THE Ministry of Education in partnership with Samsung Electronics, launched Guyana’s first ‘Smart School’ classroom on Wednesday, at the North Ruimveldt Multilateral School on Mandela Avenue.The pilot project is an integrated platform that helps teachers to develop an interactive learning environment with its students. Samsung has enabled a special classroom for the programme which includes the latest electronic devices and solutions at no cost, offering a brand new e-learning experience to students and connecting them to infinite learning possibilities. The project is estimated to cost over US$40,000.

Deputy Chief Education Officer Marcel Hutson said the fact that Samsung has joined the efforts of education delivery is commendable. Over the years, several large international studies have documented that there is a successful integration of ICT in schools.
“ICT facilitates the acquisition of high-order thinking skills by providing cognitive scaffolding for students, as they make sense of information gathered, allowing experts, teachers and students to communicate thoughts and interest in subject matters as it relates to real-life situations and problems for students as they explore the connections between concepts and ideas,” Hutson said.

Head of the Management Information Systems Unit (MISU) Indar Singh, said technology has transformed all sectors and this all happened within the last 30 years.
“In the learning environment, technology has also transformed the way we learn and from where we learn. We can be in this country and doing online courses from anywhere in the world, you can even have someone tutor you across vast distances and teachers can set assignments using one of the many apps at their disposal,” he explained.

“The Ministry of Education has the task of ensuring today’s generation of students can be prepared for the world of work and for the world of new and lifelong learning,” Singh said.

He also noted that in the education sector there are two areas of focus which includes learning of technology and learning with technology, and the technology will be used to guide students for their development and learning to groom them for adulthood.
Lauding and thanking Samsung for the pilot project, Singh said the Samsung ‘Smart School’ initiative at North Ruimveldt Secondary fits into a larger strategy of using ICT for student’s education.

Head Teacher (acting) of North Ruimveldt Secondary Kirwin Mars, expressed his gratitude for the ‘Smart School’ initiative, noting that the 35 Samsung Galaxy tablets, two laptops, one server and a 75” Smart TV are now serving 63 students at the Grade six and seven levels.

NEW RELATIONSHIPS
“The birth of Samsung ‘Smart School’ has also given life to new relationships amongst students within our school, along with an atmosphere where interactive and creative learning is encouraged…our vision is about raising young men and women in school, who will be well rounded individuals, who will be well equipped for the world of work, society and the birth of the ‘Smart School’ gives North Ruimveldt the opportunity to provide such.”

Meanwhile, Evelyn Hamilton, Chief Planning Officer of the Ministry of Education, said technology has its value in the development and competitiveness of a society and the Education Ministry wants it to be a natural part of how teachers teach. “I want to wish that this start today is successful and we learn from it and that North Ruimveldt moves from strength to strength along with the education system.”

Corporate Citizenship Manager of Samsung Electronics, Latin American, Nicole Orillac said the ‘Smart School’ initiative that Samsung developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the Non-Profit Organisation Glasswing, is a project that provides students and faculty the technological tools to share content in a more interactive way through educational software.

Underscoring that the project includes teacher-training, performance monitoring, installation and maintenance of digital classrooms in participating schools and the use of reading comprehension software, the Samsung official said “we are very pleased to support schools in need with the innovative resources for e-learning. Since 2014, more than 34 schools and more than 20,000 students benefited from Samsung ‘Smart School’ in 12 countries in Central America,the Caribbean, Ecuador and Venezuela. We strongly believe that technology can create new learning possibilities for students, helping them along their way towards life-long learning and whole-person development, in order to acquire the knowledge and skills needed in society today.”

She said further that the Samsung ‘Smart School’ programme has benefited a total of 120 students and six teachers from the North Ruimveldt (Multilateral) Secondary School. Furthermore, the programme also includes a volunteering component to encourage students to participate in extra-curricular activities such as recreational events – theatre, music and other initiatives – that would help to accelerate the development of multiple skills.

The Samsung School solution includes features to help teachers manage their classrooms and increase student participation, such as screen monitoring to track students’ academic progress, provision of private tutoring programmes according to each student’s comprehension level, and a lesson toolbar that allows teachers to effectively apply various, interesting educational applications through the Samsung School interactive lesson functionalities. For students, the Samsung School solution allows them to participate in discussion and group projects in a collaborative manner, using tools such as separable canvas, group discussion, and group reports.

It also helps students retain focus with tools such as screen-sharing to share lesson content on student devices, while quizzes and polls help teachers to quickly assess how well students comprehend lessons and provide immediate feedback with a diverse range of engaging questions.

Samsung ‘Smart Schools’ use advanced technology to create better learning environments and aid in the development of smarter and more creative individuals. With over 380 ‘Smart Schools’ around the world, Samsung is diligently working to find high-level solutions that meet specific local educational needs.

‘Smart School’ is part of Samsung’s vision: “Inspire the World, Create the Future”. The project currently takes place in Aruba, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, The Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.