Wilmington plc, global provider of information, education and networking services, has officially launched a state-of-the-art Digital Classroom. The Digital Classroom provides a highly engaging, broadcast-quality remote teaching experience for its thousands of worldwide customers, students and members. Enabled by Barco and its virtual classroom solution, weConnect, the Digital Classroom is designed to provide an immersive experience that is comparable to that of a physical classroom.

The first Wilmington business to utilize the platform is the International Compliance Association (ICA), which delivers expert training and qualifications to financial regulatory and compliance professionals. The Digitial Classroom will benefit Wilmington’s businesses that provide industry-leading training and qualifications to the risk and compliance, healthcare and professional industries around the world.

Driven by Barco’s weConnect virtual classroom technology, the hardware was implemented by technology partner Vanti. Barco weConnect offers a powerful learning environment, delivers content-rich, interactive and engaging learning experiences that enable meaningful collaboration and bright learning outcomes. It allows students to engage in real-time with both their lecturer and other participants in a way that traditional models do not support, going far beyond standard online communications or videoconferencing platforms.

“Each year, Wilmington’s businesses enroll more than 20,000 new students from around the world for training, courses and qualifications,” said Thomas Mount, chief technology officer, Wilmington plc. “We have integrated the Barco weConnect studio with our learning management system to provide a seamless, single sign-in. The early student feedback we have received is positive, with praise for the two-way interaction with the teacher and attendees, akin to traditional classrooms.”

“This is a key part of ICA’s cutting-edge learning approach. We are investing heavily into our training programs to make sure they are engaging, effective and relevant to our learners,” Tamara Kahn, Wilmington’s compliance divisional director and executive director of the International Compliance Association, said. “This includes learning science, design methodologies and the use of multiple blended learning formats. We realized that to deliver truly impactful experiences online we needed to do something different. The last year has only strengthened that vision and resolve and we are delighted by the response from our students and trainers so far.”

“Coronavirus accelerated the gathering momentum of distance learning but maintaining engagement and delivering its promises requires fully emulating the classroom experience,” said Jan van Houtte, VP learning experience at Barco. “As a trainer, you’re in that room, you have all your students in front of you like in a normal room, you can address them, look around, see who’s paying attention…This is driving real engagement.”