Tablets Let Bedridden Kids ‘Attend’ School in Israel
Source: Times of Israel
Many kids complain about being stuck at school, but for some, like those laid up in the hospital for long periods, going to school is a privilege they can only wish for. To help kids who are long-term residents of Schneider Children’s Hospital in central Israel, electronics giant Samsung and Israeli e-book distributor E-vrit are teaming up to provide an educational experience that will allow them to keep up with their classmates.
Israeli hospitals host schooling programs in ward learning centers, enabling kids to keep up their studies so they do not fall too far behind their classmates and can easily reintegrate into school life when they leave the hospital. Unfortunately, many of the kids in hospital are unable to attend these organized classes because they are bedridden or not strong enough to get to the learning center.
So last week Samsung brought its Hope Library to Schneider. Under the Hope Library program, started in 2012, libraries and smart classrooms – learning centers equipped with computers, advanced audiovisual equipment, etc. – have been set up in places like Iraq, rural India, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, and other developing areas. In Israel, company officials took a different tack when applying the program locally – helping out kids in Schneider Hospital’s hematology and oncology units, where many are bedridden for months at a time.
Children laid up in hospital beds will receive a Samsung tablet, which will be connected over a local network to the hospital’s learning center where teachers conduct classes for kids who are able to attend. The tablets will work in sync with the learning center’s smart whiteboard, with text, graphics and apps loaded or written on the board automatically showing up on the tablet. A video stream of the class and an audio connection will let kids see and hear everything that is going on, and enable them to speak out and participate in classes.
The tablets will include software and e-books provided by E-vrit, providing kids with access to dozens of educational and fun activities, as well as Internet access so they can keep in touch with.
This is the first of a series of such Hope Libraries Samsung plans to set up in hospitals throughout Israel.
Read more at Times of Israel.