Tencent Cloud joins hands with education platform to launch Video-on-Demand (VOD) solution

Tencent Cloud joins hands with education platform GRWTH to launch

efficient Video-on-Demand (VOD) solution: “Cloud On-Demand Online Teaching Support Program for the Hong Kong Education Industry”

Providing free-of-charge, VOD services to Hong Kong kindergartens, primary and secondary schools in the new school year and paving the way for "Blended Learning" in the future as part of the new normal

While Hong Kong schools will resume face-to-face classes on a half-day basis soon, they will still need to complement classes with online channels whereas “Blended Learning” is expected to become the new trend. In response to the ever-growing demands of the education sector for services that help optimize and enhance online teaching efficiency,

Tencent Cloud – the cloud-computing arm of Tencent (HKEX: 00700), along with education platform GRWTH, today co-launched the “Cloud On-Demand Online Teaching Support Program for the Hong Kong Education Industry”, providing free-of-charge, online teaching video-on-demand (VOD) services to Hong Kong kindergartens, primary and secondary schools. By integrating Tencent Cloud’s highly efficient VOD server located in Hong Kong and GRWTH’s home-school communication and student learning platform, the new function allows schools to manage teaching videos systematically and efficiently as well as closely follow up students’ learning progress, while students can watch the videos smoothly and stably at home anytime, and continue their studies with ease under the new normal of the education sector.

The adaption of online teaching has brought challenges to the education sector in terms of digital technology. According to the opinions on distance teaching from local schools collected by GRWTH earlier, many of them reflected that they encountered technical problems when using online teaching tools. Not only are teachers required to learn how to apply the related tools, but they are also struggling to assist parents and students in their daily use of the learning platforms. In addition, the schools may need to pre-record video content and keep the lessons’ live videos that students can revisit.

Supported by Tencent Cloud and GRWTH, the program integrates Tencent Cloud’s safe and reliable local VOD server and GRWTH’s mobile application, bringing a smooth, reliable, and easy-to-use cloud on-demand online teaching to the education sector for free. The program has officially opened for applications from Hong Kong kindergarten, primary and secondary schools.

The platform is equipped with an easy-to-use functional interface for seamless online "teaching and learning"

Teaching:

• Recording and uploading teaching materials: Teachers can record teaching videos on the platform and upload the video to the cloud server via the “Classroom Video Library” at an extremely smooth speed. For example, a 400MB video would only take 5 minutes to upload, allowing teachers to save preparation time. Teachers can also tag the videos for classification and make them easy to search for in the future.

• “Instant Message” notification: Schools and teachers can instantly send the latest teaching materials, courses, or instructions to the students of the whole grade, specific groups, and parents to promote communication and improve efficiency.

• Management of teaching resources: Schools can manage the “Classroom Video Library” in the background once teachers finish uploading the materials. The system will remind users of their usage of space, with the teaching resources of each grade and subjects all clear at a glance.

• Student learning performance report: Teachers can monitor the learning progress of individual students through video learning analysis. This function will be launched soon.

Learning:

• Watch and revisit courses: Students and parents can use the convenient video-on-demand function on their mobile phones, tablets or computers, learning and watching various courses with ease.

• “Instant Message” notification: Students can receive notifications instantly to avoid missing any important information and the latest news of different subjects and courses. Parents can also follow up their children's learning progress easily.

• Applicable for cross-border students: The platform is also applicable for cross-border students, allowing them to study online and watch teaching videos smoothly.

Norman Tam, General Manager, International Business Group of Tencent, said, “Leveraging Tencent Cloud’s extensive collaboration experience with the global education community, we are very pleased to utilize our safe and reliable cloud technology and VOD server services that have accumulated years of experience in various industries including gaming, and work with educational technology platform GRWTH to support the local education sector in promoting online teaching. Under the new normal in education, we understand that schools and teachers are facing challenges and sufficient technical resources are needed to maintain classes. The program is Tencent Cloud’s first-ever collaboration with a local education platform. By providing free services to Hong Kong’s education sector, we are excited to fulfill our corporate mission and vision, ‘Tech for Good,’ and contribute to local education’s long-term development.”

Adam Chan, co-founder and CEO of GRWTH, said, “GRWTH currently serves more than 300 schools in Hong Kong. We have seen the growing demand for online learning during the pandemic, and the ‘blended teaching’ model is expected to become the trend. It also implies that more educational technology resources cooperation will be needed. Therefore, we are glad to collaborate with Tencent Cloud, a leader in the industry, to incorporate the technologies of both parties and further enhance the GRWTH platform with our existing user network and functions, to meet the needs of the sector, teachers and parents, as well as foster the development of educational technology in Hong Kong."

The “Cloud On-Demand Online Teaching Support Program for the Hong Kong Education Industry” is jointly supported by Tencent Cloud and GRWTH, providing a stable, convenient and easy-to-use online teaching video-on-demand service for the education sector, allowing schools and teachers to easily master online teaching and manage teaching resources through the platform while facilitating communication with students and parents. Five schools have joined the program as the pilot schools, namely Buddhist Chung Wah Kornhill Primary School, Fung Kai No. 1 Primary School, S.K.H. Yan Laap Memorial Primary School, St. Hilary's Primary School and Buddhist Ho Nam Kam College.

Tencent Cloud provides global access and a rich array of services to organizations that need advanced infrastructure and a resilient environment, such as those in the online games, live broadcast, and financial services sectors. Tencent Cloud has multiple layers of protection in terms of business data, management protocols and network equipment, among others. Its security measures have been verified by a number of third-party independent assessments, including international certificates such as ISO27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018 and CSA STAR. Tencent Cloud provides protection technology for video content to prevent theft, illegal download and dissemination of videos. Tencent also recently joined the UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition, with VooV Meeting being recommended to about 1.2 billion students and youth for remote learning, proving Tencent Cloud’s ability to deliver high-quality services and features.

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Source: Tencent