Distance teaching became a sudden necessity for many educational institutions. Digital platforms have existed for years — the challenge is adopting them quickly and effectively.
Moodle: the open-source e-learning platform
Moodle is one of the most widely used e-learning platforms in the world, adopted by universities, schools and companies. Its key strengths:
- Free and open-source — no licence costs
- Flexible — courses, quizzes, assignments, forums, video conferencing
- Accessible — browser-based on any device
- Secure — granular permission management for students, teachers and administrators
Companies such as Liip made free Moodle instances available to schools to ensure teaching continuity during closures. The Swiss reference portal for school e-learning is onschool.ch.
Microsoft Teams for schools
Microsoft Teams for Education is also available free of charge to educational institutions and includes:
- Virtual classrooms with student management
- Integrated assignments and assessments
- Video conferences with up to 300 participants
- OneNote Class Notebook for shared notes
DB Studio’s perspective
The digitalisation of teaching is not temporary: schools that have invested in digital platforms are more resilient and offer richer learning experiences even in person. The forced experience of 2020 accelerated a process that was already under way.