SKOPJE (Macedonia), October 6 (SeeNews) – Intel Corporation said on Tuesday it has signed two documents with the Macedonian government to help advance the 1:1 e-learning model in the country’s primary schools in a move to improve educational technology in the Balkan region.
Now under way, the deployment is anchored by 53,000 Intel-powered classmate PCs that will provide all primary school students in grades one through three with computer access. The deployment also includes 22,000 ASUS Eee PCs, a netbook to be used by primary school teachers in grades one through eight, Intel said in a statement.
"We are proud to be the first Balkan country to adopt a technology initiative of this scope for education," Macedonian Minister of Education and Science Nikola Todorov said in the statement.
In 1:1 e-learning environments, technology is used to create a 1:1 relationship between the student and the student’s learning environment. A 1:1 e-learning environment includes a dedicated laptop computer for each student and teacher that can be used at home and in the classroom. Internet
Intel will provide training for 1,000 teachers in Macedonia and will donate “licensing that lets schools use content and software available through Intel® skoool™ Learning and Teaching Technology, an interactive Web-based resource for learning math and science,” the statement said.
A donation of e-learning content that will be provided by Intel totals $15 million (10.2 million euro), the Macedonian government said in a separate statement on Tuesday.
Intel further said that the teacher training and content commitments build on the government's earlier plans to deploy classroom computers on a broad scale.
The deployment of classroom computers is expected to be completed by January, it said.
The Classmate PCs for the programme will be produced in Serbia by ComTrade, according to tech news portal ZDNet.com
In 2007, the Macedonian government launched a campaign called 'A Computer for Every Child' for the deployment of over 150,000 PCs.
Intel Corporation, a world leader in silicon innovation, supports education through grants for programs that advance science, math and technology education.
ComTrade Group (www.comtradegroup.com) is one of the leaders in the field of information and telecommunication technologies in southeast Europe. It comprises companies operating in Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Albania and Macedonia.
($=0.6795 euro)