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Earlier this year, HP launched an initiative designed to encourage teachers and professors to explore ways in which technology can have impact on and advance students’ academic outcomes. Entitled the ‘Innovation in Education Grant Initiative’, it offers substantial grants to universities and secondary schools who, by submitting proposals, can apply for a donation from HP to support their most innovative education projects.
Our interview this month is with Daniela Opp, Manager, Global Social Investments, HP EMEA, who provides details about the initiative and explains why it is so important to both educational establishments and HP.
Q: Can you tell us what the Innovation in Education Grant initiative is about?
DO: The competitive education initiative invites secondary schools and universities in selected EMEA countries to submit proposals for the most innovative teaching and learning projects. Research has shown that effective use of technology, combined with exemplary teaching, can have a positive impact on students’ academic outcomes and we want teachers to really look at how they can use technology to achieve this. The grants are awarded to those schools and universities who have demonstrated the highest standards of innovation.
Q: Why did you decide to launch such an initiative?
DO: The global economy today interconnects every country in the world and the demand for highly qualified high tech professionals is increasing. Excellent eSkills are an inevitable asset and requirement for young talents. This is why we are offering our initiative to different partners in the education lifecycle to support not only students, but educators as well.
Q: What did the educational institutions have to do to qualify?
DO: Firstly, the initiative was by invitation from HP only. It was restricted to secondary schools and universities and it was of a competitive nature. Each educational institution had to complete and submit a comprehensive request for proposal online.
Their proposal had to describe their project ideas, their key stakeholders and details on how they would measure the impact of their project on their students. It also had to show that the project could be scalable and sustainable and could address fundamental teaching and learning issues in a most innovative way.
Q: Can you describe some of the winning projects?
DO: Overall 90 project proposals have been submitted. They were all pretty strong and have addressed the issues encountered at the intersection of technology, teaching and learning in many different ways. Some university projects focused on creating content to reach out to secondary schools and to provide additional teaching opportunities. Such projects are very innovative as they go beyond specific classrooms and involve broader audiences in the educational landscape.
As another example, one university in the UK submitted a project called ‘Creative concept generation in a digital design curriculum and one-tablet mode of instruction for mathematics interaction with large groups’. This project has several elements to maximise the use of technology across the university:
One element, of course, is design. The university would use the unique capabilities of the HP Tablet PC to facilitate Digital New Product Development (DNPD), with a focus on the inclusion of a creative concept-generation through sketching. This, in turn, will involve another element, which is a one-tablet mode of instruction for teaching mathematics to large groups. This would include recording audio, written equations using the Tablet PC, working examples and subsequently making these available online via the university virtual learning environment.
The primary objective of our initiative is to address and support systemic change in education, in innovative teaching and in new learning methods. We want the winning projects to demonstrate this by bringing the use of technology to life.
Q: Each grant is worth US$100,000 (HP list price), which is a lot of funding. How many schools or universities will receive a grant?
DO: Overall there will be 50 grant recipients in EMEA. The grant package is substantial. In addition to a cash donation, we provide state-of-the-art technology, which includes the latest HP mobile equipment such as tablet PCs, wireless technology and printing facilities. The recipients are also invited to join a worldwide network of educators who are designing the future of undergraduate high-tech education and to participate in a global education conference.
Q: HP invests a lot of money in further education. What is the driving force behind this?
DO: There is a real shortage of highly qualified technical engineers and we need to build up the next generation. We want to influence the way education is developed and we can make an impact by providing our technology and expertise. We also want to make our social investment business-relevant. Education is an area in which our stakeholders take great interest and we want to open the doors to future developments by providing targeted support.
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