The COVID-19 pandemic may have highlighted gaps in education and accelerated its digital transformation, but Infobase — a leading cloud-based educational solutions provider — has long been at the forefront of dynamic, digital learning and was well-prepared for the changing needs of its users.
Celebrating its 80th anniversary this year, Infobase focuses on curating, creating, and delivering engaging content — integrated with powerful digital tools and technology — on timely topics for learning. With educational offerings that include streaming video subscriptions, reference databases, and eBook collections, Infobase continues to prioritize making its content as searchable, interactive, and adaptable as possible, whether it will be used inside a classroom or remotely.
“We’ve been well-positioned to support our customers to consume our content the way that they need, and to deliver that personalized experience to students where they are,” says Paul Skordilis, Infobase’s president and CEO. “Everybody learns differently, it’s not one-size-fits-all.”
“Our flexible tools and delivery options turn our curated content into personalized, adaptable learning pathways, with outcome-based assessment and real-time analytics that position our users for success,” says Alex Pereira, Infobase’s CTO.
Solutions
Infobase has empowered more than 70 million learners to achieve academic and professional success through trustworthy content delivered flexibly.
“We don’t just have products, we have solutions for the lifelong learner,” says Natalie Murray, product manager at Infobase. “From as early as pre-K and kindergarten, students start using our solutions to learn in the classroom, outside of the classroom at their public library, continuing through high school and higher ed. Then even later on in the corporate environment or through use in their personal life, they’ll probably use one of Infobase’s many solutions.”
Infobase’s content integrates seamlessly with other platforms, such as Google Classroom, Blackboard, or other proprietary learning management systems. This flexibility is what Pereira calls an “agnostic plug-and-play.”
Empowering educators
Even before the pandemic, Infobase was already listening to the voice of the customer and providing a more unified experience, making sure its content was easy to use, with reliable technology in a flexible, one-stop format.
Pereira says the pandemic removed the safety net for educators and pushed them to try new things, such as using more digital tools. The technology was already available for teachers, but not everyone was implementing it yet.
“It’s forced everyone into this new world order, and it’s battle tested all of our tool sets, features, and educational platform,” he says.
The future
“I definitely think hybrid and remote learning is here to stay,” says Murray. “It provides more equity in that no matter where you’re located, you can access a world-class education if you have an internet connection or access to your public library.”
She thinks teachers’ roles will be less didactic in the future and move more toward being facilitators. Students will learn 21st century skills like technology and media literacy, as well as life skills including initiative, curiosity, and self-sufficiency.
“Stop thinking we’re so stuck in doing things the same way,” says Skordilis. “If we can have a real conversation about what our ultimate end goal is, I think we can collaborate with our customers and our future prospects in a way that could be really game changing for the learner.”
To learn more about Infobase, visit https://www.infobase.com/.
