Classmate makes a difference

By Leon Engelbrecht for Intel
Johannesburg, 05 Mar 2008

Intel says its Classmate PC experiment at a high school at Mabopane, northwest of Pretoria, is making a discernable difference in the education of children there.

An Intel-led consortium, which includes Microsoft and IBM, last August donated 100 of the diminutive laptops and two teachers` notebooks to the school, in addition to the necessary supporting infrastructure and a WiMax Internet link.

Intel education manager Parthy Chetty says the Abel T Motshoane High School has reported "a considerable increase in English marks and some improvement in maths learning" since the deployment of the technology and associated e-learning software.

"Attendance has also picked up as students want to come to school more regularly and use the Classmate PCs," Chetty adds. "It was also quite evident how the Internet was used for various searches using Google and other Web sites. Some searches included local and international movie actors, singers, music, pictures, etc. Other searches were related to content being taught in class or related to assignments."

The Classmate PC is a fully functional sub-notebook that can run in a Windows or Linux environment and can access a host of educational material stored on the school`s server or via the Internet. In the classroom, the teacher can monitor children`s progress and activities and assign work via a WiFi link.

Chetty says the dynamics at the school have changed slightly from last year. "The Grade 7 classes last year, which are now in Grade 8, will be using the Classmate PCs. The Grade 9 classes who were last year`s Grade 8 classes, are sad, but there is a discussion in place to get all students up to Grade 12 to use the Classmate PCs after school hours as well."

Tech refresh

Other changes include a technology refresh. "During the past few weeks we have been upgrading the physical memory on all of the Classmate PCs from an adequate 256MB RAM to an awesome 512MB RAM," Chetty says.

"We have also been upgrading the e-learning software on all machines and also checking that all applications are operational."

He says some challenges have been faced down - such as electricity supply at the school in January - at the height of the Eskom power-supply crisis. "The heavy storms together with power surges had rendered some of the IT equipment non-operational...," Chetty says. He adds these have since been repaired, replaced or reconfigured.

"The school is also faced with three grade 8 classes, as opposed to last year`s two grade 8 classes. A schedule to accommodate this is being put in place and the current classrooms with the wireless connection are occupied by the Grade 7, which the school deputy principal is trying to also schedule accordingly."

National education director-general Duncan Hindle last year praised the project: "What we`ve seen here is a technological breakthrough," he said at the launch ceremony. "This is the leap forward we`ve needed to make." Hindle added that the education department would be closely following the progress of the children.