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Universities around the world have come to rely on technology as a powerful and indispensable tool in their role as educators, researchers and teachers, within our communities.
Now, HP is helping universities throughout Asia Pacific further embrace the use of mobile technologies through an innovative grant program that provides funding to assist selected universities positively transform their teaching and learning environments.
HP has recently awarded close to US$1million in grants to seven Asia Pacific universities for the development of mobile technology solutions on campus, as part of its Applied Mobile Technology Solutions in Learning Environment program. This is the first time that these grants are being awarded in Asia Pacific.
To participate in the program, interested universities were invited to submit a proposal on their plans for how mobile technology could be used to enhance their specific teaching and learning environment, for both students and faculty. Proposals varied dramatically, from providing medicine students in rural locations with online access to medical information, to bringing geographic campuses together in a virtualized campus environment.
The seven winning grant recipients were: the University of Melbourne (Australia), Northern Territory University (Australia), National Central University (Taiwan), National Chiao Tung University (Taiwan), Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), University of Auckland (Business School) (New Zealand) and Zhejiang University (China).
Each of the successful universities has been awarded US$130,000 in products - such wireless PCs and iPAQ's, printing and imaging products, and servers - and US$10,000 for a student intern to lead each the project on which their winning proposal was based.
The submissions were judged on innovativeness, potential to positively transform the learning environment, specific plans for measurement, documentation and communications and the possibility of collaboration among academic departments or institutions.
The program forms a core part of HP's objective to help universities accelerate the adoption of mobile technologies, by providing a deeper understanding of how the technology can be effectively applied to learning environments in ways that improve student achievement.
"As wireless technology gets implemented in the classroom, we're seeing shifts in teaching and learning. Wireless technology can improve the interaction between students and professors, and among students themselves," said Cecilia Pang, Director, Corporate Communications, HP Asia Pacific.
"Students who are too shy to contribute or to ask questions in a traditional classroom setting can now be heard. Teachers can make enhancements and add mobile applications to course materials and even provide access to outside experts more readily through virtual tools," Pang said.
As prime users of leading edge technology, it is also hoped that the selected universities will provide valuable feedback on the use of mobile technology in their respective environments.
"Universities play an important role in both refining technology and understanding how it best integrates into the learning environment and beyond," said Pang.
"It is our hope that with these grants we can help universities in Asia Pacific advance the use of mobile technologies in their learning environments."
Initially commenced in the US in 2000, the global program has now provided over US$7.4million in mobile technology grants to over 40 universities in the US, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa.
To fully leverage the technology innovations of this 'learning community', HP will also fund one participant per university to join in a two-day Worldwide HP Mobile Technology Conference in October at HP Labs in Palo Alto, California. Representatives from every grant recipient around the world will travel to the conference, where they will present a summary of their project and share learnings with other recipients.
HP has a long history of working collaboratively with universities around the world to increase access to emerging technologies and this project forms an important part of the company's enduring philanthropy program.
Since the company was founded in 1939, HP has developed a reputation as a philanthropic leader among global corporations and in 2002, HP donated US$2.73million in Asia Pacific alone.
"We believe both in doing well and in doing good. Education is the single most effective lever for increasing economic prosperity and one of our philanthropic goals is to make contributions that will broaden the accessibility of education and to enhance the teaching and learning experience", said Pang. |
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