Use of Business Phone Systems in Education

Improving technological connectivity has now enabled bring together schools and parents with the help of digitalphone systems such that parents can be kept informed of the ward’s progress, attendance and also any emergencies. A digital phone solution offers various advantages over the analogue ones and can be deployed at a much lower cost and ease. The new phone systems are capable of placing and or taking hundreds of calls within a short span of time and broadcast information to all parents.

Some of the advantages of using business phone solutions in schools can be enumerated as below:

Uniform broadcast of information: All parents can receive automated calls informing them of vital updates at the same time. This reduces the manpower costs that the school has to employ in reaching all parents.

Establishing direct connectivity with parents: A phone is a personal device now that can be reached almost anytime. Thus instead of relying on letters which take time and email which may be missed, a phone system helps the school establish a direct connectivity with the parents and ensure that they remain well informed of the ward’s progress, attendance and others news from the school.

Reliable source of information: A phone call received from the school is a reliable source of information for the parents. This helps them act in accordance with the instructions.

Quick emergency response: In emergencies time is of essence and parents are worried about the safety of their children. A businessphone system employed by an educational institution can help curb the spread of rumors, answer important questions that the parents may have and help them ensure the safety of their children as a priority.

Business phone systems for schools can have various other advantages as well. Parents can now be connected over virtual meetings and conference calls thereby reducing the hassles of organizing and ensuring parents attend Parent Teacher meeting. A conference call ensures that all parents irrespective of physical availability can attend the call and take stock of the child’s progress.

Connectivity is a great tool for most aspect of our lives. And improving connectivity is now help educational institutions improve their connect with the parents which helps the overall improvement of the child’s progress and learning ability. Connectivity is also helping bring more children into the educational fold and improving their ability to learn better and more quickly when compared to previous generations.

Business phone systems are not just limited in scope to a business entity but effectively employed solutions can be a great tool in the working of a school. The Australian government has invested a great deal of impetus into the National Broadband Network. This is an ambitious and hugely beneficial initiative wherein all school can now hope for improved connectivity and better phone solutions, thereby much improved parent-school connect, wider educational coverage and overall improvement in education.

Role of Digital Connectivity in Education

Politicians, policy makers, educationists and parents – everyone is finally waking up to the importance of technology and connectivity in the educational sphere. There is an increasing awareness, acceptance and efforts being made to ensure that ‘connectivity’ is a primary right for every student. Internet is being increasingly employed in the improvement of learning. 

An Australian government policy statement articulates this changing paradigm in the best possible manner, “Australia will have technology enriched learning environments that enable students to achieve high quality learning outcomes and productively contribute to our society and economy.

“The Fibre Connections to Schools (FCS) initiative is an integral part of the Australian Government’s DigitalEducation Revolution (DER) suite of initiatives. These initiatives recognise that Australian students need greater access to, and more sophisticated use of information and communications technologies (ICT). They need the best hardware, high speed broadband connections, quality digital content and well trained teachers to integrate technology into teaching and learning.”

Towards this end, various efforts being mooted across the globe include:

• Offering dedicated, uninterrupted and cost-effective connectivity options to students to help them access and exploit the global reservoirs of information and information tools for better learning, understanding and experience. 
• Enabling virtual collaboration facilities amongst students and faculty to improve information exchange; promote collaborative learning and exchange of ideas.
• Encouraging and enabling teachers to devise digitally stimulating and compatible teaching methods. And use technology for improving children’s learning capabilities.

• Facilitating online interaction of parents with teachers for improved liaison.

The realization of the above objectives is possible with the collaborative efforts of the four most important factors:

Leadership: There is a need for strong, decisive and long term leadership in the space of digital education. If our governments and educational institutions can come together put in place such strong leadership, it will go a long way in improving education using digital connectivity.

Infrastructure: While several improvements have come about in the connectivity space. The last-mile connectivity is still a challenge in far flung areas. Without the right infrastructure it would not be possible to employ connectivity any better.

Teacher’s Involvement: Teachers & faculty must take the most important step in integrating connectivity & digital tools to improve learning amongst children. Teachers are the vital cog in the wheel to use increased connectivity in education.

Learning Resource: As connectivity improves, there is now an acute need for learning resources to be available in the digital formats. This will encourage students to use the connectivity channels more authoritatively.

Educational institutions ought to become more enterprising in the use of technology for their parent-teacher liaisons. A dial-in system to access the ward’s attendance or progress reports can be a great tool. Parents can be connected over conference calls or via two-way voice messaging platforms, a business phone system can be deployed for this purpose. A mobile app could be an interface worth exploring.

Expanding the reach of education and improving the connectivity to students from far and wide are the two main objectives of digital connectivity. And with dedicated efforts these can bring far-reaching results.

Coming Soon A Virtual Parent-Teacher Meeting

Almost all of us at some point or other must have been part of a conference call, a webinar, video conference and likewise. And so common have these options today that it is impossible to find someone who doesn’t associate with these virtual meeting options. At the same time, many of us who are parents must have been summoned by the school of our children for a parent-teacher meeting.

Have you ever wondered sitting in those meetings, if there was another way of doing those parent teacher meetings? Probably, do these meeting more discreetly or even virtually?

Improving technology is now available to greatly alter and improve the parent-teacher dynamic. While the thought of a virtual parent teacher meeting may have existed for long enough, technology is now fully evolved to bring this to reality. At the same time, educational institutions are becoming increasingly more savvy in employing technology to improve their services. Deploying phone systems is now a viable option being sought by various educational institutions.

Soon enough we will be inhabiting a world where in the ward’s progress reports are digitally delivered and everyday activities of be uploaded to an online dashboard for the parent’s viewing. Dial-in options using phone systems amongst others are several path breaking measures that we will be able to see in our own times as connectivity improves further; parents become more tech-savvy; and our lives become even more connected.

The government is doing its bit in improving the connectivity. The ball is now firmly in the court of the educational institutions to become more enterprising in the use of technology for their parent-teacher liaisons and overall educational benefits. They can employ a dial-in system to let parent’s access the ward’s attendance or progress reports. Conference calls or via two-way voice messaging platforms, mobile app etc. are all avenues that ought to be sufficiently explored to improve parent-teacher relationship.

The education sector is a critical component preparing a nation for its future growth. What we invest in today’s education will determine the magnitude of a nation’s growth in the years to come. The National Broadband Network is an ambitious and hugely beneficial initiative – the government just has to make sure that all students – irrespective of where they come from accrue equitable benefits such that their current situation is only improved, and not diminished by NBN.

There are great many options and whichever be the one that educators and parents decide upon, the underlying principles however ought to remain the same. Improvements in digital connectivity have to result in an expanded reach of education and educational facilities. And secondly it must bring into the educational-fold, a great many of those who are yet outside.

Technology is play a vital role in shaping our present, but by employing technology in education we definitely improve the tomorrow for our children. 

To conclude, technology can play a great role in improving the parent-teacher dynamic. Digital delivery of progress reports, virtual parent-teacher meetings and digitization of the child’s schooling activity are examples of the improvements that technology can bring to the education experience Several path breaking measures will be seen in our own times as connectivity improves; parents become more tech-savvy; and our lives become even more connected.

Benefits to the Educational Sector with Improving Connectivity

Improvements in educational connectivity imply that each one of the stakeholders – students, teachers, parents, industry and government – are provided with relevant connectivity; and greater numbers are bought into the connectivity fold.

With improving digital connectivity a greater number of students can now be brought into the academic umbrella. Although, in urbanized areas the lack of connectivity may not pose a great challenge but for children in the far flung areas, connectivity or a lack thereof, is a major issue in the delivery of education. Not just students connectivity helps bring together all the stakeholders in the educational ecosystem onto one paradigm. Bringing together institutions, teachers, parents, government and industry onto one platform means that the quality of education improves alongside the expansion of those covered under the educational schemes.

Improvements in connectivity means that children can participate in virtual classrooms and educationalmaterial transferred to them without the physical need for them to be present at a school or institution. For the students, especially those living in the far flung areas of the country, remote classrooms couldn’t here sooner. Such that, they have a greater access to the best lecturers, can participate in online workshops and collaborate with students from different parts of the country and world. 

Currently, most of the rural children have to either depend on radio connectivity or sketchy internet options to be able to have access to quality education and research opportunities. This scenario is fast expected to undergo a massive change with the National Broadband Network. This will enable a paradigm shift in availability of connectivity & broadband access, thereby improving educational pursuits. Connectivity improvements also aid better collaborations between institutions, students and faculty. Thus is it is actively evidenced that connectivity greatly enriches and stimulates the learning environment. The need of hour would be to improve learning environments, offer better exposure for students, and give improved connectivity options to facilitate both.

Various governments across the world are looking to improve the connectivity paradigm. The Australia meanwhile has taking major steps in this direction with continued and consistent efforts towards the National Broadband Network. Education and educational pursuits is one of the key areas of focus for NBN with thousands of students from the remote corners of Australia now expected to be part of the digital landscape.

Educational institutions will be quickly required to move into this space and exploit the ever improving connectivity options. Newer teaching and learning methods will need to be evolved as a greater number of students will be virtual than present in the physical. Connectivity will provide students with a great tool to augment their learning and share their worldview. Students can greatly benefit from improved access, expanded digital libraries and virtual content.

Overall improvements in connectivity stand to greatly enhance learning opportunities and environment. Students not only learn better, but it helps to have improved connectivity with parents and other stakeholders. Improved connectivity within and outside educational institutions stands to expand learning horizons.

Impact of Communication Technology on Healthcare Systems

Explosion of technology and the information revolution has greatly impacted our healthcare system for the better. Not just at the level of treating diseases, but the fact that a greater number of people are now inside the healthcare network is a testament to the improved and increasing presence of technology.

In the not so distant past, people still had to physically be available for consulting a doctor but information technology and communication has now made remote patient consulting and tele-medicine common place. The barriers of time & distance are increasingly shrinking in our times and this means that more & more patients can have access to quality healthcare.

Communication technologies are also greatly improving patient experiences; besides improving hospital response times. Response time is critical for emergencies, someone in distress is least likely to be willing (or be happy) if he or she is made to wait endlessly. The role of technology is not just limited to reducing response times but also towards improving overall patient-care experience.

Some of the ways wherein patient-experiences can be improved with better communications & technology are outlined below:

·         Provide call handlers with complete patient information to help them better response or offer advise

·         Send or receive multimedia files such that it is easy for the patient to send investigative reports etc.

·         Call forwarding or remote calling facilities to enable the same consultant to be available for a patient irrespective of his or her location

The advancements in communications have expanded the horizons of consumer expectations are it is imperative that healthcare providers are able to embrace these technologies to better serve their patients.

Communication advancements provide a great opportunity for healthcare providers to build better services & applications for their patients and prospective audience. There is both a need and opportunity for Australian businesses to grow into. Patients are increasingly connected online and there is a great reservoir of audience that healthcare providers can now look to connect with!

Real-time connect with the patients helps provide preventive services, consultation on prevalent health hazards and nutritional information. As healthcare providers work increasingly on the preventive model of healthcare dispensation it is imperative for them to seek real-time patient information. Patients, on the other hand, need to know that the healthcare provider will be available whenever required and that all emergency situations are well-catered to.

Technology also helps create convenience and comfort resulting in an overall better patient experience. With our worlds more interconnected today than they have been ever before there is a greater convergence of the different spheres of our lives. Being able to access medical information on the go, set up doctor appointments, order medicines and consult with doctors remotely are all various facets of the ever increasing patient demands – which healthcare providers can now cater to with advancements in communication technology!