Essential Technologies to Support Remote Learning

As the summer of 2020 ends, kids are preparing to go back to school… albeit in a much different way than any of us have ever experienced. Instead of going to stores and picking out folders and pencil cases and binders, a lot of kids are hunkering down at home and preparing to learn remotely.

Let’s examine how technology can be used to benefit these students.

Remote Education and Technology

For those families who choose to keep their children at home, technology is going to play a truly critical role in their educational processes. As such, these children will likely be even more exposed to technology than they already are.

After all, technology will be a necessary tool for lessons to be communicated effectively when there’s so much distance between the educator and those being educated.

Technology Equipment

If your school district doesn’t distribute devices for students to use remotely, your student is going to need a few tools to effectively do their work. A laptop is highly recommended, with the preferred operating system of your district installed and the necessary solutions put in place. If you plan to establish a set area for educational work, a small desktop PC might be an alternative to consider. Fair warning: many manufacturers are experiencing shortages, due to the intense increase in demand.

Some grade levels might also benefit from the use of a tablet, for more interactive learning processes. If they’re going to be using remote collaboration to participate in real time, a good headset with a microphone will be an invaluable investment.

Of course, you also need to ensure that your home network is up to the task of supporting these educational processes. Sufficient Wi-Fi delivered through a reliable router (if not an Ethernet connection) will be a requirement for students to successfully complete their work.

Security

One of the most important considerations that you need to make will be to protect your children and your home network from some of the unpleasant threats that are present online. Keeping an updated suite of security software installed on their workstation and protecting their connection with a virtual private network will be crucial. This will allow your kids to learn without subjecting them to excessive online risks in the process.

Setting Limits

On the subject, there needs to also be some awareness of the risks that so much time online can have—especially for young people. Setting limits and establishing ground rules will be key to keeping your home network safe. Stranger danger is just as important a lesson when someone is online and setting parental restrictions on their surfing capabilities needs to be prioritized.

Setting these rules and ensuring that the reasoning behind them is understood in an appropriate way for each student’s maturity level is going to be important for the safety and security of your students and your home network.

The importance of secure productivity has clearly spread from the school to the home, and it is no less important in the office environment. SCW can help you ensure that your office is prepared to handle continued operations, whether in house or remotely. Give us a call at (509) 534-1530 to learn more.