Smart deploys TechnoCarts mobile digital lab at BECS

• Source: http://www.telecompaper.com/news/smart-deploys-technocarts-mobile-digital-lab-at-becs--1110033
• Tuesday, October 27, 2015

(TelecomPaper)

Philippines mobile operator Smart Communications has deployed its TechnoCart mobile digital lab at kindergartners at Bacacay East Central School (BECS) in Albay. The Smart TechnoCart is a mobile digital laboratory that provides teachers with new learning tools designed for kindergartners, using mobile devices and applications.

BECS is one of 15 public schools that received mobile digital laboratories called TechnoCarts from Smart. The Smart TechnoCart, which can be easily wheeled from one classroom to the next, contains 20 seven-inch tablets, a laptop, a projector, and a Smart Bro pocket Wi-Fi that comes with an initial load for internet connectivity. The TechnoCart package also includes a 1-year subscription to the learning management system called Smart One Campus. This platform allows school administrators and teachers to track and measure the performance and progress of students.

Each tablet in the Smart TechnoCart comes pre-installed with the Batibot mobile app for literacy aligned with the K-12 curriculum. The app, which can be downloaded for free on Android devices, is designed to help children develop essential thinking skills through fun-filled games.

Smart says individuals and institutions can help bring digital learning to more public school students by sponsoring Smart TechnoCarts. Each TechnoCart package is worth PHP 200,000. “Interested sponsors need to raise only half of this amount to donate a TechnoCart to a public school. Smart will shoulder the rest,” the operator said. Sponsors can be a company, foundation, local government unit, an individual, or even a group of friends.