The mobile education movement is spreading to South America. Brazilian based education system, Sistema de Ensino Integral, is a pioneer in the mobile education movement by distributing tablets to the student body, which includes children from age six to 17.
With devices numbering in the thousands, a mobile management tool with proper oversight became critical. Charles Alcarde, director of the school, decided to implement AirWatch® as his mobile device and mobile application management provider to oversee the task of distributing educational materials to children.
Sistema de Ensino Integral in Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil educates over 1,800 students and employs 90 teachers. The school also functions as a publisher of educational materials that reaches over 15,000 students nationwide, making their choice to go digital very influential in Brazil. Students, teachers and school administrators use the tablets to access email, calendar, internal apps and research tools such as Safari®.
“When we chose to migrate to tablets, we knew we would need a mobility management solution,” explained Alcarde. “Our deciding factors were control, scalability, content distribution and security. We didn’t care about cost – our primary concern revolved around the children and finding the best solution for them. AirWatch meets all our criteria.”
Once initial registration occurred, basic profile information and internal apps were pushed to each tablet. “I cannot imagine managing these devices without the content distribution and control that AirWatch provides to us. It would be impossible without those components,” said Alcarde. “Our market is purely educational. We’ve developed a system with AirWatch to control mobile devices and distribute digital content – either e-books or internal apps – to any Brazilian educational institution.”
The teachers receive training on the tablets, as well as classroom technology training known as TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge). TPACK is a framework to describe the knowledge needed by a teacher for effective teaching in a technology-enhanced learning environment.
“The students use the device to present research, videos, or projects to the teacher and their peers in the classroom,” Alcarde explained. “All educational material can be found on the device, and the students receive work tools from teachers such as homework, school appointments, and emails.”
As the student progresses through each grade, content upgrades are pushed via AirWatch to each device. AirWatch allows Integral to monitor students’ use of apps outside the classroom. YouTube® and games are blocked during the school day but allowed after hours through time-based profiles. “Since the younger children get distracted easily, the content control and ability to lock apps during the school day is perfect,” said Alcarde. Integral’s role as an education pioneer impacts the community at large.
“They understand that the implementation is essential for the success of the project. Eliminating the print book and focusing on the techno-pedagogic relationship make us pioneers in LATAM. The opportunity is huge in Brazil – this year the government will distribute 600,000 devices to public school teachers for classroom use,” concluded Alcarde.
