REVA University races ahead in its digital transformation journey with Microsoft

Need to build an adaptable and unified digital ecosystem 

In 2016, REVA established a strong foundation to become a digital-first University. So, when the COVID pandemic struck in 2020, it was able to quickly transition to tech-based processes. But that wasn’t enough. The university wanted to become a future-ready digital university that could support different modes of learning, teaching, and collaborating.

The REVA management therefore drew up a roadmap for its digital transformation. They sought a technology solution that would build a unified digital ecosystem, which would allow seamless continuity of the learning process, real-time interactivity between teachers and students, digitization of processes, and a seamless onboarding and offboarding process. The roadmap also planned for a e-learning platform, state-of-the-art data center and a wireless-connected campus.

To achieve this, REVA decided to maximize the use of Microsoft Teams and evaluate a few other products and solutions. Mr Umesh Raju, Pro Chancellor, REVA says, “During the evaluation process, we discovered that Microsoft solutions could elevate the day-to-day work of educators, administrative staff, and students. Besides, Microsoft products are simple, intuitive and offer the highest levels of security, and the competitive pricing allowed us to deliver more value with less.” “The availability of multiple solutions within a single ecosystem, providing the highest levels of integration and interoperability, and the assurance of reliability and security offered by Microsoft, made us choose a Microsoft-based solution,” adds Mr. Janardhan, who spearheads major ICT decisions.

Reimagining education in the classroom and beyond

The University leveraged Microsoft solutions across many business use cases, resulting in a total of over 15000 students, 1000 teachers, and staff actively using it. It delivered significant benefits:

Facilitating continuity for teachers and students
During the pandemic, blended learning became the new norm, and REVA University transitioned to online classes in less than three days. Using Microsoft Teams, education continued with virtual classes, which included live video meetings, screen sharing, and interactive features that maintained real classroom-like environments. As a result, the university conducted around 1.5 million sessions on Microsoft Teams during the pandemic.

Teachers shared educational resources and assignments, provided timely feedback on assignments, and tracked their students’ progress. Students actively participated in lessons, sought clarifications and submitted assignments. The institute conducted digital examinations, and evaluators graded students virtually, ensuring the uninterrupted flow of learning, teaching, and evaluation.

Microsoft Teams also fostered effective communication between parents or guardians and teachers. Parents received updates on their children's academic performance, and notifications regarding events and other important news. 

Achieving better collaboration and communication
Microsoft Teams has become the default choice for students, teachers, and administrative staff as it helps them collaborate and communicate effectively. Features like meetings, group chats, video conferencing, and file sharing enable seamless interaction. It has also facilitated the creation of virtual classrooms, where teachers deliver lectures, share resources, interact with students and monitor their participation, ensuring a rich interactive learning experience. Students engage in classroom discussions and presentations remotely, and even conduct student-led contests. 

Getting more done with less
REVA has effectively capitalized on Microsoft's versatile digital platform by deploying various Microsoft tools to achieve more with less. For instance, Microsoft Forms is used for data collection and analysis, while Microsoft Sway enables the conversion of reports and documents into engaging web pages and blogs. Microsoft OneDrive serves as a secure storage solution, providing easy access and collaboration on files from any device and location. It also offers the flexibility to access files offline, providing uninterrupted access to critical documents. REVA has developed an e-learning application on SharePoint. It enables the academic staff to easily store, organize, and share resources and course materials appropriately, utilizing version control and access management features.

REVA has created and automated workflows across various applications and services, such as the integration with Salesforce for student and staff onboarding and offboarding using Power Automate and Microsoft Forms. This has saved time and effort, leading to enhanced productivity. The institute also provides an AI-powered conversational platform for learners and trainers to interact with a chatbot. It uses natural language processing and machine learning techniques to understand user queries and provide automated responses. Users get virtual support across multiple channels of communication. End-users use Microsoft Exchange 365 extensively to manage their time effectively, stay organized and remain informed and connected. 

Umesh Raju, Pro-Chancellor, REVA University, says, " The seamless integration, robust security measures, and user-friendly interfaces provided by Microsoft have propelled our digital transformation journey, enabling us to create a connected and productive ecosystem for our university community. We are proud to have Microsoft as our technology partner, as their solutions have truly revolutionized how we learn, teach, and work at REVA University. We also highly appreciate the Microsoft team, who guided us at every step of our digital journey to become future-ready with an infrastructure that positions us at the forefront of innovation in the education sector."

Creating a safer and more engaging digital learning environment
The e-learning platform uses Azure Active Directory and on-prem Active Directory to implement a robust identity-management system, and has implemented Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). With the Microsoft solution, REVA is able to ensure the highest levels of digital privacy and security. 

Leveraging technology further to achieve more in education

The adoption of the Microsoft solution has revolutionized collaboration, improved student engagement, facilitated seamless resource sharing, and transformed operations in REVA. The University intends to further harness Microsoft technology to deploy innovative solutions and achieve more with less. It is currently evaluating the potential of Microsoft Power BI to uncover valuable insights. It aims to use Microsoft Intune to enforce security policies, and provide a safer and more productive web and mobile user experience. It also plans to implement the Microsoft implementation of a RADIUS server.