About Pilot Program

PCG Academia zaprasza polskie uczelnie do udziału w Programie Pilotażowym, w ramach którego, niskim nakładem środków, będzie można przetestować rozwiązania IT dostarczane przez wiodących, globalnych producentów narzędzi do kształcenia zdalnego i elektronicznego egzaminowania studentów.

PCG Academia, through signed partnership agreements, works with three international leaders in the field of e-learning. These companies are: Blackboard, Inspera and IntelliBoard. Each of the solutions they offer takes care of a different element of remote learning, and together they form a complementary ecosystem of modern IT tools, based on the cloud from Amazon Web Services. These tools are used by leading Polish and international universities, including Oxford University, IESE or Jagiellonian University.

What does the Pilot Program cover?

As part of the Pilot Program, selected Polish universities will have the opportunity to test a hand-picked set of tools supporting distance learning and electronic examination, under the following conditions:

  • Offer addressed to selected departments or faculties willing to become innovation incubators at their universities
  • Access to selected applications for 6 months
  • Configuration of tools to meet the needs of the university, training and consulting included in the price of the Pilot Program
  • No need to start a tender (cost of the Pilot under the tender threshold)

The following tools can be launched in the Pilot Program:

Blackboard solutions

  • Blackboard Learn Ultra LMS platform supporting teaching at the university, both remote and on campus
  • Built-in anti-plagiarism tool and integration interface with MS Teams
  • Mobile application for lecturers and students
  • Tools for videoconferencing (Collaborate) and for creating accessible teaching materials (Ally), closely integrated with the platform

Inspera solutions

  • Inspera platform for electronic exams, with a tightly integrated SEB browser lock or proprietary locking mechanism (Inspera Exam Portal)
  • An add-on to the platform, Inspera Smarter Proctoring, which enables secure remote exams by automatically proctoring and identifying questionable student behaviour

IntelliBoard solution

  • The IntelliBoard data analysis tool, which when connected to the Moodle platform generates more than 130 visually attractive reports, enabling university to gain a detailed insight into the learning carried out using the platform

Why participate in the Pilot Program?

  • Support for the use of technology to improve the quality of education

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Polish universities significantly increased the use of IT tools in education and examination. This trend will continue: universities will strive to make the most effective use of technology in teaching, where it is beneficial to the quality of education and in line with the preferences of students and lecturers. The tools currently in use were introduced in a fallback mode to organize distance learning. Many of them have better, easier-to-use alternatives that provide real support for educators. The PCG Pilot Program will allow universities to test best-in-class e-learning solutions in action.

  • Preparing for a new round of EU funding

A new EU Financial Perspective is on the horizon, in which over 750 million PLN is to be allocated to universities, of which 100 million PLN is to be directly related to remote learning and education process management. The first competitions may already start at the turn of the first and second quarter of 2022. Effective use of the funds requires appropriate preparation – including the creation of a strategy for the development of the university, diagnosis of the needs for the coming years, as well as analysis of what solutions and services fit in best with these needs. The PCG Pilot Program will allow the universities to verify whether the implementation of our solutions supporting education and examination is worth considering in the EU projects.

  • Minimization of risks associated with the implementation of new solutions

Implementing new IT solutions is always associated with change and the need to overcome the fears of some university employees, as well as the risk of incurring efforts to implement tools that may not turn out to be better than the ones already in use. The risk is even greater in the case of tools used on a mass scale in everyday work, by thousands of teachers and students. The PCG Pilot Program will allow testing new solutions on a small scale, with low organizational and cost risk, as well as making a reliable comparison with tools currently used at the university.

Detailed conditions of the Pilot Program

Next steps

If you are interested in our Pilot Program or have any questions regarding it, please do not hesitate to contact us by phone or e-mail. We will be happy to arrange a dedicated meeting with you to demonstrate the piloted solutions and discuss your needs and expectations.

Contact

Magda Sochacka

Business Line Director

phone: +48 502 044 265
e-mail: magda.sochacka@pcgacademia.pl