In my three years of university I can honestly admit that I skipped my fair share of seminars and lectures. To those currently studying, I understand the eternal battles raging within you; one side moving to motivate you out of the house and the enemy trying to convince you one of your friends will go and you can copy their notes. Whether it’s a 9am on Monday morning, or Wednesday at 3pm, we have all thought, or even continue to think that we had a justifiable excuse to miss it, some place better we should be.

Sometimes common sense would conquer us and we would lift ourselves from bed, only to be half way down the street when evil strikes and either the weather drives us back, or we’ve simply talked ourselves out of it.

With 130 out of 172 universities now charging the bargain price of £9,000 a year, most places need to offer even more reasons to attend and Glisser can be one of them. Most universities already offer many life changing experiences, the independence, parties, events and societies. Yet when you think what you’re paying should it be such a struggle to attend 100% of all lectures? Glisser is now challenging every student to resist attending their custom-made lectures. A UK university and business school is currently involved with a trial of Glisser and the results speak for themselves. They love it! Why?

Well, yes. That, and Glisser provides a bespoke exhibition experience that you can view, vote on, and voice your opinion, providing great feedback for your presenter and taking your education into your own hands by moulding what they do differently next time.

You can connect and interact to an ongoing live presentation through any web connected device. Unfortunately for you stay-in-beds, you must to be at ground zero to participate. Let’s face it, why wouldn’t you be there? I think I might return to university just to attend some lectures…

"Maybe Not?

It’s a truly interactive presentation. The Q&A feature is a godsend for lectures, allowing the shyer of you to not have to stand up in front of 100 other students. Since all these questions are seen by the presenter/lecturer and everyone else, meaning you’ll never have to leave a lecture dissatisfied and wanting answers ever again. And I know I normally left with a fair share of questions having not wanted to hold up the lecture by asking them. With Glisse, our presentation software allows each audience member to take personal notes, these can be saved for revision or essay time; meaning you’ll never again will you have to buy endless pads of paper or worry about pristine notes ruined by ink stains.

Glisser both enhances the student experience, and allows them to create much more detailed and original presentations rather than the usual sad offerings of a barren blank desolate PowerPoint. Whilst I don’t want to hate on PowerPoint as it is a key feature in learning and development, I find and I assume most people will agree with me that it is a software that needs something layered on top to make it much more inviting and useful. The old saying: "A bad workman blames his tools" can be applied to stagnant presentations, where the presenter is at fault. Glisser allows it to open to a conversation rather than a lecture, giving even the least charismatic or confident presenter an opportunity to engage by calling on their audience to drive the conversation, and taking some of the pressure off their shoulders.

However, it won’t just benefit students. Lecturers and professors can not only create content that will be easier and more enjoyable to learn, but the feedback option allows them to amend their teaching for the better. The chance to see which sections of modules students understand and which ones maybe need a bit more detail added, enhancing their teaching skills and saving them from having to explain the same things during tutorials. Even monitoring attendance through the data analysis provided after lectures are over. Most importantly it makes the teaching and learning experience much more open, simple and appealing.

Education has already changed rapidly in the last two years. A massive increase in internet connectivity throughout school districts in the USA, have allowed both students and teachers/lecturers to benefit from learning and instructing within the digital age. 2.5 million students and 1.7 million teachers are connected within school districts meaning there is the ability to have, and a large need for, Glisser to aid interactivity and engagement within classes and audiences throughout education.

The average attention span of a student is commonly agreed to be 10-20 minutes. This of course varies on certain factors as to time of day, motivation and enjoyment. It is said that the more involved in a lecture or lesson a student is, the more they learn and absorb. I know that I was, and still am so easily distracted by everything but, if Glisser gave me the option to watch slides live, vote in interactive polls, and ask questions without fear of looking stupid... well I wouldn't be looking out the window chasing squirrels.

In the digital age we live and work, there is most definitely a place for Glisser in the world of learning and Development.