HP in Higher Education

By the time students enter the voluntary stages of their education, it is hoped that many of them have some kind of burgeoning career plan, or at least an emerging idea or two.

Looking back on 'old school' college days the notion of a hand-held computer with messaging, a camera, GPS, Scrabble and an 'Internet of Things' was about as absurd as a telephone in a wrist watch, or a whole record collection in your top pocket.

Now you can read all about the rise and fall of any Empire in history, dip into cutting edge particle physics, talk to relatives, friends and strangers half way across the world (or even half way across the room), go shopping, make movies and publish them instantly for an audience numbering billions... all from the comfort of wherever you happen to be.

For today's college student, all of the above is part of everyday life - an ever-growing army of tech-savvy young adults with high expectations, bringing with them an array of smartphones, laptops and tablets.

BYOD alone opens a whole new can of worms. How do you ensure both institutional devices and personal devices consistently deliver curriculum material, communications and scheduling; or grant access to portals and intranets?

How do you keep social and academic identities separate; while delivering coursework and services in and out of classes, and inside and outside of college?

In addition to this 'IoT' swarm, the college will also be running a host of desktops, workstations, printers, and more sophisticated HPC devices – in addition to the backline IT for the institution itself - Admin, HR, Accounts, Facilities, Food Service and more.

With just a small handful of IT support staff providing for hundreds, sometimes thousands of students; all of the solutions and services at this level have to 'just work' out of the box, and to continue to do so with minimum intervention.

Requirements therefore at this level include:

ñ  Pervasive connectivity

ñ  Consistent user experience regardless of device

ñ  Extended and extensible features for utility and relevance over a longer life-span

ñ  Sandboxing allowing firewalled academic and social identities

ñ  Security mechanisms for theft deterrence

Today, proportionally more people than ever before are going to college, studying courses that are increasingly reliant on technology to deliver curricula, and being prepared for a world where technology is now a permanent fixture.

The thought behind the technology we implement in colleges now needs to accommodate a long term view – enabling students to achieve their goals and embrace a technology-reliant future, while also ensuring the future utility of any infrastructure investment.

Providing for the longer view - HP Innovation for Schools.

HP has developed a large range of best-in-class technology - specifically designed for demanding Educational environments - with price points, programmes and discounts that can make a real positive difference; helping to ensure optimal coverage in Further Education.

Recommendations for the near term include tablets, notebooks, workstations and desktops - such as HP ProSlate, HP ProBook; and the HP ProDesk Microtower and Desktop Mini.

Westcoast's HP in Education portal is your gateway to accessing exciting promotions designed to keep costs well within contrained budgets; cash-back trade-in programmes for redundant ICT; and an integratable, full product catalogue to help present quotes, configs and options to your customers.

Are you interested in learning more about HP Innovation for Schools and how we can help?

Visit the Westcoast HP in Education portal today

HP in Secondary Education

If machines were ever likely to develop reasoning, consciousness, and a yen for rebellion against their human masters; Secondary School is where the insurrection would most likely begin.

These school years span the largest part of pupils' development - not just as young people making decisions about their future, and preparing for college and careers; just as much so in terms of considered engagement and interaction with the wider world, and where they fit in.

The curriculum has now shifted from content consumption, to creation.

In terms of the right tools for the task, there is a gradual move away from tablets; and towards notebooks, convertibles and workstations - tools that enable students to develop critical thinking, express creativity, to collaborate and communicate – and to aid with essay writing, design and art, science and laboratory work; and ultimately to facilitate assessments and exams.

Students meanwhile are on the road to adulthood, and are developing and changing rapidly as individuals; forming firm friendships, questioning and pushing the boundaries... and, crucially, they are coping with both educational and personal development simultaneously, and at different rates.

Perhaps the biggest challenge, therefore, for teaching staff; is delivering personalised and relevant lesson plans - while maintaining a level of engagement and interest - in large classes made up of high performers, low performers, introverts, extroverts, leaders, followers, and rebels.

From some pupils' perspective, the transient utility of ICT remains  completely unconnected to cost or value. Others may covet such Bond Villain gadgetry, viewing some of the 'shinier' communal resources as their personal property.

Requirements at this level therefore are more demanding:

• Extended and extensible features for utility and relevance over a longer life-span
• Security mechanisms for theft deterrence
• Resilience - with build quality just as robust and ruggedised as ICT for younger pupils – these  devices will be used by many pupils, of many ages, a lot of the time
• Full connectivity via WWAN for delivery of updates, and storage
• Geo-fencing to ensure that only appropriate content is accessible.

The digital age is here to stay; and Secondary Schools in particular must have access to the right  resources - to help prepare future generations not only to embrace it, but also to thrive.

HP Innovation for Schools.

HP has developed a large range of best-in-class technology - specifically designed for demanding Educational environments - with price points, programmes and discounts that can make a real positive difference; helping to ensure better ICT coverage in Secondary Schools.

Recommendations for the near term include ruggedised tablets, and notebooks running Chrome or Windows OS - such as the HP Pro Slate 10 Education Edition, the HP ProBook; and the HP ProDesk Microtower series for desktops.

Westcoast's HP in Education portal is your gateway to accessing exciting promotions designed to keep costs well within constrained budgets; cash-back trade-in programmes for redundant ICT; and an integratable, full product catalogue to help present quotes, configs and options to your customers.

 

Are you interested in learning more about HP Innovation for Schools and how we can help?

 

Visit the Westcoast HP in Education portal today

HP in Primary Education

Some of the older ones amongst us can actually remember a time when there were no computers in schools. Incredible but true. How did we learn? survive, even?

Technology is now ubiquitous; and pupils entering education today, who grow up with limited access to it, are likely to be disadvantaged throughout their time at school and beyond. There is a real danger of alienation (from classmates, and from technology) that a shortage of available ICT can engender.

Primary Schools meanwhile, are all too often forced to do the best they can with limited resources, due to budget and staffing constraints.

In today's Primary Schools, ICT resources tend to be scarce, out of date, and with limited interoperability; and there is a continued reliance on printed materials. Such an environment presents challenges to teachers wishing to personalise lesson plans or provide one-to-one guidance; and can lead to limited opportunities for pupils to explore and learn.

Furthermore, very few IT manufacturers offer solutions specifically for young hands - especially not for very young hands. The 'wish list' for ideal features might look something like this:

• Robust - bordering on indestructible might be more concise
• Engaging - a UI that is simple and instinctive, and adaptable for personalised lesson plans
• Small and light, yet with a long battery life, and a long service life.

With the right tools, enquiring minds can explore literacy and numeracy, music and creativity; while learning to collaborate, and to socialise. Small but vital steps on a larger journey.

Levelling the playing field - HP Innovation in Primary Schools.

HP has developed a large range of best-in-class technology - specifically designed for demanding Primary Educational environments - with price points, programmes and discounts that can make a real positive difference; helping to ensure better ICT coverage in primary schools, for pupils and students of Key stage 3.

Recommendations for the near term include small, ruggedised tablets such as the HP Pro Slate 10, and Pro Tablet 10 Education Edition; which both feature an extra tough chassis and screen, a solidly attached stylus, excellent battery performance augmented by charging carts, robust security features, and a suite of pre-installed educational tools.

These small and portable wireless tablets enable easy connectivity with projectors, whiteboards and other devices - easing the burden on teaching staff; while ensuring that pupils' needs are fully served in the following key areas:

• Literacy and numeracy - via number recognition, spelling utilities, and e-readers
•  Creativity: painting, animated short stories, basic music keyboard skills
•   Collaboration and socialisation
• Practice and remediation of basic skills.

Westcoast's HP in Education portal highlights the key HP products best suited to education to make it easy for schools and their suppliers to make an informed decision on the solutions available as conveniently as possible.

Are you interested in learning more about HP Innovation for Schools and how we can help?

Visit the Westcoast HP in Education portal today

Reinventing the way students learn with HP in Education

 Technology is everywhere and affects nearly every part of our lives from shopping, to socialising and, most importantly, learning. With their great and increasing presence entwined in our lives, innovative IT solutions in the classroom are a valuable learning tool for students everywhere and it's never been a more important time to make technology more accessible to young people in the Education sector.

Westcoast's HP in Education portal highlights the key HP products best suited to education to make it easy for our partners to make an informed decision on the solutions available as conveniently as possible.

HP are reinventing the way students learn and teachers teach by offering very specific solutions depending on the needs at each stage of the education journey from primary education right the way through to university level.

Over the next few weeks, we will be running a 'HP in Education' Blog series and taking a deep dive into the benefits, solutions and products designed specifically around the bespoke needs throughout education from primary to university, special needs to emerging markets.

So keep your eyes peeled and in the meantime here's a few examples of how HP are innovating their solutions designed especially for each stage of education ...

-        In early primary, HP has designed smaller, ruggedized tablets for those tiny hands and moments when faced with an unannounced drop test!

-        For middle school, HP's larger convertibles allow students to work together by collaborating and communicating ideas easily using technology

-        As the curriculum shifts from content consumption to content creation, the shift from tablets to HP workstations allows students to develop their writing skills

-        College & University life demands both on and off-site availability of devices so HP's consistent user experience regardless of device is essential

-        HP also has exclusive value added feature(s) addressing assistive technology for students with disabilities including voice recognition for those challenged by keyboards, Text to speech/ speech to text functionality, and much more within a controlled environment so students can only see apps that are relevant for them (not distracted by others)

Over the last two years, Medhurst IT has been using HP’s Mobility Technology within primary schools, universities and colleges. They have found that this has had a huge impact in growing as a business to reach new target audiences so HP now resonates as a crucial component within the organisation. Tom Drew, Education Sales Specialist at Medhurst, has also been using the Westcoast's SMARTbid tool to get the best pricing on HP devices.

Tom says “HP and SMARTbid allow us to be competitive in the education sector. We always backed ourselves to be successful once taken on by a school or college, but HP kit provides that ‘foot in the door’ that we always lacked when it came to the initial pitch.”

Education customers should also take advantage of HP Subscription: One price, one payment, one place to buy your entire IT solution! If your customers are looking for a better way to manage their schools' PCs then the best solution is a subscription to use bundled hardware and services for a monthly payment. Learn more about HP Subscription here

Interested in learning more about HP Innovation for Schools and how we can help?

<< Visit the Westcoast HP in Education portal today >>