CEO of DroidTech Jason Headley (centre) poses with from left, Principal of Christ Church Foundation Edward Cumberbatch; Deputy Principal of Deighton Griffith Anthony Alleyne; Head of the English department at Graydon Sealy Cheryl Williams and Yvette Mayers, Principal of the St. Michael School
In an effort to increase the accessibility of e-textbooks to secondary students, Droidtech in collaboration with the Caribbean Shared Educational Resources Service (CSERS) donated one Windows-Based Pipo Tablet PC and one Android-Based Pipo Tablet to four secondary schools and one tertiary institution.
Held at Chattel House Books located in Sky Mall, educators from Graydon Sealy, Christ Church Foundation, St. Michael School, Deighton Griffith Secondary and the Barbados Community College received the tablets on behalf of their institutions.
Cheryl Williams, head of the English Department at Graydon Sealy was delighted with the new technological additions to their school library.
“It gives the teachers and the students an opportunity to see how well they work for [them] before you invest in purchasing large numbers of these devices. Everybody loves electronics, but we have to make sure what we get suits our needs…this would be an opportunity [for us] to see how we can utilise them effectively,” she said.
CEO of DroidTech Jason Headley, disclosed that the aim of the donation was to not only have tablets in schools but rather “to have at least 10-15 tablets [in the library] so that if students come in, they can type up documents…do research…learn even more about technology [and] even develop applications.”
He highlighted that the advancements in technology had changed the classroom setting.
“With the advancement of having a tablet, teachers can have video content, they can record content of each topic that they want to teach during the term.”
Headley added that these changes were beneficial for students in cases such as absenteeism.
Students and staff will be able to access bought or rented e-books through CSERS, which caters to those from nursery to tertiary level. The digital textbook and library resource service will provide text, video and auditory materials.
“Be gone the years of dog-ears, worn and torn paperback textbooks,” stated Headley. “If you allow a student to own a tablet they are not going to treat their tablets poorly” he said. (KK)