Classroom of future goes digital in Malaysia

AN ELECTRONICS company has envisioned a smart classroom with highly interactive lessons in the 21st century.

That was exactly what Sharp Electronics (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd demonstrated when it hosted Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik at its smart interactive classroom in Penang.

Dr Mahathir was taken on a tour of the specially set-up classroom while Maszlee observed a group of tech-savvy preschoolers interact with an educational robot in the “smart kindergarten” area.

Sharp managing director Robert Wu said the company’s smart education solutions comprised interactive whiteboards and engaging education content.

“They allow educators to present lessons in an engaging way to help improve retention and interest among students.

“This approach caters to a wide range of learning styles, be it visual, auditory, reading, writing or kinesthetic.”

He said Sharp’s smart technology would upgrade classrooms from traditional blackboards to screens free of chalk dust, which presented multiple functions for teaching and learning when paired with user-friendly teaching applications.

Those functions include quick answering, work comparing, screen broadcasting and brainstorming.

“The result is a highly engaged classroom where students play a more active role in taking ownership of their lessons and the overall learning process,” added Wu.

Sharp recently announced its debut in the smart education solution sphere, through the signing of a memorandum of understanding with integrated education solutions provider Eduspec Holdings Berhad.

The partnership is poised to benefit the local education sector as it aims to equip 100 classrooms across Malaysia with smart education solutions comprising advanced digital tools, software and interactive educational content, thus directly elevating the education experience in schools and campuses nationwide.