The high-tech classroom of the future will center around a wireless bridge of information between teachers and students that allows educators to keep real-time tabs on student progress, experts said yesterday. Taiwan's high-tech industry hopes to play a pivotal role in making the vision a reality within the next decade.
"This is a unique opportunity for Taiwan," said Chan Tak-wai (
Around 100 delegates took part in a workshop that ended yesterday as part of the program, dubbed G4P or Global Public Private Partnership Program, that aims to make use of mobile computing devices universal in schools. "We cannot achieve this huge societal shift if we stick to blackboard media," Chan said. "A more interactive experience raises the level of all students in the classroom."
Program organizers yesterday demonstrated their vision of the future classroom, where each student works on a tablet PC -- a flat, mobile computer with a touch-screen on which students can write using a stylus. The teacher monitors their progress through a wireless link from a central computer to the students' tablets, and can intervene immediately when a student has not grasped a particular point. The whole class can monitor progress on a whiteboard, which is also linked to the central computer.
The government appears to be behind the plan.
"This is the first time that there has been such an initiative between the government, academia and industry," said Hwang Tai-yang (
Participation by Taiwan's computer-manufacturing industry is seen as key.
"My colleagues and I from different universities build and test ideas that improve learning, but the only way to have an impact is to make them available to everyone -- and that is where we have to partner with industry," said Jeremy Roschelle, a researcher at SRI International, formerly the Stanford Research Institute. "Why did we bring this conference here to Taiwan? Because of the tremendous respect that researchers from all over the world feel for Taiwan's ability to innovate and translate that innovation into practical use."
Industry representatives say that participation by academics is crucial.
"We as an industry know how to produce the right products for the users, but still we need teachers to create the content," said Lin Wen-yen (
Companies hope the educational push may help tablet PCs enter the mainstream.
"Some tablet PC vendors might be prepared to take a loss as part of a long-term strategy to increase sales volume," said Ruben Tan, an analyst from research firm International Data Corp (IDC). "Within five to 10 years the tablet will be firmly entrenched as an entry-level notebook computer."
In the future, tablet PC prices would need to drop from current levels of over US$2,000 apiece before students are able to afford them, Marcelo Milrad from Sweden's Vaxjo University.
The government has made a commitment to the new technology, recently establishing the five-year US$120 million National Science and Technology Program for mobile learning that seeks to incorporate mobile learning devices into the school curriculum in Taiwan. Already over 100 schools and some 35,000 primary and junior high school students are involved in the project that is a collaboration between the Ministry of Education, the NCU and local device and software makers.
At least one academic is not satisfied with the level of government commitment to technology in education.
"I have not really had a lot of support from the government," said Chin Tsung-shune (
Chin said he had asked Sun Microsystems to help him design a virtual university campus on the Internet. "This is my own vision," he said.
Chin plans to conduct up to 60-percent of his institution's education through "e-learning," where teachers and students meet via their computers.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”