Digitization is reshaping the educational industry as well – chalks becoming wireless mouse, black boards becoming projectors, notebooks instead of laptops and books are now fitting in pen drives and hard disks. Deutsche Telekom subsidiaries, T-Mobile Austria and Makedonski Telekom give great examples of how Telekom fosters digital education.
Recognizing the digital needs of students and teachers, Makedonski Telekom recently introduced the first smart classrooms in Skopje. Equipped with the latest cloud technologies, pupils and teachers can communicate remotely. Students from one elementary school had the first lessons in Computer Science in a smart classroom with a lecturer form the South East European University who attended the class via video conference. Living in a digital society should enable access to appropriate tools for gaining knowledge and communication to face modern challenges, according to experts that initiated digital education in Makedonski Telekom. They are convinced that digital education contributes to greater engagement in the classroom and easier monitoring of student’s development by the teacher.
T-Mobile Austria initiated digital education in 2013. Within the frames of the project, "connected kids" they provide tablets and home network to classrooms. The company also supports teachers, pupils and parents to experience the digital media in a classroom through knowledge-sharing events and the online platform kids-t-mobile.at. The portal presents teaching apps, how to integrate digital media into lesson plan and exchanges of experience on the topic in abundance. The project acts as a bridge between the different everyday worlds of the students – the world outside of school, in which smartphones and tablets are a major feature, and the classroom, where these devices have not found a regular place yet. Nearly 450 teachers and 7900 school students have taken part since the project started.
"Teachtoday" for all
Through its group-wide portal for digital education, "teachtoday", Deutsche Telekom supports children, teens, parents, grandparents and educational professionals with materials and tips in German, English, Croatian, Polish and Romanian. From data privacy to classroom technology, digital project ideas and courses, and even how to make your own cell case are all part of this web initiative. In exciting stories, games and with hands-on activities they get to experience what safe and competent media use really means.