As schools were forced to rapidly transition from traditional in-person to remote learning over the past year, the education industry saw an acceleration of digital transformation unlike anything in the past. Education facilities and schools were forced to quickly research and deploy various software solutions that enabled them to securely and effectively teach, collaborate, give tests and exams, provide support and more – all from home. Although it has been a massive challenge for educational institutions to get this IT ecosystem in place, this type of infrastructure has also given them a view into the many benefits of technology that can elevate remote, along with in-person learning programs. One such hidden gem has been remote access software.
Remote access benefits for distance and hybrid learning
The most urgent question for places of learning at the beginning of the pandemic was, “How can we continue learning and ensure that the quality of our education program is not compromised?” Enabling remote learning raised concerns about the effectiveness of teaching, security and privacy and equity among students. Fortunately, Splashtop remote access addresses many of the concerns for K-12, higher education and training institutions worldwide.
Improving effectiveness
Courses that need students and teachers to use specialized software like Adobe, Autodesk, and others cannot achieve the same effectiveness without access to these applications and computers. Splashtop enables educational institutions to enhance their learning programs in a number of ways:
- Students and teachers are able to use any device (iPad, Mac, Windows, Chromebook, etc.) and enjoy high-performance remote access to powerful campus computers that run specialized software – anytime they need.
- Schools leverage existing infrastructure and cuts costs associated with buying specialized software that then needs to be installed on student devices.
- IT teams ensure minimal disruption by remotely accessing on-campus computers and even students’ and teachers’ devices, making troubleshooting and resolving issues quick and easy.
- Schools can provide student-centred learning to meet diverse learners’ needs. Students can have control over the time, place, method and pace of learning.
Ensuring security and privacy
With growing threats from malicious players, security has never been more important. With Splashtop’s robust security and privacy features, data is always secure. Splashtop offers:
- Industry standard TLS 1.2 with AES 256-bit encryption, device authentication, two-factor authentication, and more.
- SSO integrations with major identity providers such as ADFS, Azure AD, Okta and PassLogic for centralized and secure authentication.
If your organization uses PassLogic, for example, you can log in to your Splashtop account and begin your remote desktop session with a tokenless one-time password on any device that supports a standard web browser. PassLogic can also issue PKI client certifcates to these devices so that 2FA can be achieved without the need to deploy any specialized authentication devices such as a smartphone with an authenticator app installed.
- Features that enable secure implementation of hybrid computer labs. IT can schedule remote sessions, assign granular permissions, “blank out” a computer screen letting users hide remote session activity, and much more.
- The ability to log all activities and then make these logs available for reporting and auditing.
- The option for users to purchase, deploy and manage Bitdefender on managed computers – all from within the Splashtop interface.
- GDPR and SOC 2 compliance certification; Splashtop also supports HIPAA, FERPA, PCI, and many other industry compliance types.
- The maintenance and management of two sets of cloud infrastructure, one for EU users and one for non-EU users. By default, EU users are directed to create their accounts and maintain their user data in the EU-based cloud infrastructure. This type of separation enables users to comply with the data sovereignty requirements of their given region.
Enabling technological equity
Students and teachers naturally use a variety of devices during remote learning. But not all devices are able to run the resource-intensive software required for some courses. Splashtop provides a way to leverage school computing resources from any device, creating equity among remote and in-person students. Educational institutions can also provide equally effective learning opportunities for vulnerable groups.
Natalia Milanezi, Senior Audio Technician at Abbey Road Institute London notes, “Even though they (students) are working from home, they have access to the same tools they would in-person. Students can access computers outside of lab hours. It (Splashtop) is just very very practical.” Watch the video .
Powering the future of education
As the world heads toward some sort of new normal, recent surveys of education professionals worldwide indicate that hybrid or blended programs are THE best way to maximize student learning. Consider this*:
Splashtop remote access helps students reach their full potential in blended programs by giving them anytime access to on-campus computer labs and IT support whenever and wherever they need it. You can learn more at https://www.splashtop.com/enterprise/remote-labs or contact us to start a free trial.
*Source: https://markinstyle.co.uk/blended-learning-statistics/