A TOP name in the digital world has recognised a Basingstoke college for its work.

Basingstoke College of Technology (BCoT) has been accredited as a Google for Education Reference College for its use of Google tools in and outside of the classroom.

As part of BCoT’s approach to learning, students and staff utilise tools such as Google Drive, Slides, Docs, Sheets and many more on a daily basis to create work that is accessible from home as well as in college.

Students are able to ask staff questions through Google Hangouts, while staff can share resources and announcements through Google Classroom. Teaching staff also have the ability to mark up and comment on student’s assignments, which allows instant and clear feedback and collaboration between students and lecturers.

To classify as a Reference College, an institution must use Google applications and Chromebooks for educational purposes, while also be willing to train their staff to improve their skills and share good practice with other institutions.

Scott Hayden, who leads the BCoT digital team, said: "We prepare all learners for the digital workplace by being led by our teaching experts and looking to industry expectations we can better train our learners to create, collaborate, and communicate professionally using tools they will be expected to use in their jobs.

"We have MAKEUP students taking photographs and creating sites to publicise their work, hospitality students crafting menus and planning events using collaborative Sheets, and travel students using Google Maps and Docs to evidence their understanding.

"Google empowers our students to learn authentic and genuine workplace ready skills on demand on any device - we are always keen to use whatever each course area needs.’