School gets tech savvy
HP has debuted its Digital Learning Suite for schools including a pocket whiteboard and ‘presentation station'.
The products are designed to meet the technological needs of different school age groups in the classroom from primary school to college and the stand-out product seems to be the whiteboard.
The HP Pocket Whiteboard takes the functionality of a standard digital whiteboard and projects it onto almost any flat surface to create up to 10 feet of diagonal workspace to make it a low-cost, mobile solution for schools.
However, HP also predicted it will be popular with small businesses that don't have centralised offices. It reckons just over a fifth of small firms use collaboration tools such as interactive whiteboards for online meetings but many more would if the boards were cheaper and portable - of course, its own ‘affordable and portable presentation tool' is the answer!
The whiteboard has a receiver compatible with any flat surface including standard whiteboards and connects to a PC via USB, capturing strokes and taps made with a wireless stylus.
Back to school...the Digital Sketch wireless tablet lets teachers control their host computer on the go, including writing on the HP Pocket Whiteboard when they're not next to the board, allowing them to wander round the classroom and keep tabs on pupils.
HP has also rolled out Classroom Manager software, which helps interactive and collaborative learning while allowing teachers to monitor and manage students' PCs. It lets teachers create lesson plans with shared content, administer quizzes and tests with instant score-tracking, control and share content with an individual, class or group, plus manage website access for different classes.
The company has also launched the MultiSeat t150 Thin Client to let up to 10 students share a single host computer using a USB connection, a Presentation Station 100 to put all teachers' tech tools in one mobile space as well as the Notebook Charging Cart 20 and 30 which can predictably charge any brand of PCs in one place.
Here is a picture of the pocket whiteboard.
