Tim Beeby, our education account director in the UK, recently hosted customers and press at schools in the English county of Derbyshire to see first-hand what's possible with technology in schools today. Tim shares his experience below to shine a light on how these schools are personalizing learning for their students in partnership with Dell ...

From Tim:

The event, hosted by Tim Sheppard, director of UK Public, Dell Services; Ian Graham, Education director, Dell Services and myself, was held at Heritage High School, a local school which has transformed learning with the implementation of a Dell managed service solution. At the event, we showcased Dell’s connected learning solution that three schools in the Derbyshire County have implemented as part of the schools’ refurbishment.

Journalists and bloggers traveled to Derbyshire to hear the school’s Headteacher, as well as Headteachers from The Bolsover School and Springwell Community College, and the ICT Project Manager from the Derbyshire County Council, discuss the benefits of the new school for students. In addition to touring the school, guests observed classes including Business Studies, Mathematics, Design & Technology and a Special Needs class, highlighting how technology is being used to engage students through interactive learning.

Journalists chatted with students in the classrooms, asking about how they use the technology, what it enables them to do and getting feedback from students on whether they like the new technology. The group was also treated to a performance of an English class play using green screen technology in the school hall, which has an IT control room where lights, green screen images and sound in the hall are controlled.

Following the school tour, the group discussed innovation in schools and the use of technology inside and outside the classroom. The discussion also covered how new Dell services and technology enables students to learn traditional subjects in more engaging ways, for instance to track students’ performances in sports and drama. The technology is enabling students to expand their skills into video production, for example filming play performances in front of green screens in English class as well as allowing them to work in virtual learning environments from home.

Technology implemented in the schools includes end-user devices such as netbooks, laptops, unit trolleys and desktop PC’s. A central data centre is locally hosted to provide resilience for data and management of the communications between schools using Voice over IP. Through technology, Dell has assisted the school in raising access, quality and capability to deliver teaching and learning more efficiently.  

Dell was selected for a 10-year contract provision, based on its attitude to partnership, the affordability of the solutions offered, a commitment to training and a shared vision for the future of secondary education that meets the needs of 21st century students. Dell demonstrated a capability for delivering relevant products and services for the education market vertical, through its Connected Learning portfolio.

Some great stories have already started to appear, including those in Publictechnology.net and Computing.