Primary schools rapidly engage with the digital technology

Onboarding 1000 primary schools back in February 2020 represented a significant step in the DET/ClickView partnership, especially with remote learning just around the corner. Karen and her team were thrilled with the uptake from these schools. “Historically, ClickView has been a well-used service by secondary schools,” explains Karen. “We felt there was a real opportunity for primary schools and we were interested to see what the uptake would be. There were some major drivers in the form of learning from home, but we were surprised by the velocity of the take-up and the level of engagement by primary schools. It’s really hard to get penetration with digital technologies in schools and it’s something that teachers need to drive. We’ve never had an uptake of technology that rapid before across primary schools.”

ClickView the perfect vehicle to get TV content to students

“I knew ClickView had been around for a while. But when the ClickView account manager demonstrated the latest product release in around 2017, I realised there had been some significant advances in terms of the product and its delivery,” explains Karen. “This was now a tool that would be very useful for our schools, in terms of the quality of the content produced in-house and the alignment to our curriculum. The interface was very contemporary, very user-focused.”

The features and capabilities with regard to free-to-air TV access were also significant. “We pay a license fee for every student to access free to air TV or recorded content TV, for use in learning and teaching,” says Karen. “But we didn’t have a vehicle for teachers to get that content to their kids unless they were to use iView or record something at home.” ClickView seemed like the perfect solution for DET to get better use of the money they were already spending. “Even better, ClickView does all the work for us when it comes to providing content with educational value.”

Remote learning further strengthens the partnership between ClickView and DET

During remote learning and COVID-19, ClickView supported teachers and students at home with a series of webinars. Karen reflects on the professional learning webinar series. “There was very positive feedback and they were highly attended. The webinars, along with the data from ClickView around uptake from schools, featured heavily in terms of our response to COVID-19, to the parliamentary inquiry. We were able to demonstrate that there was a massive increase in engagement from kids with subject material against various curriculum areas.”

Karen received plenty of feedback from primary school principals and teachers during the COVID period. “Teachers used additional ClickView resources as scaffolding when kids were struggling at home without one-on-one support,” she says. “There was particularly great feedback around the resources for conceptual stuff, like multiplication and telling time.” Resources such as the Miniclips series allowed kids to engage in their own time and at their own pace, with the ability to go back and rewatch things. “Parents were also engaging with the content and the learning,” says Karen. “There probably hasn’t been that level of parent engagement with ClickView before. We got a lot of feedback from schools that parents were really impressed with the quality of the content. Some parents also used ClickView to upskill themselves to support their children.”

Relationships and data form a strong collaborative foundation

The experience of working with the ClickView team has been fantastic, enthuses Karen. “Ed (Filetti, CEO) is really collegiate and very strategic in his thinking and foresight. I enjoy the access he provides us in terms of constant and consistent conversations and immediate follow-up.” Karen and her team have seen firsthand the work of both the Sydney primary content team and Melbourne production team. “The quality and commitment of their work is really amazing,” she says.

Karen also acknowledges the incredible work of the product team. “I’m interested in the level of investment ClickView is making into research. We’d like to work more with them on that because they have such an amazing pool of users and user data that could inform the way systems and taxonomies are developed in the future.” Karen highlights ClickView’s research and development approaches and theories, which she says are very in-depth, high quality and backed up by data. “The investment and resources ClickView puts into continually improving its product suite is impressive,” she says. “This and the amount of user engagement they do to ensure a focus on the end-user. I love that part of the company and it’s great to work with them.”

Karen believes strong relationships are behind the successful uptake of ClickView in Victoria’s primary schools. “ClickView is so consultative, so professional. It’s the most collaborative relationship I’ve ever had with a private organisation,” she says. “ClickView drives the uptake, they drive the relationships, and they have a good understanding of the Victorian curriculum, which is unique from a company perspective.”

Most companies work to the Australian Curriculum, but with a Melbourne team on the ground, ClickView has a strong understanding of the Victorian curriculum and the professional learning needs of teachers. The quality of the educational content is also second to none. “The way ClickView employs such a broad team of consultants to work with them on the creation of their learning materials is really fundamental to the success of the content they produce,” says Karen. “The rigour they put into it from a curriculum perspective is a real edge for them. You don’t get many private companies who do that.” What does the future of this partnership look like? “I’d really like to do more work with the research around data,” says Karen. “ClickView has the biggest pool of evidence of engagement of teachers with digital content on digital resources. I’d be keen to see what we can find out about teacher behaviour and engagement with digital.”