I hope you all had a wonderful summer break! We took a break from the blog for a couple of months also, but we’re back, and you’ll find us here weekly throughout the fall semester. Let’s hop right in!
We often get asked: “Why does Apogee care so much about blended learning? You’re an MSP, not an LMS or other learning tech company.” Great question! Sometimes called Hybrid Learning or HyFlex Learning, Blended Learning combines traditional, asynchronous, and synchronous learning modalities. It is augmenting the traditional in-person experience with online modalities and new styles of collaboration.
At Apogee, we believe it is here to stay. And if you’ve been following us, you know we discuss this topic a lot – on LinkedIn, in webinars, in customer case studies, in our e-books. So, why does Apogee care so much about this topic?
For two reasons: Apogee loves students and customers. Apogee knows how to unlock time. For real.
Why Blended Learning
No.1 – Apogee Loves Students and Customers
Because we deliver Wi-Fi services to over 1,000,000 students, most of whom belong to Gen Z, we have a wealth of knowledge on their technology behavior and habits. We understand them and are laser-focused on ensuring that we deliver world-class connectivity to aid in their success.
They are digital natives, and their devices are almost extensions of themselves.
They expect technology to be a big part of their learning experience, and they are demanding greater control and ROI over that learning experience.
They want to interact with a lecture and pause, rewind, and play again to focus on important areas of content that may require additional time.
They want to replay material that slipped by them as they grappled with other aspects of the lesson.
They want to save time and money by taking core classes that aren’t really enhanced by the traditional experience (Let’s be honest: teaching and learning the Pythagorean theorem is pretty much the same all over the world).
They want an in-person experience where it matters – where debate, interaction, labs, collaboration, and practice are essential to the learning experience.
They want the support of their instructor and other students with group chats.
They want to be able to make up a class easily when life happens, as it did this week when my sophomore daughter Gina missed a class because she had a car wreck on her way to campus (she’s OK, thank goodness!).
They want higher ed to meet them where they are, so they can have a flexible schedule to work or care for family members.
They want to not only persist and graduate, but they also want to speed up degree completion – must it take four years?
They want their higher education to be more affordable and accessible.
And we want you to be able to deliver this modern connected campus so you can grow and diversify revenue and graduate more students with less debt.
No. 2 – Apogee Knows How to Unlock Time
That’s a bold statement, but it’s true.
A modern connected campus is operationally intensive. Finding efficiencies in operations will unlock the time needed to drive blended learning innovation with agility. The door has opened for you to use this liminal time to let go of time-and resource-hogging operational headaches and outdated and expensive technology buying models. Offloading these problems to Apogee unlocks the time to focus on strategic initiatives and innovation that create value and drive institutional resilience.
By relying on a partner who truly gets higher ed, you get a deep bench of expertise and support. We literally wear our clients’ colors, and we reposition and repurpose your in-house IT staff for high-value initiatives, eliminating in-the-weeds technology decision making, providing continuity over the long-term, and taking on the risks.
You must make blended education core to your strategy to grow enrollment, diversify revenue, lower the cost of higher ed, and meet student demands for ROI. The online learning experience must achieve a quality worthy of your brand for maximum effect on enrollment and student success. Unlocking time to make this reality is the most significant barrier.
