Academies Enterprise trust uses Google technology to improve the performance of the schools. 

Challenges

Academies Enterprise Trust, one of the far-flung sponsors of academies in the United Kingdom, brings large to small and rural to urban schooling to a centralized place. In general, the trust works with schools that are underperforming and affected by child poverty. Academies Enterprise trust uses technology to improve the performance of the schools. It has been using Google features including email, document storage, and document collaboration since 2011.

Unfortunately, things took a dramatic turn during the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown that followed. As schools were shut due to the restrictions, the trust's IT leaders found an opportunity to employ Google tools to address emerging challenges. 

Initiatives

As Academies Enterprise Trust already had a history with Google, the trust was quick to adopt Google Workspace for Education Plus to foster remote learning. The trust also planned to extend its technological adoption further into the future of education in schools. Initially, Academies Enterprise Trust used Google Workspace in Education and experienced its features. Once it was satisfied with the advantages, the trust took a step further and upgraded to Plus. Google Workspace in Education Plus enables the feature to record meetings and streamline video to a larger number of viewers. 

Although the trust has been using Google Meet for a few years, they availed the feature for teaching and learning in Meet only during the pandemic. The trust used Google to connect with students remotely and soothe their education needs. When students started settling down at their homes, Academies Enterprise Trust used Education Plus to connect with 250 people in virtual meetings and live stream to as many as 100,000 within the trust's domain. Besides, the trust also uses Education Plus to connect administrators and teachers with the headteachers for discussion. 

Result

Shifting from the physical mode of functioning to a less known digital mode, Academies Enterprise Trust uses Education Plus for extraordinary purposes like content creation. For example, the trust creates its own library of what it calls 'Masterclasses' using the tool to collect and arrange the content they share across the platform. With Education Plus, they feel comfortable and easy to conduct breakout rooms, polling, and quizzing. Educators are also adding more interactivity and engagement to the lessons. The instructors of Academies Enterprise Trust are engaging in massive masterclasses that house more students. 

Besides, Academies Enterprise Trust feels reassured by Education Plus's feature to restrict Livestream the class only to viewers within the trust's domain. Because of the trust that the application provides, many people get the confidence to use it for education purposes. Even teachers don't have to worry about penetration as they are sure that only students within the trust circle will attend the class. Addressing the security issues in online classes, the trust uses Education Plus also to conduct network analysis. For many years, they have been engaging in manual network analysis using spreadsheets. Fortunately, that has moved to Education Plus and provides Academies Enterprise Trust an expansive view into the use and performance of its services. In the future, the trust expects to tap into Education Plus analytics using BigQuery, including examining audit logs for Google Drive and Classroom. 

Over the technical help that Meet has provided, it has also empowered students who have not tasted technology so far. According to Academies Enterprise Trust, even though schools are starting to slowly reopen and the world is getting back to its old form, school administrators and educators will continue to adopt the Education Plus feature to work more efficiently and teach more creatively. The leaders at the trust also anticipate that life lessons and their Masterclasses will grow with the adoption of technology. 

Since Academies Enterprise Trust now has an apt tool, Google Workspace in Education Plus, to streamline education to every corner of its area, they will go on with this plan and come up with innovative ideas even further.