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Feature

How has the tech delivered by the channel changed student life?

After a year at university, it’s clear how important the technology supplied by educational specialists across the channel has become

By
  • Anton Allegranza Quicke
Published: 03 Jul 2024

Have you ever wondered what happens to the technology the channel sells into higher education? How has digitisation impacted the experience of students? Will the latest technological innovations discussed by vendors and resellers cause an even greater shift?

Having completed my first year at the University of Southampton, I believe technology has fundamentally changed the way students learn and communicate. Examining the role of the channel from a student perspective provides an insight into its key importance. In addition, the potential for significant transformation in the next decade indicates this sector is especially interesting.

Starting with hardware, it is obvious that PCs, tablets, printers and phones are essential tools for students, supported in the main by universities. The channel knows only too well how to sell significant numbers of laptops and desktops into higher education, and specialist resellers support those that gain their technology via government-backed purchasing programmes. The results of that work by partners can be seen on any campus.

If you’d entered a lecture room 20 years ago, the majority of students would have been using pen and paper; now, you’ll be greeted by an expanse of screens and the sound of fast typing. Head to the library and there are large quantities of workstations and industrial printers available to students, which will undoubtedly have come from educational resellers and vendors. I was even lucky enough to acquire my laptop from a reseller that specialises in supporting the needs of students entering higher education.

Campus connections

Evidence of the channel’s contribution can also been seen in the range of available cloud services, the internet and software. Campus Wi-Fi networks have to be robust, secure and deliver high performance. The pressure on that infrastructure has increased, with lectures and seminars now delivered online as well in person.

The web offers more than a chance for students to share details of the next social event – it is now the way the bulk of reading material, with the ability to read books online instead of having to withdraw them physically, is delivered. The instant access and the capability to search content for key terms has made it possible to undertake wider research and lifted the burden on limited library resources.

Students are given email accounts and use cloud-based systems to access lectures and submit their essays. Those platforms and the associated software are also areas where the channel, supporting specialist vendors, has been felt by students. Higher education is also a target for hackers, so the security needs to be robust. Students use numerous systems to communicate with staff, each other and various societies. All of that needs to be protected, as do the key assets of student and staff personal details.

Useful tech

In a recent interview with MicroScope, Jason Tomlinson, managing director of RM Technology, said a good education partner is one that enables schools and colleges to deliver more than just technology and could be a genuine trusted advisor.

“What happens is the school comes in with a problem, but it’s not really technical or strategic and doesn’t know what’s going on. It walks into the tender process, and the school ... tells them, ‘This is wrong’, but never [asks], ‘How do you teach? How do kids learn? What’s the future of your organisation going to look like? What operating model do you run?’. None of that,” he said.

At a university level, the past few years, with the experience of the pandemic and the introduction of more online and recorded learning, have underlined the importance of making that not only available through cloud platforms, but asking if that material is useful for students.

It feels as if that’s where the crossroads are for the channel and higher education. Partners are always told to think about things from a customer perspective. That probably means the university IT director, but thought also needs to go into how students use and consume technology.

The next few years are going to see significant change. Already, tools like ChatGPT are causing headaches for those trying to encourage original thought, and it is only going to get harder. More artificial intelligence (AI) tools are coming and there will need to be efforts put into making sure they truly benefit students and are not just used to automate and deliver more lecture-based content.

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