Teachers get a lesson from Dell

Their classroom was the Jade Ruby Ballroom, Hyatt Regency and at the front of the class was Dell’s Education Marketing Manager for Latin America, Roberto Rene Picado. But instead of a blackboard, he was using a tablet and his “students” were on netbooks.

He said it was about enhancing the classroom experience for both educators and students.

Connected Classroom was the name of the seminar that gave educators and teachers of over 60 public and private schools an opportunity to see and use technology which could prove to be revolutionary to the education system in Trinidad and Tobago.

“This new technology is indispensable and transforms the old education system into connected classrooms. This allows teachers to optimize their teaching skills and allowing students to learn in an innovative and new environment,” he said. “The world is at their fingertips where they can interact not only with words but also with moving images and sounds.”

He said the Connected Classroom has been around in many Latin American countries for the past 20 years.

Dell, in collaboration with eInstruction, another software and hardware developer, developed the Connected Classroom.

VP of Strategic Accounts for eInstruction, Valorie Loomer, said “educators treat the internet like a book, where students go and read off things which they do a report on after. The Connected Classroom solution allows for a more fun and effective method of learning for both student and teachers.”

The Connected Classroom group of computer solutions is made up of a wide range of projectors, intelligent whiteboards and audio systems.

The Latitude 2100 is a portable netbook geared towards the Primary School student. Some of the additional features are touch screen, a rubber cover which protects the device and also an embedded camera that allows the student to interact with their teachers.

The Latitude XT2 Tablet PC is a portable, lightweight device with a touch screen and a pen that provides greater interaction between the student and the teacher.

These netbooks have a battery life of up to six to eight hours and needs just 30 minutes of charging to reach full battery potential.

“Clickers” also accompany the Tablet. Clickers are personal response devices which each student will have. The teacher will be able to type multiple choice-type questions through the ‘Tablet’, which would be projected onto an interactive white board.

The students will then be able to click their response by entering their choice on the Clicker within a certain time frame. The collective number of right and wrong answers would be instantly viewed by the teacher and students.

The system allows for up to nine interactive “Tablets” per classroom which connects to the whiteboards through radio-frequency waves.

The computer giant believes that in today’s world technology moves at a fast pace and so it is essential for children to be trained in the use of new tools. Dell sees the Connected Classroom as expanding the classroom beyond the four walls.

Teachers will be able to find out immediately if the lesson they thought was understood. The devices also helps to promote the exchange of knowledge among students enabling debate on any topic.

The seminar was hosted under the stewardship of the Ministry of Education’s curriculum department.

The teachers and other educators who attended the meeting where chosen by a list of both private and public schools which was given by the ministry to the planning committee.