Dell showcases a new way of learning

MANILA, Philippines - Teachers and school administrators from all over the country recently attended Dell’s Connected Learning for Schools program which aims to transform education in the digital age.

The Dell Connected Learning for Schools initiative goes beyond the simple provision of tech hardware for classroom use. It entails a major, necessary shift to digital learning by all school personnel and departments, and promotes an advanced, more interactive and collaborative method of teaching.

The results? Instructors would adapt and get improved control and management of their classes, and students will be more engaged in daily lessons and have better overall performance. Harmony would also be achieved: since the same devices and technologies are used by the students at home and in school, that obvious disparity in learning will be eradicated.

Rani Burchmore, Dell’s Education Practice head for South Asia, underscored the importance of tackling education from a new angle.

“Education is changing, and fast… The devices we all use are also educational tools. We have to know what they can do for our students aside from enabling them to watch videos, play games, and surf the Internet,” she said. “We must understand how children learn, imagine and remember, and how we can collaborate with them and integrate the technologies they love to use.”

The local program targets educators. “It provides our educators a chance to digest and use (technology) as they grasp the whole IT and logistical environment of the many things that add to quality inside the classrooms... We want to cater to the many generations of teachers, and give them solutions that are not too complex,” she said. “It’s simple and can achieve the most adaption. Once that happens, they are convinced that it’s very easy to use our products and that they actually make a difference in the classroom.”

The next step is for Dell to work with what the schools already have — and for schools to do incremental investments in technology that have long-term value and the correct fit for their changing requirements.

“One of the unique aspects (of our program) is that it’s very customized and tailored to what each organization needs,” Burchmore said. “Whatever decision they are making or whatever they are purchasing, it should provide return of investment. Our goal is to deliver solutions that they can use effectively.”

Dell’s products and educational cloud platform can easily handle important classroom elements — lectures, assignments, one-on-one instruction, student records, and student/application monitoring.

Besides being good consumer and business products on their own, the Windows 8-powered Dell Latitude 10 tablet, Latitude 6430u ultrabook, XPS 12 convertible ultrabook, and OptiPlex 9010 all-in-one desktop can assist educators in everyday instruction and administrative tasks.

A wide range of Dell short- and long-throw projectors, KACE deployment and management appliances (such as KACE K2000, K1000 and K3000), and Dell Wyse cloud client computing were also introduced to the educators as devices worthy of institutional investment.