By Michael Campbell, Global Head of Education, Intel.
I joined Intel because I believe in technology’s ability to empower students and educators. In the past few years, we’ve all seen just how powerful technology’s purpose can be—but also the opportunity ahead of us. Our education team is deeply committed to solving these problems and driving meaningful progress for students and teachers in every community.
The PC has now emerged as the definitive tool to help students learn, and Intel is focused on delivering a new class of education laptops to expand what’s possible in classrooms around the world.
Leaders, educators and families are telling us they need these tools and experiences. Japan’s Global Innovation Gateway for All (GIGA) project has set the bold goal of one student, one device1 by 2023. In the United States, 73% of district leaders say this “1:1” level of access to computing will make high-quality teaching and learning easier.2
Together with our partners, Intel is innovating, collaborating, and investing in education. But most importantly, we’re listening. From India and South Africa to the United States, China and beyond, we’re engaging educators to understand what’s working, what’s not and what people need from their education-focused PCs.
To achieve our goal of delivering a new class of education PCs, we’re focused on working across the ecosystem to create PC platforms for teachers and students, optimize cloud-based learning and drive initiatives that will help bridge the digital divide.
Teachers & Students: PCs to Optimize Learning
The PC’s greatest strength is expanding what’s currently possible in and around the classroom. Students can explore a huge range of different learning experiences: coding and creating programs, conducting online STEAM research, modeling data simulations, viewing instructional videos and more. This gives teachers more tools to enhance instruction and find what works for each student.
But first — students need the right PC.
“One student, one PC” only works if the device delivers the experiences that help the world learn and teach. Intel and our partners are building education PCs to optimize every kind of learning experience. Laptops powered by the latest Intel® Pentium® Silver and Celeron® processors bring key technologies to the education space for the first time, like Intel® Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+), video-conferencing capabilities and up to 10 hours of active battery life.3
With these PCs, students can easily create documents, stream video calls, collaborate on projects and play games like Rocket League Education, for a full school day. This allows teachers to focus on teaching, not troubleshooting.
Yet, it’s also important that students have a device that suits their age and grade. In order for students and educators reach their full potential, they may require increased performance to support progressively more complex usage models with demanding workloads. To meet these specific needs, we have a family of 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors that provide the performance students need for creating, coding, and other heavier workloads.
Administrators: Simple, Seamless Cloud-Based Learning
Students and teachers are not the only ones who benefit from these devices; school leaders also see great value in the cloud-based learning ecosystem. Administrators want affordable, durable, easy-to-use PCs that plug teachers and students into a larger, vibrant education suite.
But leaders are also concerned that performance and connectivity constraints can slow down cloud-based learning. They report complaints about “screens freezing, videos freezing and webpages not loading.”
Intel is making cloud-based learning simpler, seamless and intuitive. With our OEM partners, we’re co-engineering a new class of PCs that offer incredible performance, fast connectivity and a full set of platform technologies to ensure the device will deliver under real-world conditions. And we’re working with our partners to engage the developer community to create even more apps designed specifically for education devices powered by Intel.
We’re also partnering to bring this cloud-based learning experience to the PC. Over the past year, we’ve worked with Tencent, HP and Acer to create first-of-their-kind, custom-built education PCs that give China’s more than 170 million students instant access to Tencent’s education suite and cloud ecosystem.
Communities: Tools and Initiatives to Bridge the Digital Divide
As the PC continues to enter classrooms at a rapid pace, we must strive for greater equity in access to technology, connectivity and high-quality education. The past year has put a spotlight on the gaps that too many communities and families still face. Even in high-income countries like the United States, 37% of rural students, 30% of Black students and 26% of Latino students can’t access the Internet at home.4
Connectivity is probably our biggest challenge because we are dealing with families who struggle financially. There isn't always an internet.” – CEO of Education Management Organization, USA.
Intel believes bridging this digital divide is one of the most powerful ways to empower people and lift up communities. In 2020-21, our Pandemic Response Technology Initiative (PRTI) provided remote learning solutions to over 15,000 families. We’re pursuing long-term education initiatives, like Intel® AI For Youth and the Million Girls Moonshot, through our 2030 RISE strategy (Responsible, Inclusive, Sustainable, and Engaged). Our goal is to help millions of students around the world gain access to education and careers in STEM.
Our Commitment: The Right PC Experiences for Students, Teachers and Communities
Looking ahead, we’re considering a range of potential solutions to meet the needs of students, teachers, schools and communities worldwide. That could mean more connected modern PCs with LTE or 5G modems, remote manageability platforms for school systems, or tools that elevate actual instruction, such as easier panning and zooming on whiteboards during video calls.
We look forward to continuing to work together to create the PCs and technologies that make teaching easier, offer new learning experiences and improve the lives of every person on the planet.