How do you see school education evolving in Nigeria with respect to global trends?
The global trend now is that schools in Europe and America are actually standardising with Smart Schools. Often times in the Third World we are always trying to catch up with developed countries. But here is an opportunity for us to get it right. This is an opportunity for stakeholders in the education system to embrace Smart learning so that we can catch up with trends in developed countries. Right now, even governments of countries like Turkey and South Korea have standardised on Smart learning across all levels of education. America is also gradually adopting this method of learning. It is time for stakeholders in Nigeria to say “we want to get it right; we want to adopt this system of learning right away,” so we don’t lag behind in adopting this method of learning.
What is Samsung’s Smart School technology all about?
Samsung’s Smart School solution is a fully integrated learning platform that empowers teachers to deliver an interactive learning environment to students. It is designed to improve the learning experience of students through the innovative medium of “Samsung Smart Classrooms”. The solution utilises Samsung E-boards and Samsung devices such as tablets, PCs and other new age technological tools to facilitate learning. A typical Samsung Smart School comprises Smart Classrooms using our Galaxy Note 10.1 tablets, Samsung’s E-boards or Smart TV as learning and teaching tools respectively. It also comprises a device that we call “Dr. Virus,” which attracts and destroys all device viruses in the classroom. In addition to these we have the mini-server that facilitates online interaction between the components of the Smart School.
What’s the genesis of your foray into Smart learning?
If you take a critical look at Samsung Electronics, we have emerged as one of the top ten brands in the world today. Getting there involved a lot of sleepless nights; a lot of research and development; as we speak today we have more than 55,000 research and development engineers as well as 20,000 PhDs who work day and night to come up with ideas that will result in products which deliver value alongside the ultimate user experience to our consumers.
Talking about what piqued our interest in Smart learning, Samsung’s business actually emerged from manufacturing products for traditional consumer businesses which is primarily referred to as Business-to-Consumer (B2C), but we also have enterprise solutions and proposition to corporate entities; that is, Business-to-Business. That is what I’m responsible for.
I oversee the Business-to-Business Division of the company, which means that there are some solutions that you don’t get off the shelf. Samsung Smart School is one of these solutions. Also, we asked ourselves the question “how best can we sell our devices while meeting the needs of our different consumers and their end users?” This question is what actually inspired us to come up with the Smart School technology. A key part of our mission is to inspire the world. We have a strong brand that is inspirational. We want to inspire the upcoming generation by building an environment that will enhance their quality of learning and also add value to their lives. This is the clear value proposition in our Smart School solution and it sets us apart from our competitors. If you look at the industry today, most of the tablets you see are not made to enhance learning; they were made with entertainment in mind. But Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1 was made with students in mind. And when we say students, we mean students at all levels of education, from elementary school to the PhD level. The device gives you the feeling of using a regular paper notebook or textbook when you flip through its pages.
What is the current status of the virtual education system in Nigeria?
Apart from a few Nigerians that have had the opportunity to attend school abroad, most Nigerians are yet to get experience in learning in a virtual environment.
