Q: What was the inspiration behind the HP Digital Publishing programme?
LW: HP has always been concerned that students receive a good and effective education. Unfortunately, classroom materials are often expensive and don’t provide current information. While universities are constantly searching for new information, they face delays in getting it to the classroom, as well as restrictions for students with particular interests or learning disabilities. Digital publishing has the potential of directly addressing these needs.
JV: The Digital Publishing initiative is a pilot programme that fits within HP’s global Philanthropy strategy, where we explore ways to improve higher education through technology. In developing our strategy, we have been looking for ways to enhance teaching and learning within universities and HP’s digital publishing technology seems to be a natural fit.
Q: Five universities in EMEA were awarded digital publishing grants. What did they have to do to win their awards?
LW: In short, the universities had to demonstrate successfully ways in which to promote innovations in learning and teaching through effective use of digital publishing technologies. For instance, developing personalised teaching materials that allow students to focus on their own specific areas or producing auto-generated high quality printed materials relating to a user’s specific interest area.
Q: Is this a worldwide initiative?
LW: Yes, the HP Digital Publishing programme is a worldwide initiative and in fact 14 grants were awarded globally. One of the conditions of the grant award is that successful universities meet at least once a year to collaborate and share expertise. Hence the formation of a higher education community called the Chameleon Federation.
The Federation currently has 23 members around the world and many of them met in Brazil recently to identify new projects for creating new capabilities. Their enthusiasm and shared sense of purpose will make a huge difference to members and other interested universities.
Q: With such collaboration, are there any developments?
LW: Three universities are already working together to develop an automated system that provides expert advice on producing high quality, personalised presentation materials. The challenges faced in producing such materials are many and this is an excellent example of the higher education community working together for the benefit of everyone.
Q: What are your plans for 2007?
LW: We want to devote 2007 to strengthening the current community, which has actually doubled in size over the past year. In terms of the Chameleon Federation, we will look to coupling each new member with an existing member in order to bring them up to speed with resources and information on the benefits of digital publishing and all that it has to offer.
We’re also planning for Federation members to meet twice a year and our next meeting is scheduled for April 2007. These meetings are a great opportunity for both new and existing members to build relationships and strengthen their understanding of digital publishing and what it can do to help the educational process.
Q: Does HP offer any other higher educational grant programmes in EMEA?
JV: Certainly. Through HP Philanthropy we have been supporting higher education by helping faculty redesign the learning experience in key technical courses through the HP Technology for Teachinggrant programme. The programme was launched worldwide in 2003 as the ‘mobility initiative’ and it has successfully helped to develop students’ learning capabilities in more than 200 colleges and universities in 34 countries.
Q: How do the grants help?
JV: Earlier this year, HP Technology for Teaching grants were awarded to 12 universities throughout EMEA. The grants included a classroom set of HP Tablet PCs and a small cash award to support a variety of innovative projects.
From Russia to Ethiopia, England to Hungary, university classrooms have been significantly boosted by the use of HP Tablet PCs as faculty have found innovative ways to use Tablet PCs to make learning much more interactive and personal. Faculty can get real-time feedback from their students who, for themselves, are much more engaged.
To learn more about HP and Higher Education, visit Jim’s blog.
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