Smart schooling: Enhancing the learning experience with ePaper displays
With the global market for electronic paper screens in the education sector expected to be worth an astonishing $1.5billion by next year, we wanted to take a look into what is encouraging this general surge in demand for ePaper applications in schools and colleges, the key markets driving this as well as the innovative products that are currently dominating classrooms worldwide.
The rise of blended learning
Blended (or hybrid) learning is one of latest #edtech trends to have transformed the education sector, with schools, colleges and universities now turning to new technologies to modernise the classroom, offer a more dynamic and interactive learning experience and make studying more efficient and accessible to all.
This form of education combines traditional classroom teaching with web-based learning, allowing teachers and professors to share resources and instructions online for students to access at their own convenience. This makes sense considering the vast majority of students in education today are digital natives, who expect the same level of flexibility at school as they’re used to in their personal lives.
Fundamentally, more and more classrooms are turning to blended learning and with this we’re noticing a surge in demand for education hardware like ePaper displays.
ePaper: Putting the ‘e’ in education
As the size of ePaper displays increase, so too do the opportunities for innovation in the education sector.
Interactive whiteboards are becoming increasingly popular in schools and colleges, with ePaper integration offering a number of advantages over the traditional whiteboards. These modern applications support remote students as the notes made my teachers in lessons can be cleverly saved, shared and accessed at a later time, making learning more convenient and flexible for the pupils.
There are also examples of ePaper tablets being used in education to support blended learning. These digital devices are used for writing, reading and sketching, replacing the need for traditional paper notebooks, sketchbooks and printouts, while still providing students with that pen-and-paper note taking experience. These devices also organise multiple digital notebooks and virtually unlimited pages, therefore limiting paper wastage.
A peek into the future
At Plastic Logic we’ve been supplying products to education for a number of years and we certainly continue to see strong interest in the sector, especially in Asia as this market is renowned for the early adoption of new technologies.
And, while we believe that blended learning is a key factor driving this uptake, EPD awareness (more people knowing about technology and having understood its benefits), cost and the increase in EPD capabilities are also pivotal factors and will help ePaper to continue to penetrate the education sector as well as new markets in the future.