Mary Sawyer
Vice President of Public Relations

Remote Learning Presents Unique Challenges for Technical Schools

A Wall Street Journal article and accompanying podcast recently addressed several formidable obstacles faced by technical schools during the pandemic. Like other educational institutions, these schools had to quickly pivot from in-person to remote learning.

To an even greater extent than traditional schools, the tech schools rely on in-person instruction. When Covid-19 shut down their campuses, their students had access to their computers at home but not the state-of-the-art equipment that enabled them to be tested in real-world applications like welding and electrical wiring. Teachers had to learn new technologies for their virtual instruction, but also had to devise innovative methods to keep the students engaged and on track to pass certifications that tested hands-on skills.

An administrator at a leading technical college-related that Zoom and TEAMS worked reasonably well for general ed classes. A welding instructor at a local St. Louis technical high school described in addition to learning how to use Google classroom, Zoom, and welding software, he created Go Pro videos for his instruction. He discovered students did better watching welding videos and answering questions from the video versus just reading a chapter and answering review questions.

Throughout the pandemic, technical school administrators and teachers worked together and found ways to improvise their learning and succeed. We salute their dedication to preparing students with skills and certifications in so many high-demand fields such as manufacturing, automotive, welding, cybersecurity, and a variety of STEM areas.

While video will never replace the rich experience of engaging with a teacher face-to-face, vocational high schools and colleges are now thinking about how it can be used in new ways in the future. We have known for some time that video is a formidable marketing tool, but now we are seeing its increasing role as a study resource. Video content will continue to be a powerful connection for your internal and external audiences. If you would like some insights about the most effective and economical ways to integrate video into your practices, give G/L a call. With an in-depth storyboarding and scripting pre-production process, we efficiently shoot and edit compelling videos, as well as video animations