Dell eyes education market with ‘interactive classroom’ offering

With more schoolchildren being exposed to the latest in web and consumer technologies today, schools are hard-pressed to keep up with the changing views and habits of students when it comes to learning. In a time when students can just as easily bring up an Internet browser and search Wikipedia for information, technology vendor Dell Philippines said old methods of teaching just wouldn't work anymore. "Back then, teachers used tables, blackboards and chalk inside the classroom. But today, despite all these developments, some Philippine schools are still using the same methods," remarked Ricky Lopez, Dell's country manager for commercial products, at a press briefing unveiling new additions to the company's "Connected Classroom" product line. Chief among the products unveiled on Thursday is an interactive, short-throw projector called the S300wi Interactive, which eliminates the need for a board and a writing instrument in the classroom. With a teaching console installed on the projector, teachers can easily load interactive content which can enliven the typical classroom discussion and spark interest among students. A teacher, for example, can load content demonstrating how a doppler effect works, and easily adjust a meter to show how varying distances affect the intensity of the sound heard from an object. "The teacher can call up a student and let him experience how the doppler effect works. That way, they get to see and hear the concept so they have a better understanding of the lesson," said Bong Paloma, senior vice president and general manager of Accent Micro Technologies, Inc. (AMTI), the local partner for the solution. For a more interactive presentation of the lesson, laptops can be hooked up with the projector via a wireless connection so students, for example, view the presentation on their screens and take notes while the teacher is conducting the lesson. Up to 30 laptops can be connected to the interactive projector at a time, but can be expanded to accommodate more by installing an external access point, Paloma said. Through the system, teachers can also monitor the activities of the students on their laptops and prohibit certain actions, such as surfing social networking sites or playing loud music during class hours. When a student, for example, decides to break these restrictions, the teacher can use the system to step in and control the student's computer. "You need to have a control mechanism so that you know what your students are doing," stressed Rani Burchmore, head of education practice at Dell Southeast Asia. At present, Dell said they are targeting private schools for the solution since they are the ones who have the budget for such systems. "It is challenging to bring it to public schools because of cost, since they worry more about classrooms than technology systems," Paloma said. A unit of the interactive projector, he added, costs less than P100,000, a bit cheaper than most interactive whiteboards today. Dell's Lopez, however, said they have also started talks with the Department of Education for consideration of the system in public schools. "We've reached out with the DepEd and outlined ways on how Dell can participate in providing systems for public schools. We are talking with them, and hopefully talks will prosper," he said. - KBK, GMA News