October 2014
HP Headquarters
California, USA
Our Educational Tech Tour continues this time in Hewlett and Packard in California, a.k.a. HP.
Honestly, I thought we will just be dealing with printers, and servers this day. But much to my surprise, our HP Executive Briefing was not just all about printers and other hardware, it was an introduction of a revolution in the use of print materials. :-)
The building we entered was a simple structure with a vintage look. This is one of the HP laboratories inside the campus.
The view from where I was seated... my briefing materials, booklet, name tag and module.
The big wigs of HP in the area of Educational Technology -
HP's vision is to focus on access, learning and outcomes...
What made me excited was the introduction of the HP's Hybrid Learning Model - a combination of "the best of two worlds". It is a combination of the printed text and the use of technology, particularly smartphone or tablet.
HP's Hybrid Learning is more than just transferring the printed text to digital form. It is making the printed text come alive through their interactive textbook. HP called it "The Live Textbook or Paper."
This is a great leap in terms of Educational Technology. Some companies are intro full use of digital texts and use of other platforms. HP decide to combine the two "worlds" to respond to the needs of the 21st century learners and at the same time still use the printed text as a resource material.
This is an example of a module using HP's Hybrid Learning. The module is interactive. Notice that the whole set of module is just one page. With the use of a tablet or smart phone the learner may scan the different parts of the paper and all the info will just pop out in the smartphone or tablet. Assessments are also embedded in the paper that will open up to a link. Cool, huh?
This is a textbook being used by graduate students of San Jose State University. HP has chosen SJSU to pilot test the usenof the Hybrid Learning platform.
After our Executive Briefing we were given a tour of the campus. We started with the the exhibit of printers and scanners. We even saw the "fastest printer" recognized by the Guinness World Records.
The one explaining the printers in the hall is a Fil-American.
We went to the "server room" of one of the HP buildings in the campus. So this is where all the data are stored. Hmmm...
The tour wouldn't be complete without going to the original offices of the founders of HP - W.R. Hewlett and D. Packard. They didn't change anything here. They maintained the look of the offices.
The namecards of the two founders outside their office doors.
It was told that the two founders never closed their office doors during the time they were still reporting for work. They believed that an open office is a welcoming office. It was their kind gesture of letting the people know that they care... One great soft skill from the two executives.
I do hope that technology would really serve its purpose in the field of education. Thank you to HP for inventing this kind of platform for our learners.
However, let us never forget that, still, the best tool in instruction is the teacher herself/ himself.
'Yan ang sabi ni Manang!