If you are the CEO of a tech company perhaps the clearest indication that you are on to a winner is when your brand name becomes an everyday verb. For example, we no longer ‘search the internet' – we just ‘Google'. Gone are the days where we ‘video call' our family and friends, we simply ‘FaceTime' them instead.
The last 12 months has given rise to another new verb. To ‘Zoom'. Rewind a year or so and if you asked someone to Zoom you'd either get a very blank, puzzled look or you'd be amused by an overly energetic puppy frantically chasing its tail around the garden. These days, it's a different matter. We'd simply log on to our computer, make sure our camera is on, our microphone isn't on the dreaded ‘mute' and chat away.
Zoom has been a rare success story amid the horrors of COVID-19 and it's something that we as a college have embraced. While Microsoft Teams and Google Classroom have formed the backbone of our online teaching, Zoom also has its place.
It is the go-to platform of choice for less formal online sessions but because it is so user-friendly and has the functionality to easily handle large crowds it has also been the college's preferred system for staging virtual open events.
The virtual open event has swiftly become one of the most important dates in our online calendar. As a result of the pandemic, traditional ‘in-person' events have swiftly been replaced by an online experience, comprising video tours, interactive presentations, live Q&As with staff and one-to-one chats with teachers.
Organising these things take a monumental amount of work, especially from a standing start when the concept of a virtual open event wasn't even on anyone's radar this time last year. The adaptability, resilience and ingenuity of all those involved should be applauded but Zoom's functionality has been a huge help and allowed us to seamlessly stage events online with little to no impact on numbers.
The popularity of these virtual events proves two things.
Firstly, Northampton College remains the leading provider of Further Education in the South East Midlands, with our sustained performance once again yielding impressive results for our current students and attracting a new generation of prospective learners.
Secondly, the continued evolution of software such as Zoom means the jobs market for the coders, developers and programmers of tomorrow is buoyant. Advances in IT will shape our future and our new Digital Academy, due to open this September, is going to be at the forefront of training an exciting, ambitious new crop of visionaries and pioneers in a truly 21st century industry.
Remember, amid the doom and gloom, we have Zoom!
If you're interested in studying at Northampton College, join us for our next virtual open event from 5pm on Tuesday 9 February.
You can register your place here: https://www.northamptoncollege.ac.uk/about-us/open-events.html
