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College Chief Executive invited to address education leaders

Education leaders from across Europe and beyond heard how City College Plymouth is becoming a trailblazer in embracing digital technology for education. 

Having impressed Wiltshire-based ed-tech specialists C-Learning with its digital-first culture, City College’s Chief Executive, Jackie Grubb, was invited to share the story of the College’s digital transformation at an education conference in Antwerp.

Focusing on the impact of becoming the South West’s first Google Reference College during her presentation to delegates at the Digital Education Summit, Jackie talked about how the Google Workplace for Education suite was transforming the student experience and creating a more agile and creative approach to learning. 

Jackie said: “Embracing digital advancements underpins all of the College’s plans to not only improve our already excellent reputation for high-quality training, but to improve the health and wellbeing of our community. We are effectively threading digital skills throughout our curriculum as we believe these skills will have a positive impact on the city and wider region’s employers. 

“Through having access to this powerful and trusted platform, our students are benefitting from better resources, enhanced collaborative learning opportunities, and a more flexible approach to our delivery, enabling even more people to enhance their lives by studying at Plymouth’s anchor institution for skills. 

“We are still at the start of this journey, but the way in which students and staff have adopted this digital-first culture is transforming City College into the region’s learning destination of choice.”

Students and staff have both heralded the change to their experiences at the College since it became a Google Reference College. Gabi, a recent media graduate, said: “If it hadn’t been for the College’s willingness to support me with online learning, and the support with using the Google products, I don’t think I would have completed my course.”

Sam Batchelor, Programme Manager for Electrical, said: “The Electrical department has fully embraced the Google suite and has incorporated these tools in all areas of our teaching. We have made our workshops as interactive as possible by incorporating QR codes that link to YouTube videos and sections within students’ Google Classroom. These QR codes can be scanned by students during sessions to allow them to revisit subjects, encouraging independent learning and problem solving with students taking ownership of their learning.”

C-Learning Executive Chairman, Jamie Smith, said: “It was a privilege to be joined by Jackie at the Digital Education Summit and to hear the City College Plymouth story of digital impact along with the College’s exciting vision for the future of learning where technology is powering human potential.

“As someone who is passionate about widening access and participation in education it was inspiring to listen to stories of how City College Plymouth has enabled this through flexible and adaptive cloud technologies from Google Workspace for Education.”

The summit was facilitated by Google for Education partners Fourcast for Education and was held during the half-term break. 

Jackie added: “I want to thank Jamie and the C-Learning team for inviting City College to be part of this summit and to allow us to share our journey and vision. It has been truly humbling to oversee the development of this bold vision for the College, and to have reached a point that we can now share it on the international stage. 

“Being part of the Google Education family has allowed the College to develop a more cohesive organisational development strategy and we hope that by sharing our experience, we can have a wider impact.”