INFO~TECH RESEARCH GROUP

Optimize the Use of Classroom Technology: A Buyers Guide

Extend instructional boundaries virtually.

Analyst Perspective

Extend instructional boundaries virtually.

Technology is changing the way we teach and learn. With the increased reliance on nontraditional students in higher education, there is an accompanying need to equip classrooms for hybrid learning to accommodate these students’ nontraditional schedules.

Hybrid learning environments require careful planning and resource allocation. There is the complexity of integrating various technologies like learning management systems (LMS) and online collaboration platforms. As well as the issue of mapping out the basic architecture for the classroom hardware. These decisions must be made in consultation with members of faculty, leadership, and ideally the students.

The challenge here is that while many of these stakeholders know what they don't like, there is no clear consensus on what is best practice. Many IT departments work in conjunction with a center for teaching and learning to identify what is currently accepted as best practice. Together these two departments can work iteratively, starting with a basic setup in a few classrooms and expanding to more classrooms as best practices reveal themselves.

Mark Maby Research Director for Education, Industry Practice Info-Tech Research Group

Executive Summary

Your Challenge

• Faculty are frustrated with the technology in their classrooms.
• There is increasing demand for hybrid instruction to support nontraditional students.
• There are worries that equipment will not be used
• Students express conflicting sentiments over their preferred modality for instruction.

In summary, IT is being tasked to support a learning environment with conflicting direction from the primary stakeholders.

Common Obstacle

• IT staff do not know what equipment should be put into the classrooms or which vendors to reach out to.
• The IT department does not have the capacity to support the implementation of hybrid classrooms.
• It is difficult to estimate what the costs will be for classroom upgrades.

With their lack of confidence and capacity, IT struggles with the first steps.

Info-Tech’s Approach

In this report, we review the current situation for classroom upgrades to support a hybrid learning environment.

• The current context in the higher education market for classroom upgrades.
• The basic architecture for a hybrid learning environment.
• Key considerations to support the most frictionless environment possible for instructors.

Info-Tech Insight

The purpose of modern classroom technology is to extend instructional boundaries virtually with the least amount of friction as possible.

Increased demand for hybrid instruction makes the institutional case for upgrading classrooms

The statistics below were from a survey of executives in charge of online education at colleges and universities. Their institutions represent a range of online enrollment levels, from low to high.

• Fully on campus vs. majority on campus: The distinction here is made around the student need for connectivity. In either case, traditional teaching spaces require little upgrade.
• Hybrid: This mode of delivery requires classrooms to be equipped to support students attending remotely.
• Majority online vs. fully online: The distinction here is whether the course restricts students by their physical location. Majority online may require occasional use of on-site facilities.

By 2025, higher education institutions can expect one-third of their courses to be delivered from classrooms equipped for a hybrid mode of instruction.

More than one-third of classes will need to be updated because scheduling conflicts require extra capacity during the busiest times in the weekly schedule.

(Source: Quality Matters and Encoura Eduventures Research, 2023)

Higher education is transforming its learning spaces

EDUCAUSE polled 154 institutions on their current activities for learning space transformation. Over half were transforming small classrooms.

Top Enablers of Space Transformation

1. Availability of technology – 32%
2. Leadership support – 31%
3. Financial resources – 31%
4. Alignment with institutional strategy – 29%

Top Challenges of Space Transformation

1. Support from faculty – 23%
2. A reservation system – 23%
3. Misalignment with strategic plan – 22%
4. Professional development for faculty – 21%
5. Designing inclusive spaces – 21%

(Source: EDUCAUSE Review, 2022)

The enrollment cliff as strategic driver

• Learning space transformation is tied to leadership support and alignment with strategy.
• The enrollment cliff should be a key driver to most institutional strategies.
• As traditional aged undergraduates decline, nontraditional students become a priority.
• Hybrid learning is a key differentiator in the marketplace because nontraditional students have nontraditional schedules.

See Info-Tech’s research Understand the IT Implications for the Enrollment Cliff for more background on the changes coming to student demographics.

Read our report on the enrollment cliff.

Classroom technology is one piece of the EdTech ecosystem

The EdTech ecosystem encompasses the areas for IT to support teaching and learning.

• Learning Management System
  SaaS-based learning management systems have become the hub for course management, integrating with teaching tools and enterprise systems for library, grades, and scheduling.
• Collaboration Platform
  While developed for application across industries, platforms such as MS Teams or Zoom have become indispensable for student and instructor collaboration.
• Assessment Tools
  Technology supports the creation, proctoring, and grading of assessments, as well as the validation of academic honesty and the reliability of results.
• Curriculum Specific Technology
  Engineering, life sciences, and many other disciplines have specific technology needs which evolve with the development of their associated professions.
• Classroom Technology
  As instruction becomes increasingly hybrid, the need increases for technology to extend the classroom beyond the physical space, requiring careful design considerations.
• Technology Support
  The IT service desk supports technology for students and faculty alike. As technology becomes integral to instruction, instructional designers and student tech workers become more crucial.
• Labs and Collaboration Spaces
  Computer labs still provide students with access to cost prohibitive software. Sometimes these labs are now virtual, or they’re converted to flexible learning spaces to support collaborative learning.
• Content Creation Tools
  In coordination with instructional designers, IT should offer a suite of tools to support the creation of instructional materials.

Optimize the use of classroom technology: A buyer’s guide

Insight: The purpose of modern classroom technology is to extend the instructional boundaries virtually with the least amount of friction as possible.

Make the classroom flexible for the instructors

Don’t get caught up in the semantics of the terminology. IT’s role is to introduce technology to promote flexibility in instruction.

(Sources: EdTech Magazine, 2022; Leading Learning, 2023)

Synchronous learning: Remote students can interact with their instructor and classmates in real time.

Asynchronous learning: Remote students can access course materials (recorded lectures, documents, etc.) at any time.

• Flipped Classrooms

  Inverts traditional teaching; delivers instructional content outside of the classroom.

• Blended Learning

  Incorporates online learning elements into traditional classroom settings, but less rigidly structured compared to hybrid learning.

• Online Learning

  All learning activities are conducted via digital platforms, with no in-person interaction.

• Flexible Learning

  A broad term that refers to various teaching methods and scheduling options that give students greater choices.

• Hybrid Learning

  A broad term that refers to various teaching methods and scheduling options that give students greater choices.

• Hy-Flex Learning

  Hybrid-flexible (Hy-Flex) learning combines in person, online synchronous, and online asynchronous learning experiences.

Info-Tech Insight

Coordinate closely with your institution’s center for teaching and learning to ensure that you’re making the right technology decisions.

The pandemic built-up group interaction tools

While group interaction tools have increased in use, there has been less uptake of individual student tools like AI-adaptive course delivery or augmented reality.

Hybrid and online instruction has continued (“2023 Faculty and Technology Report,” EDUCAUSE, 2023)

• Prior to the pandemic, only 52% of faculty had taught in online and hybrid teaching; in the year after the pandemic ended, 67% have continued to teach online or hybrid courses.

Tools that support group interaction and access (McKinsey & Company, 2022)

• Forty-nine percent increase in asynchronous tools to access lectures, notes, and course materials online.
• Sixty-seven percent of survey respondents at the end of 2021 were using classroom interaction tools to enhance synchronous learning for both on-site and remote students.
• Twenty-nine percent increase in use of collaboration platforms such as Zoom, MS Teams, or Google Meet.

Group interaction tools have become standard tools for classroom instruction

67% — High usage of classroom interaction tools

49% — Increase in asynchronous tools

29% — Increase in collaboration platforms

Instructors believe on-site instruction is superior in quality but recognize hybrid’s flexibility

Hybrid instruction will become more attractive to instructors if it helps them to save time.

• Instructors consistently identified on-site instruction as superior across a range of quality factors related to instruction:
  • Student-instructor connection (91%)
  • Engagement (89%)
  • Teaching quality (83%)
  • Learning outcomes (70%)
• However, instructors identified online or hybrid modes of instruction as preferable when modes were judged for flexibility.
• The greatest challenge for instructors is when they are working in a Hy-Flex mode of instruction, with some students in the class with them and others remote.
• This last point makes the case for IT to reduce any technical friction to support Hy-Flex delivery.

86% of instructors prefer all students to be learning in the same mode at any given time. (Source: “2023 Faculty and Technology Report,” EDUCAUSE, 2023)