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Today’s learning is characterized by flexibility and diversity, with access to a variety of subject matter experts and learning opportunities both inside and outside the traditional learning environment. Students expect a highly engaging interactive learning environment, not stagnant instructor-led designs.

“Educators have to weave technology into their everyday lessons to accommodate student needs. And not every student uses technology the same way – we have to think about how we’re going to fill the gap for students who have not grown up with technology.”- quoted in Classroom Technology, a research report (2015/ Issue 1) from the Center for Digital Education.

Learning technologies, and changing pedagogical methods, are not only changing the way we teach but also the physical environments we teach in.

The classroom of the future recasts tomorrow’s educational settings in exciting new formats: global connectivity and collaboration, combined with technology that allows for interactive and student-tailored lessons. It is both physical and virtual, it is mobile and engaging, it is personal yet scalable.

Polycom supports the classroom of the future with solutions for every learning, training, and development scenario, allowing the lesson to take center stage, instead of the technology:

Collaborate anywhere. Any place becomes fully useable and adaptable as a teaching space. With Lecture Capture, students are no longer limited to in-class experiences. They can view recorded lessons anytime, anywhere from the convenience of their mobile devices. Actual class time becomes freed up for more in-depth discussions. Polycom’s purpose built Educart also makes for fully mobile prototype classrooms by virtue of its mobility. Imagine the verdant serenity of challenge-based learning from your school garden! Rather than merely studying about sustainability, students can learn how and when to plant a garden, produce videos about harvesting, create a business model, and get their food to market.

Collaborate naturally. There is a lot more open content and information sharing these days. The expansion of project-and challenge-based learning approaches are reshaping the roles of teachers and trainers, calling for learning and training setups that enable learners to move from one learning activity to another more organically. With CAPspace, Polycom’s own content provider database, special events, academic and instructional training, and an educational social networking tool, instructors can connect with tech coordinators and educators around the globe anytime to exchange ideas, participate in communities of practice, and leverage these resources to enhance curriculum.

Collaborate with impact. Essentially, video and voice conferencing break down the barriers of the physical classroom, bridging education and resources to remote learners, making equitable and inclusive education an increased reality for more. Read more about this in my blog series on Alaska – an area that has some of the most remote classrooms and communities in the northern hemisphere!

Polycom’s rich, interactive visual solutions have helped educational institutions around the world improve all facets of education—from distance and open learning system in Indonesia Open University, to ‘flipped classroom’ instruction in Lancaster-Lebanon, leveling the education playing field across Arizona to virtual field trips as part of enhanced curriculum, making rich blended learning a reality even for the most challenged budgets, giving educators the tools to engage students with more interactive and innovative educational experiences.