The speed and suddenness of the transition to remote and hybrid learning models presented educational institutions with a vast array of issues to solve.
Some of these organizations had been planning to introduce more virtual learning or were even already in the process of doing so, but very few were prepared to implement distance learning at scale when the pandemic hit. That’s especially true for the K–12 space, where classic in-person schooling remains the dominant model.
As a result, educational institutions have faced a number of challenges in adapting their traditional environments to the pandemic era of virtual learning.
Fortunately, a solution to those challenges exists—and not only that, it’s opened up opportunities that were previously thought to be non-starters. With Cameyo’s Virtual App Delivery platform, entire school districts have found that they can make all of their vital applications – including legacy Windows, internally-developed apps, and SaaS – available to any student on any device. What’s more, they can do it at speed, at scale and within budget.
If your school or district is dealing with any of the virtual learning challenges below, read on for how Cameyo can help, and examples of how we’ve helped dozens of school districts and hundreds of thousands of students to date.
Challenge #1: Cloud-enabling legacy software
For reasons of cost and reliability, legacy Windows software is a fact of life for the educational sector. But that same software can keep them firmly anchored in, well, the old school. A recent survey of 63 Cameyo users conducted by the independent research firm TechValidate found that 65% of the organizations struggled with taking their legacy apps into the cloud (TVID: C77-E9C-F4F). The inability to break free of legacy software limitations was hindering their hybrid learning efforts.
Once they found Cameyo, however, these organizations were able to SaaS-enable their legacy software overnight. That’s because Cameyo’s virtual app delivery platform makes it possible to modernize classic Windows software and distribute it to an entire user base within a matter of minutes.
Challenge #2: Barriers to equality and accessibility
Even if educational organizations are able to shift their software to the cloud, that doesn’t mean every student will be able to make use of it. Heterogeneous device types, operating systems, software versions and technical skill levels can be barriers to access, which in turn becomes a major source of frustration for students, teachers and IT departments.
Cameyo eliminates those barriers by delivering apps via HTML5, enabling those apps to be utilized on any device/OS. That allows any student with a device capable of running a browser—including tablets and Chromebooks—to securely access the apps they need without having to compromise on performance or user experience.
For example, Staunton City Schools in Virginia was able to provide universal virtual learning to its students, regardless of their device. Tom Lundquist, the district’s director of technology, gave the solution top marks, saying, “Once we adopted Cameyo, we have modified our strategic plan to anytime – anywhere – any device learning” (TVID: 90E-5BF-C0D).
Challenge #3: Resource-draining complexity
Like school districts around the world, Pennsylvania’s Selinsgrove Area School District needs to maximize its resources. The IT department doesn’t want to divert essential staff to wrestle with cumbersome solutions. Remote students need quick, user-friendly access to their software instead of having to file support tickets. Just as importantly, the technology that powers their hybrid learning environment needs to justify its place in the budget.
Cameyo brought the district “nearly immediate” ROI, largely thanks to its ease of use. “The reduction in complexity is an understatement,” said Selinsgrove Area School District IT Director Erick Decker. “I honestly don’t think it could get any more simplified on the admin side and definitely cannot be any more simple for the end user” (TVID: 97E-E80-500).
Community High School District 99 in Illinois saw similar results during the pandemic-driven pivot to hybrid learning models. Colleen Davoren, the district’s network infrastructure manager, found that Cameyo simplified distance learning to the point where students experienced seamless productivity as they moved outside of the classroom.
“Students were able to continue the work they began at school and were excited to do so and could work on any device,” she said. “Cameyo has helped our students continue to learn during a very difficult time and that was invaluable” (TVID: ACF-9AD-54D).
Cameyo streamlines the shift to hybrid learning
Cameyo’s ability to overcome pervasive challenges like these is what led 34 separate US school districts to deploy our virtual application delivery platform in the course of a single month.
That number has now more than doubled, and 79% of schools and school districts surveyed by TechValidate have since confirmed that Cameyo was key to enabling their shift to virtual and/or hybrid learning models (TVID: 996-915-9EE).
While the pandemic may have been a driving force in their adoption of more flexible educational models, there’s no doubt that virtual learning is here to stay. And the same challenges will exist for educational organizations making the transition in the future. That’s why so many Cameyo customers have identified our virtual app delivery platform as an undisputed game changer. Their experience shows that schools and districts of all sizes can leverage Cameyo to provide their students with secure, simple access to their preferred software—anytime, anywhere and on any device.
Is Cameyo right for your virtual learning initiatives? We’re confident that it is, which is why we offer a free trial of Cameyo with no credit card required. You’ll have full access to our solutions for a limited time so you can see exactly how easy it is to deploy and how it performs in your unique environment.
Or if you’d rather get a one-on-one walkthrough of Cameyo’s features and options, feel free to schedule a demo. Either way, you’ll see how Virtual App Delivery can take the uncertainty and complexity out of pandemic-era remote and hybrid learning while creating a future-proof platform for the years to come.