The Educator Magazine U.K. Sept-Dec 2022 - Magazine - Page 24
The evolution and future
of Edtech: a chat with
Aaron Webb, Sr Product
Marketing Manager at Jamf
How has the pandemic impacted
the way we view edtech?
The pandemic has had a significant impact on the way that
edtech is viewed within the education system. In the last two
years, we have seen technology brought to the forefront,
as schools have adopted platforms such as Microsoft
Teams or Google Classroom in order to enable teachers
to provide learning to children of all ages. There has also
been an increase in device purchases or repurposing of
existing devices in order to provide students with access
to these platforms. While some schools have relied on
student having access to their own device at home in order
to keep teaching as best they could, others already had
devices in the hands of students and the systems in place
adapted in a different way. What started as reactive for
most and a forced move to use technology has become
a learning curve where all schools, even if they already
had an established 1:1 programme or already used Teams
or Google to reset. Technology in education has many
benefits and schools have seen that, from accessibility and
providing differentiated resources to cutting the amount of
paper used. They have realised what can be done outside
management of devices has grown rapidly. There is also
the walls of the classroom and they saw the importance
more focus on security, with devices being issued without
of having a structure in place to flip to online learning
the knowledge, skills or tools to secure them, and an
whenever required. However, during the pandemic, there
increase in cyber attacks on schools and universities means
was little time to implement a strategy or enable staff
protecting students, devices and the networks are now a
with the new tools and skills. Some schools still had key
huge requirement in education. The pandemic has certainly
worker children on site while teaching remotely so had to
fast-tracked the digitisation of education considerably and
juggle both face to face and online learning. We are now
will continue to shape the future of learning, professional
in a period where schools are focused on students who
development with tools and platforms to support.
are back in the classroom but they are also able to review
the workflows they were using both prior and during the
pandemic. Many schools are reflecting on those free
offerings to blend with other paid-for solutions, for example
What is Jamf and how are you making
a difference in the education sector?
using Google Classroom as a free offering but moving
Jamf is the leading Apple enterprise management solution of
to Showbie for digital assessment and feedback. Apple
scale that remotely connects, manages and protects Apple
devices are being used to blend Google tools with the Apple
users, devices and services. Our flagship education solution,
ecosystem and the need for both teaching training and IT
Jamf School, recently surpassed 5 million devices and provides