Samsung Electronics will sponsor an experimental “Smart Classroom” in partnership with a digital educational content developer Sigong Media, using its new Series 7 Slate PC laptop computers. For this initiative, the company has provided the laptops installed with Sigong-developed i-Scream learning content. The classroom will be located at Kuryong Elementary School in Seoul’s Kangnam, but will be scaled up once the trial is deemed successful.

At the Smart Classroom, the students can connect with the Microsoft Windows-based school Intranet, as well as the contents offered by Sigong Media. They can also log in to the network outside the school through Wi-Fi or other connections. Fully compatible with the Windows-based school system, the Slate PC laptops are capable of running all Windows educational contents available on the market.

The wireless display (WiDi) feature embedded in the laptops enables the students to take note with the digitizer pen and “write” on the electronic chalkboard—the big-screen TV, thereby doing away with the need for investment in additional equipment. In the past, a digital classroom like this needed a computer fixed on the podium in front of the room. But now teachers can move freely around in the classroom using the Wi-Fi- and WiDi-supported tablet-type laptop.

The students can connect with the Internet without a separate Access Point since the laptops are embedded with the WiBro wireless feature, which makes Slate PC an ideal solution for field trips or learning outside school.

Nah Young-ran, a teacher at Kuryong Elementary School, said, “Thanks to the Slate PC laptop computers capable of supporting wireless Internet and wireless display, we can now take our children to any place and have in-depth learning experience. We can also assign them homework and have them make presentations digitally, which has improved the students’ concentration and participation.”

Choi Hyong-soon, the executive director at Sigong Media, commented, “In the near future when all of us rely on smart devices, learning content will get more and more important. We will work hard to evolve i-Scream as the optimal content for that purpose.”

Song Sung-won, the executive director of Samsung’s IT solution business division, noted, “The latest deployment of the Slate PC solution at a Seoul elementary school, as well as a similar case at an Australian girls’ school in February, shows Smart Classroom is abundantly possible with little effort and investment. I expect the demand to soar in Korea, given the fact that Microsoft Windows platform is already in place and the Slate PC system can run all the existing Windows-based programs.

Sam Kim (press@whowired.com)