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Meeting post-pandemic expectations Technology has been proven to have a place in education, particularly in an intensive Business School setting. When it comes to student diversity and meeting new post-pandemic expectations, it can be at least part of the solution. Mark Bramwell, Chief Information Officer at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, commented: ‘Given the understandable high expectations of our students, the need to provide a quality online learning environment for our Executive MBA and MBA courses is paramount. 'Our infrastructure was already in place with solutions such as Canvas, Microsoft (Azure, O365 and Teams) and Zoom, but we needed an integrated eBook platform... implementation at pace was straightforward and now the [Kortext] platform has
surveyed highlighted 'advancing or embedding quality, diversity and inclusion' as an essential strategic focus for them in the coming year, with four in five agreeing that technology is where they foresee the biggest area of change. An experience driven by choice The pandemic has been a disruptive force on education, but where there is challenge there is opportunity. Over the past two years, technology has provided a lifeline for many university Business Schools, enabling teaching and learning to continue safely. While initially viewed as temporary solutions, students have now seen what’s available and experienced the benefits; they know a more personalised, flexible, and accessible learning experience is possible – an experience driven by choice. As your Business School looks to the next academic year and beyond, a significant question will be how to address the student demand for a seamless, personalised experience without compromising teaching and learning quality.
individual bookshelf that allows them to access essential course content and learning tools. Study is enabled anytime, anywhere – both independently and collaboratively. Connectivity with peers and academics facilitates co-operative, research-led learning focused on the course content. Kortext’s learning experience platform comes with a host of accessibility and interactive features that aren’t available with a traditional print book. Significantly, they can be accessed on any device, giving students the flexibility to learn in a way that suits them. Many of our partner universities are now reducing the financial burden on their students by using Kortext to supply core reading materials free of charge. With affordability in mind, Kortext has also begun curating collections of Open Access publications and Open Educational Resources, including the Kortext Open Resources Collection, containing more than 10,000 free academic resources comprising some 900 business, finance and economics titles. With these initiatives, Kortext is helping institutions to take another step closer to providing equity of access and experience for all. Critical to many of our partnerships is the ability to view student engagement at the point of study, and we are now seeing institutions using Kortext’s analytics dashboards to monitor learning content engagement, receive immediate feedback on completion of assigned reading, and shine a light on learning patterns and behaviours. This highlights disengagement where intervention and support may make the difference between a student dropping out or continuing with their studies. The ability to use data as a leading indicator to tailor support and drive outcomes is an essential component, and benefit, of a digital, connected campus.
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become an integral part of our teaching, learning and programme delivery.’ The Covid-19 pandemic
accelerated the adoption of EdTech solutions in the short term but has also driven major enhancements for EdTech companies worldwide. As the future of higher education becomes clearer, we look forward to seeing how developing technology can be used to support more choice, better accessibility, fairer access and, ultimately, new opportunities for the next generation of difference-makers graduating into the world of business.
Embracing ‘anytime, anywhere’ technology
One way is to embrace technology that facilitates learning anytime, anywhere – technology that can be embedded into the curriculum and measured to gauge its success. Kortext, the leading student learning content and engagement platform, provides students in over 2,000 universities worldwide with eTextbooks and academic materials from over 4,700 leading publishers. This includes partnering with prestigious Business Schools such as Oxford Brookes, Toulouse, Berlin, Maastricht and University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. These students benefit from a personalised, VLE-embedded, online learning space with an
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