Experience: “We needed an efficient, user-friendly solution that would mimic real-life training.”

At the beginning of 2020, Isika was already working on developing its own training platform for its learners. In March, the company had to respond to the pandemic. The need to ensure educational continuity for its trainees with an e-learning solution became urgent. Read Isika’s feedback to find out how its trainers and students were able to continue their courses remotely and interactively.

An existing digital transition accelerated by events

Founded in 2017, Isika is a training centre specialising in IT retraining. “We welcome a wide variety of profiles from very different environments and diverse academic and professional backgrounds.” Every year, the company trains three or four classes in Java Cloud DevOps software engineering and software architecture, drawing on the expertise of about fifteen trainers. The intention has always been to add distance learning to face-to-face classes through blended learning. “This digital transition was our goal from the beginning, but, like everyone else, we were overtaken by the crisis. We had to find an effective solution that would be as user-friendly as possible in order to take our courses online. Then we found Glowbl’s virtual classrooms!”

Further reading: What is blended learning?

Creating subgroups to replicate the dynamism and warmth of in-person learning

So Isika set out to find a tool that could be up and running quickly, within a limited budget due to the difficult situation, with the emphasis firmly on user-friendliness. “At our school, we often work in groups. We do a lot of practical work, and reproducing the atmosphere of a real classroom isn’t easy.” After an initial encounter at the Learning Technologies show in 2019, Isika found Glowbl on the web and discovered a solution that was ideal for its use case. “When the trainees are doing a coding exercise, they test, it doesn’t work, they ask their neighbours, they turn round, they listen to what’s going on nearby without necessarily getting involved.” This is a complex dynamic to reproduce with a video conferencing solution. “When we met the Glowbl team, it was the physical, interactive aspect that won us over. And it’s definitely proved its worth! Our students need somewhere to get together, work as a group, move from one group to another easily or even isolate themselves at a sub-table to debug without interrupting the lesson. That’s what would happen during a normal session. Both students and trainers are completely satisfied with this aspect.”

An efficient collaboration made in France

“It’s a huge advantage to be working with a French company. We can talk easily and adapt quickly.” This isn’t always the case with international partners. “If we have a problem using a tool from a video conferencing giant, I think it would be harder to get in touch with them – we would be just another customer.” Isika also appreciated the collaboration with the Glowbl team when it came to setting up the solution at the training centre. “The teams were very flexible in responding to our needs, they made great efforts and the discussions went smoothly.”

Further reading: How do you create an interactive online training course?