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ANALYSIS Is the internet killing the classroom?
Internet of Things ‘tidal wave’ incoming, says Cisco Schools to embrace virtual learning environments in the future by Dominic Sacco
TECHNOLOGY in schools is improving at such a fast pace that it may leave classrooms in the dust.
The rise of the Internet of Things (IoT, or devices connected online) will mean students will take part in more ‘live lessons’ using online video and other platforms in the future, without the need for classrooms, says Sarah Eccleston, director of enterprise networks and IoT at Cisco UK and Ireland. “If you look very far into the future, the fi rst thing we can say about the classroom of the future is it may not even be a room,” she told PCR. “It can become much more of a virtual learning environment in which you can use video much more greatly. “So rather than teaching 25 people in exactly the same way, there could be one topic but 100,000 pupils that learn it in the way that suits them from a library of content. “The connection of
everything to the internet will happen in the classroom as it happens in other areas of the community. It’s at the stage at the moment where it’s starting to happen and it will
Sarah Eccleston and Steve Woollett believe technology will continue to change how students learn and communicate
be a tidal wave. But it hasn’t happened yet and we can’t predict when that tidal wave will come.”
Eccleston says that pupils and the classroom will be connected to the internet, with experts being able to connect remotely and teach, and pupils able to watch the content anytime – for example if they are housebound or want to revise. Other external spaces can also connect with schools, for example museums or archeological dig sites that students can access and learn from.
“The connection of everything to the internet will happen in the classroom. It will
be a tidal wave.” Sarah Eccleston, Cisco UK
“You can start to do better project work, students can do knowledge building with social media tools, so home study groups can start to form, and if there aren’t any in a local area, they can be based on peer groups over much bigger distances. So all of that will start to form and really provide a much more enriched learning experience,” she added. However, Steve Woollett, Cisco’s head of collaboration for the public sector in Ireland, says technology shouldn’t detract from the
fundamentals of learning – and should improve a student’s time within the classroom. “It’s about fi nding the ways in which children best learn and how technology can be assisting that in schools,” he commented.
“Often you see technology for technology’s sake, but we are advocates of it being applicable and not a barrier. It should be fun to learn with and should improve the learning experience.” Read more about the classroom of the future on page 29.
‘Laptops still the No.1 device for students’ They can hold their own against tablets, say UK trade 85% of pupils own one
FORGET tablets – laptops are still the student’s device of choice, senior fi gures have told PCR.
The news comes after a poll found that 85 per cent of US students aged 18 to 26 own a laptop and say it’s their device of choice for learning – ahead of desktops and tablets. AMD’s Back-to-School Technology Usage Survey, conducted by Harris Poll, also found that 81 per cent of students can’t imagine doing school work without their technology, and the
6 | PCR August 2014
main considerations when choosing a laptop were fast performance (according to 40 per cent of respondents), price (26 per cent) and battery life (25 per cent).
Naeem Adam, tech buyer at the Co-operative Group, said: “Laptops far outsell desktops and all-in-ones [for students] because the technology consumer of this day and age wants style over substance. “In the past they’d look straight past desktops and towards laptops, hence the switch in sales this past
decade. Nowadays they look past laptops and to tablets, and then back to laptops, because some consumers aren’t ready to switch over and commit to a tablet if they only have enough money for one device.”
AMD’s EMEA general manager Darren Grasby told PCR: “It’s quite interesting because this poll fi rmly points out for me the need for a productivity, creativity and connection device. That’s really going to drive the awareness around our APUs,
in both laptops and small form factor desktops. And as more students get connected through a smartphone, tablet or a notebook, I do believe that the education demands
around sitting in a classroom will change.”
Read our full AMD interview on page 43 and more PCR Retail Advisory Board comments on page 51.
www.pcr-online.biz
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