsoft Future-Ready Education offerings, email on msedu_in@microsoft.com