Schools get tablets tomorrow

[Khun Don]

Schools get tablets tomorrow


SUPINDA NA MAHACHAI
THE NATION July 19, 2012 1:00 am

Pathom 1 students in eight provinces are set to get their hands on tablet computers under the government's One Tablet Per Child (OTPD) project very soon.

"We will have 55,712 tablets dispatched to their schools by Friday," Education Minister Suchart Tadathamrongvej said yesterday.

He was speaking as 30 trucks were about to start their delivery trips to schools in Bangkok, Krabi, Kanchanaburi, Kalasin, Kamphaeng Phet, Khon Kaen, Chanthaburi and Chachoengsao.

The tablets are being sent to these provinces first because they are the first eight in Thai alphabetical order.

"The tablet will revolutionise the teaching and learning process," Suchart said. He added that his ministry had prepared content for the devices and trained teachers to use them.

The OTPC project is one of the Pheu Thai Party's much-touted election policies. However, its implementation has been hit by delays. Initially, the government planned to have the tablets ready for all Pathom 1 students at the beginning of the 2012 academic year, or two months ago.

The government bought the tablets from a Chinese supplier.

According to Information and Communications Technology Minister Anudith Nakornthap, quality checks have detected problems in just seven of the 35,000 tablets being tested.

"There are warranty services too." He added that there would be 30 centres to provide after-sales services in Thailand.

Chinnapat Bhumirat, secretary-general of the Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec), said the first purchase contract would provide tablets for just 48 per cent of all Pathom 1 students.

"But we have already submitted a repeat order," he said.

Suchart said his ministry planned to have tablets available for all school students within the next five years. His ministry would start preparing the purchase of tablets for Mathayom 1 students in November.

"Also, we will encourage private firms to buy tablets for children under their corporate social responsibility activities," he said. "We plan to involve the private sector in the tablet purchases for Pathom 2 students."

Suchart said parents and their children must sign contracts to receive the tablets. Although the devices will be lent to them on a yearly basis, they will finally be given to |the students after they have used them for three years.

[Khun Don]

Tablet batteries barely included
Pupils, teachers, working with free PCs given out by the government say they are struggling to keep them switched on

Published: 3/09/2012 at 02:23 AMNewspaper section: News

First-graders who have been given tablet computers have complained their learning has been disrupted by the devices' short battery life.

Teachers and education administrators at two schools in this province have also raised concerns over the issue during a visit by the Bangkok Post.

"Teacher! My tablet is showing an orange sign," a Prathom 1, or first grade, pupil at Wat Donthong School said as he raised his hand to alert his teacher to the problem.

The teacher, Thipparat Polsen, told her 40 students to always pay attention to the battery level icon at the bottom right of the tablet's screen.

When the icon turns orange, it means there is about 10% of the battery power left. The students then have to turn off the computers and ask to share with fellow students whose devices still have battery life.

The batteries tend to last no more than three hours, although the manual said they should last for at least six hours of continous use, Ms Thipparat said.

At the school, the tablet curriculum is designated as an additional tool to help students learn five core subjects _ social studies, mathematics, Thai, English and science.

There are about 400 first-graders studying in 10 classrooms at Wat Donthong School.

Eighty of them are waiting to receive the Chinese-made devices.

Ms Thipparat said she could not charge all the tablets at the same time because the school did not have adequate power outlets. Each of the tablets take as long as five hours to be fully charged.

"It is a big burden for teachers and we have to stay at school longer in the evening to charge them as we cannot let our young students do it themselves," she said.

She said the use of tablets for the children's learning had both pros and cons.

The biggest benefit was that students concentrated more in class, with some students calling for more learning hours with the devices.

In the past, one of her pupils would often cry when being dropped off at school by his parents, but the teacher said the tablets have helped him to enjoy and look forward to his classes.

Wat Nakhon Nueang Khet School in the same province is also experiencing the same problem of the tablets' limited battery life.

The school has 49 first-graders who have already received tablet computers.

"They can be used for only a few hours and need five hours to be fully charged," Prathom 1 teacher Pattaya Laipradit said.

As a result, teaching through the tablets has been restricted to only one hour a day.

Another problem the school has faced since receiving the tablets is that the devices have no mechanism to automatically cut the power supply once they are fully charged.

The Chachoengsao primary education service area office realised the problem and plans to invest in battery charger sets which include breakers and timers.

Without an auto cut-off system, the tablets would get very hot if they were left charging for a long time. This could shorten their working life, said Narong Junjaroenvongsa, the office's education supervisor.

Once acquired, the teachers could set a time for the breakers to automatically cut off the power supply to ensure safety, he said.

Kawinkiat Nonthapala, the office director, said that the idea could be a model for other schools.

He said the office also planned to create its own lessons about Asean and about the province, such as the history of the famous Sothorn Buddha Image and Bang Prokong River.

"The tablets are being bought with taxpayers' money, so the students should be getting the most out of them," he said, adding the tablet programme should be allowed to run for at least three months before any evaluation was made.

Chachoengsao has about 5,000 first-graders and 1,959 tablets have already been distributed to students at 40 schools under the Office of the Basic Education Commission.

BANGKOK POST

[Richard Barrow]

There was another story last week that a school in Ranong that received these free Tablets didn't even have electricity to charge them! Our school is still waiting for theirs to arrive.

[ian71]

So sad these tablets sound like cheap Chinese rubbish, come on 5hrs to fully charge something that last 3 hours??? so we will restrict lessons to 1 hour sessions!
What about running some off the mains if battery life is low? to easy, or to many extention leads! ha ha,

this was always gonna be a vote winner, but the reality is kids would do a lot better with the money spent on classrooms and better standard of normal learning materials, good to hear from Richard again. cheers.

[Richard Barrow]

I actually just got back from a seminar and had a chance to play with one all day. Actually I am quite impressed. Touchscreen is just as responsive as an iPad. Fast too. Runs on Android system. Battery might be an issue if playing internet a lot with video. Need to take note of things like screen brightness and turning off WiFi if not using it. I played for 5 hours straight with no problem with the battery.

[David_Loves_Ubonwan]

The batteries tend to last no more than three hours, although the manual said they should last for at least six hours of continous use, Ms Thipparat said.

Maybe they have shorter hours in China?

Perhaps not,,,

David

[Rallicurl]

Perhaps they should learn or be given by some instruction guide on how to save the battery power by switching internet data service and switch off unwanted apps in correct way and reduce ram memory to let the battery last longer. Base on wifi, battery power shouldn't be easy used up. My two baht worth of thoughts from my knowledge.

[Richard Barrow]

I am sure it won't be a problem because I don't think the students will use it more than one or two hours in one day. They will then take it home to charge at night.