As a minority- and woman-owned small business, tutoring company StudentNest has always sought to push boundaries and embrace innovation. Adopting cutting-edge digital solutions is part of that approach.
The company has been providing technology-based tutoring for more than 16 years, alongside its in-person educational services. That way, it has been able to offer instruction in math, science, English, robotics, and more to students right across the United States.
Today, StudentNest uses several platforms to deliver its services, and continually reviews its suite of tools. That helps it ensure it has the right solutions to engage its students, who include children in K–12 settings as well as adult learners. So, when BlueJeans started developing features to support virtual learning via its video conferencing tool BlueJeans Meetings, StudentNest was keen to find out more.
But when Chander Joshi, Vice President at StudentNest, considered the platform, he felt it wasn’t ready yet for a learning environment.
Adopting BlueJeans for Remote Learning
All that changed after BlueJeans officially rolled out BlueJeans for Remote Learning. StudentNest realized the benefits of a system that allows teachers to build custom experiences for students simply and efficiently, without the complexities of a traditional virtual learning environment.
Comprising enhancements to BlueJeans Meetings, the Remote Learning pack includes features and classroom management tools that support both hybrid and virtual learning.
“We realized it had become a much more friendly platform for the education world,” says Joshi. “And the video was coming out really clean — cleaner than other platforms. It’s probably the best video quality I’ve seen.”
Another significant advantage for StudentNest is the quality of BlueJeans’ connection. In Joshi’s view, that feature is also “one of the best we’ve ever seen.”
Improving Students’ Access to Classes
Since then, StudentNest has been using BlueJeans for Remote Learning as one of its tutoring platforms. So far, it has deployed the solution with middle and high school students in California, Texas, Hawaii, and North Carolina, along with members of an adult education program.
One reason it has rolled out the platform to such a range of students is its ease of use. That is a key benefit for StudentNest, which works with historically marginalized and low-income students. It also has foster youth and juvenile justice–based youth in some of its programs.
“Many of these students struggle with learning and using technology. That’s why we have to make sure our platforms are highly accessible and inclusive,” Joshi explains.
By adopting the BlueJeans platform, StudentNest has improved students’ access to classes. “Ultimately, we believe this supports effective learning, especially by providing marginalized and at-risk students with an engaging way to learn.”
Enabling Dynamic Virtual Classrooms
BlueJeans is also helping StudentNest make learning more engaging. “Our tutors find that BlueJeans has a lot more to offer compared to some of our other platforms,” says Joshi.
Take the recording function, for a start. “Because BlueJeans allows us to record content in a standard format, tutors can use any recordings immediately, without having to do post-production.”
Tutors also now have the option to livestream classes — a feature they welcome as it gives them new ways to reach students.
StudentNest has found that after at least 20 hours of tutoring, students’ scores typically increase by an average of 16% between pre- and post-tests.
“While this is likely due to a number of factors, BlueJeans has contributed to the improvement by making the virtual classroom more dynamic and engaging,” Joshi reports.
Students agree. In a survey of adult education program students from November 1, 2021 to March 10, 2022, the overwhelming majority (95.8%) said that they liked BlueJeans for Remote Learning. About 94% agreed that the platform was easy to use.
Expanding the BlueJeans Platform
StudentNest is now looking to expand its use of BlueJeans for Remote Learning to cover its regular virtual tutorials and meetings.
“Our estimate is we will easily quadruple our usage, as we’ve picked up some major contracts for the next five years with school districts including the Los Angeles Unified School District, Orange County Department of Education, Harris County Department of Education, and Houston Independent School District,” says Joshi.
“BlueJeans will be a reliable partner to providing our services under these contracts and more over the coming years.”
Read the full case study here!
Want to read other inspiring stories like this? Head over to our Customers page. And, try out BlueJeans for free today!
About the Author
Sharni Medina is the Director of Customer Marketing at BlueJeans Network, where she is responsible for sharing the voice of customers through customer-driven content and supporting business reference needs. Prior to joining BlueJeans, Sharni worked at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, leading their customer advocacy and referencing organization. Sharni holds degrees in Education and Physical Education from the University of Alberta and a Masters in Sport Management from the University of San Francisco. Outside of the office, Sharni enjoys spending time with her family and traveling.
