Tech Tuesday: Canada’s 1st digital classroom & highspeed internet from a ceiling lamp

This week on News 1130 radio in Vancouver, I talked about these items:

• Port Coquitlam gets Canada’s first Digital Classroom: Last week, Samsung Canada unveiled their pilot program, “Samsung Class”, the first digitally connected classroom in Canada. Using 31 Galaxy Tab 10″ tablets, a 65″ digital e-Board and custom software, the program at Riverside Secondary allows teachers to see where students are in their coursework, send any student’s work onto the big screen for discussion, and lets students collaborate with others wirelessly. The tablets also provide course materials including e-textbooks, learning apps and timetables, as well as delivering school notices and forums for extracurricular activities, which can be accessed by students at any time.
• Highspeed internet from a ceiling lamp: The Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute has been working on providing wireless internet spectrum from visible light technology for a number of years. Their latest milestone has been to deliver 3Gbps network speeds from LED lighting. The main purpose of this research is to provide wireless networking in environments that has interference issues with traditional wifi such as hospitals. Products and prices are expected to be released later this year.

I was at the media launch event at Riverside Secondary for the Samsung School. I thought it was pretty cool that a school in my own backyard was the first to experience this technology. Here’s a few photos from the event:

Philippe Lozier, Director of Business Solutions, Samsung Canada explains the program to students

Honourable Mayor Greg Moore (Port Coquitlam) & HT Kim, President & CEO, Samsung Canada