News in the Channel - issue #8

ADVERTORIAL – PHILIPS EDUCATION

“If you look at a traditional classroom door, you typically have a sign that names the class and that's it,” Frank says. “This can be replaced with a digital door sign, which can show a range information, such as which lesson is going on now, who's in the class at the moment, who the teacher is. It can also show which class will be there next, as well as any other information you want to include.” Then there are a range of solutions that can be placed around the building, from reception areas to canteens or communal areas, which can show school branding to improve campus culture, so important school news and emergency information and play dynamic content for higher engagement. Meanwhile for distance learners – which there are still many, post-pandemic – Philips’ technology can enable educational establishments to create virtual classrooms with open communication, which enables live collaboration with multiple users to share and edit content. Philips also provides a range of monitors with integrated webcam for video conferencing. “This is something that we want to make as smooth as possible so that the learning experience for the students gets better and better,” says Frank. “Distance learning is here to stay, and so we have implemented our solution portfolio to make it as easy as possible for the school, teachers and students to connect to each other no matter where they are. The flexibility and how and where you share content is getting more important and is something that we already have embedded into our solution portfolio. “Of course, this is something that we will also push in the future and make it even easier in the future for the students and teachers.” Epaper innovation Innovation is a key part of Philips’ work too. For instance, it is promoting its Advanced Colour ePaper (ACeP) solution, Philips Tableaux, which was introduced earlier this year. “Epaper is not a new technology, you know it from ebook readers,” says Frank. “But they are in black and white and small, whereas ACeP is large format, has 60,000 colours and high resolution. It’s a professional device and has an embedded media player, which means it can be controlled and managed with a regular content management solution. This can be used for a wide range of applications, such as displaying student information around the school campus.”

A key part of ACeP is that it has a zero- power consumption display – in short, it can show content 24/7/365 while unplugged, using zero power. A super low power source is only required when content is being updated (just 0.0025kWh for one image change) – via USB, LAN or Wi-Fi connection – and power consumption immediately reverts to zero when the new image has been uploaded. Content updates can be managed manually or entirely remotely, using PPDS’ in-house or third-party display management platforms. “The difference of power consumption between our Epaper solution and regular LCD display is significant. If you update the content four times per day, as an example, the power consumption of our Epaper solution is 200 times lower than with a regular LCD display.” Frank adds that a bonus of the ACeP is that, while it runs on a regular power supply, with an Acupack, it can be run on regular acoustic batteries, which typically last for about eight months. This means that it is suitable for all school buildings, whether new-build or existing. “With existing buildings it is often difficult to install additional cabling, so with the battery pack, it removes the need for that and all it requires is the batteries being changed every eight months,” he says. ACeP can also be integrated into a school’s content management solution, so it can be updated within a few seconds. “Philips is the first and only company in the world that is able to do this now,” he says.

“

The difference

of power consumption between our Epaper solution and regular LCD display is significant. If you update the content four times per day, as an example, the power

consumption of our Epaper solution is 200

times lower, 200 times lower than with a regular LCD display.

”

Increasing future role Frank believes that technology in the

classroom will play an increasing role in the future for students, as it does in other aspects of their lives. “This means there is a lot of development work going on at Philips, we are thinking about what the right solution in will be the next two, three, five years and beyond. “For instance, one big trend that we see is gamification of the way lessons and content is brought from teachers to the students. Why gamification? It's quite normal for them – they have grown up with Xbox, PlayStation, Android games and so on. That's how they consume content today on a private level This does not mean that we play games in a classroom like they play at home, but we can this concept to use content in a more gaming way and bring it into lessons to make things easier for students to learn in the future.” Philips’ range of educational products are available through Exertis.

exertis.co.uk