Snapplify Engage Platform Case Study: “How Snapplify Has Helped Parklands College to Achieve Their Educational Goals”

SchoolAdvisor sat down with Richard Knaggs, Director of Technology & Innovation from Parklands College to learn about their experience of using Snapplify’s e-learning solutions.

Parklands have been recognised by Apple as an Apple Distinguished School for Innovation, Leadership and Excellence in Education (one of two schools in Africa and one of only 535 in the world). In addition, they were recognised by Google as a Google Reference School for their outstanding use of technology to drive positive learning outcomes (one of two in Africa). Here’s what Richard had to say about the Snapplify Engage platform:

Q1: Why do you think digital or blended learning is important?

A: We have always believed that technology plays an important part in our vision, to provide excellence in education, and in our mission, to best prepare our learners for their futures. 

So, we began by creating a school where technology and innovation were an integral part of our culture, where our learners could have authentic learning experiences with real-world application. Offering an environment where learners can enjoy engaging in meaningful learning experiences allows them to find their true passions and at the same time, develop the necessary 21st-century skills required for their futures.

Q2: How has Snapplify helped Parklands College to achieve your educational goals?

A: 

• Snapplify provides a single aggregated digital platform for learners to access their textbooks and any other digital learning resources. It has been critical to simplifying access to digital content by replacing all the different publisher apps and websites that this content was previously available on. Before, learners had to remember which book was available on which app. 
• Their platform supports Apple technologies and for us, as an Apple Distinguished School, this was critical because every learner and teacher in our school has an Apple device for learning.
• Snapplify supports the provision of custom, teacher-created content.
• The platform supports multimodal content through the provision of interactive, video and audio content in many of the titles.

Q3: What functions of the Snapplify platform do you find the most useful as a school?

A: 

• Single point of access for digital learning content. 
• The opportunity that Snapplify Insights provides to see exactly how learners and staff are using digital content. It allows for the individual tracking of digital learning habits and to be proactive rather than responsive to their needs. 
• A single platform to purchase all textbooks including booklist setup.

Q4: How do Snapplify tools help you in the classroom? 

A: This is what the Parklands staff have to say: 

• “Having free access to all the textbooks was like walking into a virtual library for the learners where they could easily search their subjects from the comfort of their own couches.”
• “As an educator, having all my textbooks in one place, which is easily accessible and user friendly, makes teaching in a technology-rich environment so much easier and I am sure that the learners would agree. Not having to walk around with heavy backpacks is an added bonus.”
• “Snapplify really helped with teaching Technology subjects virtually, especially with the theory. By highlighting the important points, learners could take notes efficiently.”
• “Snapplify has helped me as an educator to have access to textbooks on different devices whenever I need them. I can seamlessly view the textbook on screen, together with other material, which helps to enhance the textbook material. Without Snapplify, this would not be possible.”

Q5: What are the benefits of using a digital library? 

A: 

• The digital library affords access to e-books and as a result, they cannot be stolen, which is a major issue with physical books.
• Flexible – accessibility is not limited to a building or dependent on the library’s open hours – it’s available 24/7.
• The life span of e-books is eternal as opposed to physical books.
• No overdue books to deal with as books are automatically returned on their due-date and book-recalls are instant if needed.
• Saves time – there is no processing of the books e.g. cataloguing, classification and spine labelling.

Q6: In what way do Parklands College parents benefit from your partnership with Snapplify?

A: They benefit from a single platform to purchase all textbooks, including hardcopy-book requirements, which simplifies procurement. There are also pricing benefits due to a larger client base through a single system.

Q7: How does the Snapplify platform integrate with Parklands College IT systems?

A: Integration between Snapplify and Google allows us to effortlessly add and sort users to the system and to place them into the necessary Grades/Groups needed and for the creation of Resource Lists/ Book Lists.

Q8: How responsive is the Snapplify support team?

A: The Snapplify team is always on call either via email or by using their online chat support. This allows for a convenient and fast way of getting support on-demand and there is little to no waiting for the resolution of any issues we might encounter. The support team always goes out of their way to assist.

Q9: Would you recommend Snapplify to other schools? 

A: Absolutely, we would for the following reasons:

• Snapplify is an innovator in providing personalised digital learning services to educational communities.
• They are committed to education. They have proven this over the many years we have been working together by offering a world-class service and constantly engaging with us for our specific needs. 
• Their entire team, from their support staff to their thought leadership, has taken an active interest in our specific needs in order to offer the best solution that they can.
• They offered digital textbooks for free during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• They offer an inclusive, cross-platform solution that supports any device and therefore any school’s technology system, no matter how low or high tech it may be.
• They offer a free entry-level service that offers everything a school needs to get started with their digital learning vision and scalability; thereafter, if a school wants to extend its digital learning services and integrate further, they can.

Sign up for Engage for free here or find out more at engage.snapplify.com