The Covid pandemic has brought on some pretty hasty digitisation. And many language schools have reacted with innovation and invention to be able to deliver remotely to students who are suddenly unable to travel without being greeted by quixotic quarantine regulations.
While the experiential aspect of being in a language school - the new friendships, experiences and immersion of it all - is obviously lacking, schools who wish to strip back to the core educational element can still do so - and thereby claw in some revenues.
Now the immediate panic has abated (just in time for the next one), the time has come for a more measured approach to digital education - to get the key elements in place so that there’s a structure to your work, rather than an improvisation. Think of it as a list of ingredients.
Platform
Time was that schools would invest in a virtual learning platform (VLE) to create environments that suited the needs of parents, students and teachers. This ‘gated community’ approach now seems rather staid (and expensive) at a time when Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams are available for free (along with Zoom, Skype and so on) and can pull together access to large scale video-based classrooms and one-to-one meetings give access to content and be open to the integration of other apps. Given they are built for the scale of millions, they are far from perfect or bespoke, but you’ll get most of what you need (and the same is true of paid-for VLEs too).
Content
You will need content for the platform - something for your students to work with between lessons - to prepare for the classroom and to support what they learned in those digital rooms. This content could come from a variety of sources: the careful curation of quality content on the web, the signing of third-party licencing deals and the creation of bespoke content, which is often the hardest bit - too often schools seem happy with low quality content and wonder why students seem disengaged. High quality stuff is not optional, it is critical, and if you curate the freely available stuff and create your own, it needn’t be costly either.
Format
And a small warning on the format of that content too. Creating a policy on formatting which understands the digital habits of students, notably their absolute reliance on mobile devices, is key. The old institutional habits of content hosted on pdfs is, thankfully, dying away, but don’t fall back into the old ways. A pdf on a phone is guaranteed to turn away students. Any digitally successful organisation looks at the user experience first. Make sure that includes you.
Digital Professional Development
You are entering a new world of digital for many. While there may be plenty in your team that you regard as ‘digital natives’, they won’t be used to this level of professional immersion in digital delivery, engagement, content and measurement. You will need some level of digital professional development for teachers which encourages them to adopt sound digital methodologies and rewards them for doing so. Teachers did not become teachers to become techies, they came into education for the rewarding personal interaction with their students. Good professional development recognises the division between motivation and necessity.
IT needs
Your IT might be where you most need to spend a little cash. You would start with a program of needs analysis with your organisation’s IT team to enable them to equip their institution with the hardware capacity and bandwidth to deliver digitally, whether that’s with people in the school building or at home. You cannot have your students falling behind because one of your teachers has poor wifi at home. If everyone is working remotely, you will need to make sure that the hardware and connectivity of everyone is up to scratch.
Digital expectations
You will need a shared, documented understanding of the accepted standards across the network on devices, formats, storage, behaviour and so on. From coursework in the same format to how to interact with students on social media, the etiquettes, both technical and social, need to be understood.
Data
The long-term adoption of better data gathering on performance, assessment and achievement to create data profiles of students to better personalise and incentivise their education. Holding Big Data on students is not trivial and it must be used both wisely and legally, with the motivation being to deliver better, not monitor more.
Digital culture
The creation of a culture of innovation and experimentation to allow the digitally savvy to develop their own digital work, with a network to share best practice. Not everything a school tries to do will work, and the pace of advancement of technology is faster than that of any organisation. The important thing is the approach - to be willing to try new things, but doing so from a base of shared expertise.
Reputation
Any language school finding new, digital ways of delivery needs to change its external reputation to one of a digitally aware institution. Much of this comes from delivering rather than talking, but the organisation must look to change the way it presents itself. This starts with the corporate website, but also includes presence at conferences, the range of contacts, the external messaging, social media and more. You have to look at ease with digital to persuade people that you know what you’re doing.
Get that little lot sorted and you’ll be well on the way to being a digital set-up. All much easier than it sounds, and it will take time for everyone to learn and get up to speed. Be patient, don’t be punitive with failures and missteps and understand that it is an iterative process that you will never quite finish. As soon as you think you’ve cracked it, some new tech or legislation will change the picture. Accept that it will never be perfect, but that it can always be improved and you’ll transform your digital outlook.
