Technology has become an integral part of the modern education process. Online meetings with the lecturers, quizzes, tests, innovative Internet platforms, audio-visual materials as well as the original presentations by relevant researchers have become part of the catalogue of the devices commonly used in the process of education at university.
The conditions that occurred in the year 2020 have become a considerable challenge for all of us, which, apart from uncertainty, has introduced many new experiences and solutions. We transferred most of the didactic activities to be carried out in spring into the virtual realm, doing our best to ensure that our students receive comprehensive knowledge as well as interesting and engaging lectures and practicals. Further, 82% of post-secondary level students at WSB University were either extremely satisfied or satisfied with the solutions introduced.
The last few months have been a time of hard work for us, and we have learned a lot! The improved teaching standards and technological solutions we have been employing will enable you to effectively develop at the majors that you have chosen for yourself.
Have a peek what technological solutions our students use, regardless of whether they study during an epidemic or under entirely normal conditions:
MOODLE
The platform is used by over 60% of educational institutions around the world, several hundred million users and over 100 language locations. In Poland, the platform is used by the largest public and private universities, including WSB Merito University.
Benefits for you:
- You can find the materials needed for particular classes in one spot
- You will organize your learning process – each course has its separate place on the platform
- You will enhance your education path with group projects, quizzes and motivating tasks
- You communicate with yourcourse coordinator and your peers via a discussion forum, e-mail or instant messaging
- You will find out what exactly you will learn and how beneficialthe obtained understanding of a given notion will be for you in your career
- You study in your armchair, in a forest, by the lake, or wherever and whenever you want; all you need access to the Internet.
MS TEAMS
This handy digital platform is a Microsoft creation. It is one spot into which the conversations, connections, content, documents as well as applications beneficial to every lecturer and university havebecome integrated to enable better cooperation with students and to increase their mutual involvement. MS Teams is one of the best-rated distant communication platforms in the world.
Benefits for you:
- In addition to participating in online classes, you have the opportunity to work on a project in subgroups –“The Rooms” function is ideal for that
- You can create individual notes and report when you want to say something (“Raise your hand” function)
- You can fully integrate your activities with Office 365, which you get from the university
- You participate in activities designed for an extended period, e.g. a semester; this gives a sense of stability, and one clearly defined project team, which is useful, e.g. in group projects, when the composition of a given team should remain the same
- To contact the course coordinator, you use the chat and the Q&A system
- Both you and your peers, as well as your course coordinator,have a shared space for uploading files.
ZOOM
Many educational centers and employers use this platform; it is also an excellent alternative to MS Teams.
Benefits for you:
- In addition to participating in traditional classes, you have the opportunity to work on the project in subgroups - the “Rooms” function is ideal for this
- To contact the lecturer, you use the chat and the Q&A system
- You can report when you want to say something (“Raise Hand”function)
- The platform enables lively discussions, and the participants can see each other and speak without any restrictions
- You, your peers, as well as the course coordinator can work using the functions: desktop sharing, whiteboard, file sharing and presenting.
HANGOUT
Google has created this communication platform both for individual needs and for teams. The service enables group conversations in virtual rooms that can accommodate up to 8,000 people. You can use it in a mobile version or a browser.
Benefits for you:
- You participate in activities designed for an extended period, e.g. a semester; this gives a sense of stability, and one clearly defined project group, which is useful, e.g. in group projects, when the composition of a given team should remain the same
- Saving a chat allows you to return to the conversation at any time
- The platform enables lively discussions; the participants can see each other and speak freely
- You, your peers as well as the course coordinator can work using shared files, using the functions: desktop sharing, whiteboard, file sharing and presenting.
CLICKMEETING
The platform created by a Gdańsk-based company is used to support all kinds of webinars and videoconferences. It has a mobile application available, but it works without any problems on all operating systems and web browsers.
Benefits for you:
- In addition to participating in online classes, you have the opportunity to work on a project in subgroups – the “Rooms” function is perfect here
- You can report when you want to say something (“Raise hand”function)
- You contact the host via chat
- You and your peers, as well as the course coordinator can work using the functions of desktop sharing, whiteboard, file sharing and presenting.
Industry Business Simulations
An innovative device for the hands-on learning of running a business that allows you to make realistic business decisions that affect the development of a virtual company in a selected industry. These are educational games that will enable you to set up and run a virtual company with your team! The students of the tertiary level of education will have the opportunity to practice running their own business in some subjects.
During this game, you will:
- manage a company by making realistic business decisions
- compete for customers with rival companies operating in the same market
- analyze the results of decisions made, formulate theses, draw conclusions, and solve problems to practice some online behaviour before starting your own business.
Which companies and industries are open for you to test what your fortes are: an event agency, an interactive agency, a travel agency, an accounting office, a bearing factory, a repair company, a transport company, a restaurant, a hair salon, a beauty salon, a massage parlour, an IT service, an electronics store, a car repair shop.
MS OFFICE 365 – free licenses for students
Office 365 includes popular applications such as Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote that enable boththe faculty and students to collaborate and communicate effortlesslyas well as create collaborative projects in real-time.
Licence:
- For post-secondary education level students, the A3 license (the ability to install standard Office applications on up to five PCs or Macs per user)
- For participants of postgraduate and MBA programmes, thelicence is limited to A1.
Benefits for you:
- Unlimited personal cloud storage
- 50 GB mailbox
- Microsoft Teams, which integrates the conversations, calls, content, and applications an education institution needs to collaborate better and improve mutual involvement.
- Management of the information with a digital notebook in OneNote.