The global pandemic, among the multiple effects, has also brought about a strong change in the world of school. Institutes and students responded to the emergency, rediscovering or adopting, where not yet used, digital tools to be able to offer lessons and tests support at a distance. SPX Lab, which has been supporting Zanichelli for over ten years in the design and construction of platforms to support teaching, has followed, monitored and managed this change also in its background. The work of the last few years on the reliability and stability of the platforms has made it possible to cope with the surge in access due to the adoption of distance learning (DAD) without interruption of service. Zanichelli portals have been fundamental for studying, training and not losing the school year, which has just ended. March 2020 saw interactions increase tenfold compared to March of the previous year, most of which occurred only in the week of March 23-28. Based on the amount of requests we have adapted the number of machines used, reaching up to six of them operating in parallel, all to better manage data traffic. In the same period, 2000 students connected simultaneously, with over 3 million weekly exercises carried out on the platform. These data make us aware of the responsibility that digital platforms have in such a delicate historical moment, where social distancing and the hypothesis of new lockdowns could change school habits, making reliable distance learning tools accessible to all increasingly necessary. Digitization is closely linked to the right to education, it is therefore important that the tools are insured, breaking down barriers and differences, realizing one of the aims but also the responsibility of the ICT sector. Our initiatives and SPX Lab projects are also moving in this direction, with the aim of giving valid and immediate answers to the recovery, still shrouded in uncertainty, of the new school year.
To read the complete July newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/c41d2b1e94ce/digitificazione-un-progresso-ormai-inarrestabile