Salesforce’s annual Education Summit brings educators, industry experts, thought leaders, and celebrities together for a day-long conference on the future of education. Hosted virtually for the second year in a row, this year’s summit, held on June 16, featured Michelle Obama on the main stage, innovative product demos, success stories, and opportunities for virtual networking.
Below are our top five takeaways from the event — ones that are as applicable to primary public schools as they are to adult learning institutions.
- The ethical impact of a 360° student view. Collecting data on how students engage with technology — from the first point of contact to graduation — can have a hugely positive impact on student retention and success. However, how institutions gather, access, and use that data comes with a serious ethical responsibility. Data compliance can be difficult to navigate — taking this issue seriously now will greatly reduce your risk of missteps in the future.
- Effective leadership through digital transformations. Adapting to new technologies can be challenging for users — it’s also a unique leadership challenge for those evangelizing the change. As learning institutions upgrade or implement new products, it’s critical that leaders empower internal champions, provide training and timelines to users, and show incremental results and wins throughout the process.
- The importance of user feedback. Collecting feedback from staff and students is vital to getting the most out of your investments. Implement streamlined opportunities to collect feedback over a predetermined amount of time to avoid feedback fatigue or ineffective data collection.
- Prioritize student wellbeing. Students are struggling to feel connected in digital spaces — they require increased support and programs focused on their emotional and mental wellbeing. When implementing technology solutions to manage the student lifecycle, consider making wellbeing resources a priority — and implement mechanisms that track engagement and impact.
- Put diversity and inclusion into action. After a socially transformative year, learning organizations have the opportunity to strive for true inclusiveness. The summit encouraged institutions to think about equity in enrollment and access to resources. As a company, we just celebrated the one-year anniversary of the LookThink Diversity Hub — an initiative to continually improve our efforts around diversity and inclusivity, both internally and through the work we produce for clients.
If you’re interested in continuing the conversation or learning more about LookThink’s education practice and CognoSIS, our SIS offering, please connect with us!