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HP technology is helping schools transform teaching and learning. But it takes more than just technology to raise test scores and inspire students. What really spurs progress is an understanding of how to use technology to improve the quality of education. That is why HP is an active partner in the creation of new education models.
Through its Technology for Teaching grants, HP is promoting some of the most innovative student projects in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. As part of the programme, HP selects universities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and invites them to submit a proposal explaining what they would do with mobile technology. The fifteen universities chosen for grants this year are in Bosnia, France, Germany, Italy, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, the UK and Uganda.
Each university will receive an HP Wireless Technology for Teaching grant to redesign courses and improve student/teacher interaction. The grants consist of cash and HP mobile technology such as HP tablet PCs, HP handhelds (iPaqs), a mobile classroom, and a HP Procurve Wireless Access Point.
“HP has recognised that it can have the biggest impact on education by encouraging innovative uses of technology to improve teaching and learning,” said Gabi Zedlmayer, vice president of Corporate Marketing and Global Citizenship, HP Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “We invest in schools and universities to increase educational attainment and contribute to the development of a skilled, diverse workforce for the future.”
For Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK, the HP grant offers the chance to kick start the mobile Tablet technology experience.
The university is planning to transform the classroom from a ‘delivery space’ into a place for ‘active enquiry and authorship,’ in which local businesses can share – in real time – their practical experience with undergraduate students. The project is directly related to learning entrepreneurship.
Students will express their immediate views and feelings through e-portals and online forums – transforming lectures into discussions. When they leave the university, they can continue contacting each other via the e-portal and engaging, hopefully, in ‘life long learning.’
Since the establishment of the Hochschule Furtwangen University (HFU), the campus has been known as one of the best places to graduate from in a technical field. But most of the graduates are men.
Thanks to an HP Technology for Teaching grant, the department of Business Networking (eBusiness) will engage women with children in a new experiment – an e-learning course designed specifically for them. The course allows these women to “gain experience so they can reintegrate into the workplace,” explains Professor Gabriele Hecker. She points out that getting more women into the workforce is vital for the German economy.
HP Tablets will give the students access to the university’s new virtual classroom and the flexibility to combine study with childcare. They will work together in teams of two, visiting companies and using mobile technology to do their research on the spot.
Comenius University in Slovakia is using the Technology for Teaching grant to prepare teachers for the near future when all of Slovakia’s schools will be using computers.
There will be no blackboard and chalk, or paper notebooks. Future math teachers will look at a projector and respond to lectures using HP laptops or tablet PCs. All the materials will be in electronic form so they can be edited and shared instantly. The HP grant will motivate aspiring teachers to take on more responsibilities and to make the most of mobile technology in the classroom.
As one of this year’s winners, the Abu Dhabi Men’s College, Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) in Dubai plans to use the HP donation to implement multiple e-learning strategies. HCT is the largest higher educational institution in the United Arab Emirates and offers more than 80 programmes designed in consultation with business and industry leaders.
Each student will have their own laptop or HP Tablet PC to facilitate courses in multiple disciplines. They can use them to submit questions, answers or even drawings to the instructor from anywhere on campus or at home. Electronic lectures can replace in-class lectures. The project offers students the chance to become more independent as they learn to work on their own, away from the classroom
The 2008 grant winners join a worldwide online wiki faculty community who have received HP grants, extending to more than 280 campuses in 41 countries. Each grant winner receives funding to send a representative to the HP Technology for Teaching Higher Education Conference – two intense days of sharing and learning.
By the end of 2008, HP will have supported more than 1,000 schools and higher education institutions around the world in their use of technology to redesign the learning experience.
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