3 min read
2018/01/31
EtonX, Eton College’s prestigious online learning business, has partnered with Avallain, engaging in a proof-of-concept and research project. The goal of this project is to create high-quality online learning content as well as designing advanced online tutoring tools.Specifically, EtonX and Avallain have been researching new ways to teach important soft skills effectively in an online learning environment.
Soft skills are future skills
Knowledge and experience are not the only things that modern employers seek in their future employees. In the workplaces of today, so-called soft skills such as critical thinking, problem solving and teamwork are every bit as important as academic skills. EtonX recognises this and offers a number of ‘future skills’ courses to help students develop those abilities which will genuinely define their personal and professional futures.
EtonX and Avallain
EtonX chose to partner with Avallain for one reason in particular: Avallain is the most experienced provider of digital authoring technology worldwide. In over 15 years, the company has worked with some of the leading global publishers in the field. Perhaps most importantly, Avallain realises that the focus of development should always lie on the learner instead of purely technological considerations. Thus, Avallain is no stranger to teaching soft skills via a digital medium.
For EtonX, partnering with Avallain has further enhanced the company’s focus on soft skills research and developing ways to support soft skills teaching on an online-only platform. The research of this successful collaboration now feeds directly into the creation and deployment of custom content as well as application design within this growing educational area. EtonX is spearheading this particular area online for learners across the globe.
Avallain technologies for future skills development
Over the course of this research, EtonX used both of Avallain’s flagship products, Avallain Author and Avallain Unity, experimenting with different approaches to educational content and types. This process benefited immensely from Avallain’s vast experience of supplying high-quality education platforms across multiple territories, for both students and teachers. Some of Avallain Author’s features, in particular, are already well-suited for soft skill development:
- Advanced feedback features to allow easy communication between learners and tutors
- Audio, video and image integration to embed exercises in tangible, real-life scenarios
- Multiple features that can be used to fully individualise the learning environment
Rahim Hirji, COO of EtonX, says:
EtonX is looking forward to further collaboration with the team at Avallain as we look to build different types of courses in the fast-evolving educational area of ‘Future Skills’. The research phase with Avallain was an important piece of work to help launch a groundbreaking pilot of our Making an Impact Course in 2017. This pilot used a custom-built live virtual classroom and was hugely successful with interest from more than one hundred countries. With further collaboration, EtonX will launch more courses and courses with different formats building on Avallain’s many years deploying online education solutions around the world.
Bringing future skills into the digital classroom
For Avallain, working with EtonX has also been an exciting project. Commenting on the collaboration, Ignatz Heinz, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Avallain, said “In the complex and quickly developing area of online tutoring, Avallain is delighted to support EtonX as it continues to grow around the world. Our products support education businesses that operate in primary, secondary and further education all around the world and so we were happy that our experience could help EtonX fine-tune its offering for learners in countries that value these important educational areas.”
Given the technological affinity of both EtonX and Avallain as well as our shared focus on learners, EtonX users all across the world stand to gain from this exciting new partnership for advanced global online tutoring.